Effectively spooky and gloomy presentation...story itself is less satisfying

Rating: 7/10 (9 December 2016)

Atmospheric but somewhat unsatisfying tale of a woman and her two sick children in 1945, living in a gloomy mansion in the Channel Islands, doesn't offer many new tricks in the haunted house genre (even the colorless title warns you of that). Writer-director Alejandro Amenábar has visual imagination and panache to spare, yet his screenplay (which has an overlay of James' "The Turn of the Screw") is stuffed with red herrings that only serve to weigh down the ultimate explanation. Nicole Kidman is imposing and impenetrable as the proprietress of the manor who can't seem to explain the absence of her husband--and who keeps her precocious kids out of the sun because they're allergic to ultra-violet light. Kidman is one of the best actresses we have today; her film selections continue to be intriguing (she isn't afraid to take risks, which is clear with her work here), and she is also very lovely to watch. Fionnula Flanagan is flawless as the new housekeeper who has arrived mysteriously (with a mute assistant and a gardener in tow) after the previous staff has vanished into the night. Amenábar stages a grand scene near the end in a graveyard, but he's less successful at paring down the dross and giving viewers a really good fright (instead, piano music at night drives Kidman into hysterics, while her taunting daughter teases her endlessly with facetious comments). The picture does work on occasion, mostly due to the acting and the handsome production. *** from ****