One of those rare occasions where the previews did not give enough away

Rating: 7/10 (9 September 2007)

The previews had turned me off. Looked like another run-of-the-mill ghost story, complete with bad special effects, to me. But I was in the mood for ghost stories one day and could find nothing else I hadn't seen, so I broke down and rented this one.
And I'm glad I did. While I don't share quite the exclamation-point-profuse enthusiasm some reviewers have for it, I was very impressed. (***Don't read any further if you haven't seen the movie yet and don't want to spoil the surprise.***) I had no idea throughout who was good, who was crazy, whether or not there was anything supernatural going on, whether or not the kids were really sick, or how it would end. I, fortunately, hadn't read the other reviews here of it before watching the movie, so hadn't made the obvious comparison to the surprise ending of another ghost story that came out at the same time, ahem ahem...but I didn't mind it. It was different enough, in my opinion, to still be likable, and it had come as quite a surprise to me. And really, excellent as the other movie was, it was NOT the first ever to use such a concept. It was even used in "Beetlejuice," remember? Though in that one it happened at the beginning, not the end.
Anyway, "The Others" is a pleasant surprise of a ghost story.