They're Here! But Who ARE They?

Rating: 9/10 (21 May 2002)

This is a superb and scary thriller, yet there is no gore, no bloodshed. In fact, there's barely a ghost to be seen, and yet, you sit in your living room scared to death the entire time the film roles. Nicole Kidman stars as as the strict and fearful Grace Stewart, who, along with her two children, live and wait in a huge, old, spooky estate house, for her husband to return from the war. Her servants have inexplicably run off in the middle of the night, although the children think they were frightened away. Enter three new servants who "just happen" to be looking for work and the fun and the spooks begin. Alakina Mann is completely plausible as Kidman's daughter, who tries to convince her possibly psychotic mother that the house is haunted. Kidman's performance is absorbing and chilling, as Grace tries to figure out if the house is really haunted and if so, by whom. Are the children playing jokes? Are the new servants trying to scare Grace and the children away? Or, is she simply going mad (again)? Add to this a surprise ending and you'll be starting the disc over or rewinding the VCR to watch it again. This is truly a downright good and scary movie that doesn't succumb to the use of gore or violence seen in so many "thrillers" today.