Another disappointing "twist" movie

Rating: 6/10 (29 March 2004)

Yet another movie that seems to believe a good twist at the end can make up for a multitude of sins. This one is little more than poor man's Shyamalan, though it takes for its inspiration `classy' horror movies like `The Innocents,' `The Haunting,' and `The Changeling' instead of the pulp that fuels M.N.S.'s celluloid nightmares. And certainly `The Others' can't be faulted for poor taste. On the contrary, it approaches its Gothic subject matter with great sobriety--it has whispers in the dark, and mysterious footsteps upstairs, and a sinisterly knowing staff, and a fog so unvarying that you wonder why anybody's the least bit worried about sunlight. Unfortunately, because this straightfaced approach doesn't coincide with any particular directorial style or verve, it only serves to make the creaky haunted-house subgenre feel even creakier. None of the characters are particularly well developed (Alakina Mann at least gives a performance that's convincing, bratty, and fun, but Nicole Kidman, whose two modes of line delivery here are Severe Hiss and Severe Shout, has been almost as overrated for this as she was for `Moulin Rouge'). When the twist comes, it's certainly a good idea, but then the script has to go and explain it and explain it and explain it. And the biggest problem is the same with this as it often is with Shyamalan--it's all too obvious the twist came first, and then all the rest of it was just shoveled in more or less haphazardly. To be fair, `The Others' is never laughable or unbearable, exactly, but it never gets all that scary either, and it's disappointing to think what a good creepy movie might have been built (even working backwards) from this particular twist premise. 6 out of 10.