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The Others (2 Disc Collectors Edition) [2001]


RRP: £19.99
Our Price: £4.97 (subject to change)

Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

A welcome throwback to the spooky traditions of Jack Clayton's The Innocents and Robert Wise's The Haunting, Alejandro Amenábar's The Others favours atmosphere, sound, and suggestion over flashy special effects. Set in 1945 on a fog-enshrouded island off the British coast, the film begins with a scream as Grace (Nicole Kidman) awakens from some unspoken horror, perhaps arising from her religiously overprotective concern for her young children, Anne (Alakina Mann) and Nicholas (James Bentley). The children are hypersensitive to light and have lived in a musty manor with curtains and shutters perpetually drawn. With Grace's husband (Christopher Eccleston) presumably lost at war, this ominous setting perfectly accommodates a sense of dreaded expectation, escalating when three strangers arrive in response to Grace's yet-unposted request for domestic help. Led by housekeeper Mrs Mills (Fionnula Flanagan), this mysterious trio is as closely tied to the house's history as Grace's family is--as are the past occupants seen posthumously in a long-forgotten photo album. With her justly acclaimed performance, Kidman maintains an emotional intensity that fuels the film's supernatural underpinnings. And while Amenábar's pacing is deliberately slow, it befits the tone of penetrating anxiety, leading to a twist that extends the story's reach from beyond the grave. Amenábar unveiled a similarly effective twist in his Spanish thriller Open Your Eyes (remade by Cameron Crowe as Vanilla Sky), but where that film drew debate, The Others is finely crafted to provoke well-earned goose bumps and chills down the spine. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

Editorial
Video Description

DVD Special Features:

Full audio commentary from the director

Two Featurettes: "Inside The Others and behind the scenes" and "Visual Effects

Director's interview

Special feature on Xeroderma Pigmentosum

Editorial
Synopsis

THE OTHERS begins with a close-up of a woman screaming. By the time this intense film ends, everyone watching it will be screaming and gasping. Nicole Kidman stars as Grace, a woman raising two children by herself in a creepy mansion. World War II is over, but Grace's husband never returned. Meanwhile, the two children, Anne and Nicholas, must constantly stay in the dark because they are deathly allergic to light. Then one day, three people show up to take over for Grace's disappeared staff, and trouble starts to brew. The odd trio--an aging nanny, an elderly gardener, and a young mute girl--seems to have a slightly different agenda than Grace and the children do. But when Anne starts talking to strange, unseen people, the scares start building to an incredible climax.
Alejandro Amenabar's highly stylized English-language debut is one of the finest films in the haunted-house genre. Not only did Amenabar write and direct the film but he composed the eerie music as well. Kidman is outstanding as the overprotective mother trying to save her children, while Fionnula Flanagan excels as the nanny with a deep, dark secret. Because the children must remain in darkness, Grace must lock every door behind her, to make sure that the children don't accidentally enter a brightly lit room; it is a marvelous horror-film device that Amenabar uses to perfection.

I knew it was a ghost, not scary.
Review date: 2008-08-15 Rating: 2 out of 10

Zelda from terrorhawks does her best to try and scare the viewer in this terrible film. Same trick as 'Sickth Sense' and 'Dead Mans Shoes', whereby someone you were watching that you thought was real turns out to be a ghost all along. Cheap tricks like this don't make for an enjoyable film, especially as there is no such thing as ghosts. Why do people keep making ghost films when there is absolutely positively no proof for their existence except the anecdotal sort from half wits, drunks and the elderly? The house is nice where it was filmed though, and good on Nicole for shunting Cruisey baby.

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Reviews


Things that go bump in the night ...
Review date: 2008-03-12 Rating: 10 out of 10

Or things that scream, or caress the keys of a piano, or ... This film is a gem - such a refreshing change from blood and guts horror. This is true atmospheric horror, the tension built with every scene, and with every strange character that appears.
The actors are superb - beautifully cast (including the veteran comedian Eric Sykes) and beautifully directed in a location that gives an oscar-worthy performance.
The two children are remarkable in their roles - for me, the prize going to the most sinister small girl ever encountered on screen. (Why is it that children in film are generally so much better than children on telly ? Is it just that the casting directors of feature films are more intelligent than their telly counterparts, and know what they are looking at ? Probably.)
This is a film to return to again and again. Even once you think you know all the surprises, there'll be another one waiting to jump out at you.

A Well Constructed and Effective Ghost Story
Review date: 2008-01-22 Rating: 8 out of 10

Two years after the overrated The Sixth Sense came The Others and comparisons between these two films are inevitable, not least due to the fact that each has what rapidly became known as a 'twist' in its tail. Unfortunately the fact that if you see a film anticipating a 'twist' you may well see it coming long before it actually happens. This was the case with The Sixth Sense, not least because the kid in that film 'sees dead people', a fact which that film's trailer pointed out, and at the end of the first sequence it was quite easy to put two and two together.
The Others does indeed have a surprise ending which is well disguised through the course of the picture (although there are one or two clues), but this is not where the strength of this film lies. Indeed, trying to work out the ending while watching a film seems to me to be a pointless exercise. The unravelling of the situation which the occupants of the house find themselves in is gradual and the final revelation backfoots the viewer momentarily before making itself clear. Comparisons are probably better drawn with The Innocents (1961), where atmosphere and fear constituted the heart of the film. In addition, the question as to whether the events are imaginary or not is again reflected in The Others, although to a degree which is not as relevant to the story as in The Innocents.
The children's photosensitive condition is a little contrived in order to set up the dimly lit interiors (but it does have a relevance at the end of the film), and it does succeed in creating the film's atmosphere, beautifully created by cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe. Each shot is beautifully composed and the soft, warm lighting contrasts perfectly with the foggy coldness of the garden outside. There are no deep shadows here, giving the opportunity for bad things to lurk and leap out, just well balanced light and dark which gives the interiors a beautiful painterly quality.
The cast is excellent, perhaps with the exception of Eric Sykes who is rather misplaced within the scheme of things but as in The Innocents, it is the performances of the younger actors which are noteworthy. I am constantly in awe of the acting ability of younger people.
There are plenty of genuinely chilling moments and the film is punctuated with occasional shocks which help to keep it bouyant when the pace flags, something which does happen from time to time and which caused me to think that the running time was perhaps a little excessive.
The ending is not played out as a great revelation and it doesn't smack of cleverness, rather, it almost seems incidental and wraps up the story neatly. The Others is a well constructed ghost story which is pervaded by sadness (augmented by a non intrusive soundtrack, itself composed by the director), and which is I feel, somewhat underrated even though there are one or two scenes which are open to the question of slight overindulgence.


great movie with a nice twist !
Review date: 2008-01-13 Rating: 10 out of 10

i have to say this is a MUST for slight horror fans !! it's very close to the 'sixth sense' which i enjoyed very much .both of which i have watched many times so thats value for money in my eyes !!

Dont Read These Reviews !
Review date: 2008-01-07 Rating: 8 out of 10

If you plan to watch this film ... don't read the reviews below as they totally give away the plot and thereby ruin the movie !

And please ... fellow reviewers, don't spoil other films by revealing plot spoilers !!!

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
James Bentley
Alakina Mann
Nicole Kidman
Fionnula Flanagan
Christopher Eccleston

Creators:
Nicole Kidman (Primary Contributor)
Fionnula Flanagan (Primary Contributor)

Director(s):

Recording label: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainm
Manufacturer: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainm
EAN: 5017188884709
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 2
Format: PAL, Widescreen,
Release date: 2002-09-23
Number of discs: 1
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Audience rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 104 minutes
Theatrical release date: 2001-08-10
Language: English (Original Language)
Language: English (Subtitles For The Hearing Impaired)
Language: English (Subtitled)

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