Lost in a fog

Rating: Null/10 (3 August 2001)

"The Others" sets with the right intentions, to make a classic horror flick, but gets lost in a fog somewhere along the way.
This film had the potential to be of a quality and scare caliber not seen since Kubrick's "The Shining" but it veered way off target. The scares were few and far between and it took entirely too long to build up to the few scares that were in the film. In fact the audience was visibly restless, waiting for something substantial to occur until well into the film. The fact that the film looses its grip on the audience is the only reason more people didn't get the poorly hidden surprises before they were explicitly spelled out.
The overall concept is an extremely good one, its just not translated well into the script. The direction was a high point, brilliantly contrasting light and dark and harkening back to an older era of film-makers. If you're going to see this film make sure to drink lot's of caffeine, and lower the bar on your expectations.