It does not Shuffle, It BUILDS

Rating: Null/10 (15 August 2001)

It really bothers me that so many people call this film "excruciatingly slow" and "shuffling." Have we become so numbed by the current "high speed-chase, hot sex and shoot-em-up" trends that a movie that requires you to bring your brain is "boring"? There's no gore in this film, no bodies falling out of closets, no "things" bursting through abdomens...it requires you to think, to be patient and to wait. It's that most rare of summer movies--a scary, fun ghost story that requires you to bring a little something besides your eyes and body. It requires you to put some of the puzzle together for yourself. (There are some gaps to be filled at the end, no matter what the denouement tells us.)
Although comparisons with "The Sixth Sense" are inevitable, they are also odious. Oh, I liked the former, but it was fairly obvious from the first fifteen minutes where the last fifteen would end up. (I always felt that the "real"movie were those opening and closing minutes and the middle, however well done, was an excuse to get us from one to the other.)
"The Others" builds on everything that goes before. Why does Grace wake up screaming in the first frame? What are all those little side scenes between the servants about? Who is evil and who isn't? What the heck IS going on in the attic??? And what's the deal with those curtains????? As each new element is introduced (and the sequence in which Grace confronts her daughter in her communion dress is a corker) you have to compare it with the information you've been given before and try to find the place where it fits. This is what intelligent 'fun" movie making is about. This is what intelligent horror is about--not bodies being ripped to shreds by hooded maniacs, but the subtle feeling that you just aren't alone, that things have been skewed, that it just isn't RIGHT...but you don't know why or how and fear that maybe you never will.
I will admit that I had some of the ending figured out in advance, but just enough twists were added (see The Communion Dress Scene above) to make you reconsider your reasoning.
So, skip the special effects (except those you provide with your brain) and get ready to be challenged and entertained. (And if you are give to shivers, bring a sweater. And you may want to bring a friend.) This one requires some brain work and patience, but it will be worth it in the end. Have fun!