A Contrarian View

Rating: 3/10 (24 November 2002)

Clearly, Others saw something in The Others which I missed.
This was billed as a horror/suspense movie, but it lacked horror or suspense. It just wasn't scary. Or interesting. Within 15 minutes of the start of the movie, I was wondering how soon it would end. I had no reason to care about what would happen to the characters, and nothing interesting did happen.
I should declare my bias. Other than Dead calm, and Eye Wide Shut, I have never found much to like about Nicole Kidman's acting. She leaves me cold. In this movie, she seems to sleepwalk through the part, with an expressionless frostiness that left me uninvolved. I found myself viewing the movie as a critical exercise rather than being drawn into its alternate reality.
Like all "haunted house' stories, this movie depends on suspension of disbelief. Neither the script nor the acting delivered that for me.