Shyamalan only better...

Rating: 10/10 (18 November 2001)

A mother on the edge and her two children in a creepy fogbound house, complete with odd servants. The film creates a rising atmosphere of oppressive, paranoid dread that makes you feel genuinely uncomfortable and disturbed. Kidman's performance is faultless as a woman who appears to be teetering on the edge of a nervous breakdown. Her highly strung characterisation only serves to complement the sense of foreboding that flows through the film. Brilliantly, the film gives nothing away, and throws nothing at you, but leaves you to do the work - acknowledging that the viewer's imagination is far more vivid than any film-maker's art. Very little, physically, happens in the film - but by the end you feel as if you have run a marathon. The final denouement is something to behold - and will have a certain director of 6th sense weeping into his morning coffee. BRILLIANT. WATCH THIS THIS FILM!!!