Taut, ghost story

Rating: 8/10 (25 April 2006)

To be perfectly honest, Alejandro Amenabar's The Others really brings absolutely nothing new to the ghost story genre. In fact, everything about the film has been done before. so why did I like it so much? Simple. The Others is still a very stylish and atmospheric film. It hearkens back to the days when a film had an actual story to tell and did so at its own pace. Not ruled by hyper fast cutscenes. In this way, the film slowly builds its tension as it gives the viewer piece by piece the clues to its puzzle. And all the while it keeps doling on the atmosphere until the film almost chokes from it. In short, The Others is a better film for how it goes about its business than for what its business actually is.