Easily the Best Film of 2001.

Rating: 10/10 (25 May 2002)

Lord of the Rings??? Ha! This was the best movie from that year, hands down...better than Moulin Rouge, Monster's Ball, Shrek, In the Bedroom, A Beautiful Mind and all the rest. Many people have compared this movie to The Sixth Sense, but note: this movie was written BEFORE the Sixth sense ever came out. Alejandro had this eerie little gem planned for years, which makes it even more of a marvel.
This is also the superior movie because of the all-around great acting that Sixth Sense lacked in places. Fioluanna Flanagan -- an all-time underrated character actress -- plays the maid with stunning precision. Compare this to her other great "maid" role in the TV movie The Legend of Lizzie Borden. And Eric Sykes as the bumbling-yet-creepy Mr. Tuttle does extremely well, delivering the movie's funniest line...you'll know what I'm talking about. It's made hilarious simply because of his pitch-perfect delivery.
Also, these child actors, Akina Mann & James Bentley, are unbelievable -- I kept wondering where on earth the casting director found them. They're sort of a dark version of the Mary Poppins kids and every bit as good if not better. Bentley, especially, manages to be cute and terrified without also coming across as annoying and over-the-top like other, more-acclaimed child actors.
Nicole Kidman is gorgeous here. She's really hot. Besides that, I do believe Kidman's performance here is inferior to the role in Moulin Rogue -- people simply think this one is better because it's a dramatic film (most people do not realize how hard it is to do comedy well, let alone musical-comedy). In fact, this movie is more of a dramatic chilly family melodrama that horror. It's not really scary or even suspenseful; that is, even if you figure out what's going on early on, the tension and the dramatic storyline will still keep you watching, as happened to my best friend when we saw it. However you count it, Kidman is definitely a goddess, starring in the two best movies to come out of one year.
The Others is just well-done, nothing fancy, but with a few brief moments that will have you screaming at the screen. Well-acted, extremely well-written (very, very rare nowadays), and brilliantly directed...this is one of the best movies ever made in my opinion.