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The Others

The Others

List Price: $19.99
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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Scary but Enjoyable
Review: Ever since the movie came to movie theaters I was scared of it. I couldn't even stand the Trailer for the movie. Now that I have seen it I feel quite different about the film. The movie follows a woman(played by Nicole Kidman) who's childeren have a strange allergic reaction to sunlight.Then one day the servants who have been running the house vanish, so she sends for new ones, then the trouble begins. Three new servant have arrived named Mrs. Mills, Mr. Toutels, and Lydia(who's mute). Strange things start to happen around the house. Noises, doors opening and closing on their own, and people taking over other peoples bodies are a few of the things in this SUSPENSFUL film. The ending is so bizzare that you will wonder how the Director(Alejandro Amenabar) who is also the Writer, thought it up. This movie is great and I recomend it to anyone who wants a nice and old-fasioned scary film. The movie is rated PG-13 because of thematic elements and frightening moments. Plus the DVD has some Special Features like a Documentary, A Visual Effects Piece, A Documentary about the Disease portrayed in the Film,A Stills Gallery, and more.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: It worked for me
Review: Well, I would disagree with some of the reviews that this was an altogether "predictable" movie. I think this movie was a very worthy effort and quite better than most scary movies they make these days. I like movies that are actually scary, and that's what this movie is (unlike the useless "Scream" or "I know what you did" type genre horror flicks). Yeah, there are similarities to "The Sixth Sense" within the movie, and these perhaps don't make this movie as refreshing as it could have been. Still, that being said, I would rent this video again and watch it because I feel as though it was entertaining and the horror aspect of it was believable and worked. The dreary movie effects and the cast of this movie were successful in creating an uneasy feeling for the viewer, which is what horror movies are all about.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A finest crafted suspense thriller with an O Henry twist
Review: With references to Hammer horror films and The Innocents (one of the best suspense thrillers of its type and a great ghost story as well based on Henry James' Turn of the Screw), The Others is the type of film America has forgotten how to make. It's intelligent, well acted with interesting twists and turns in its plot. I suspose The Others has as much to do with gothic thrillers as it does with more horror films.

Anyone expecting a jump out of your seat, blunt witless horror film should look elsewhere. Yes, the director does linger a bit too long on his mystery and it does take a bit too long to reach its climax but, on the whole, the film is a rewarding bit of entertainment. The performances are top notch and, again, the acting references the melodramatic style of Peter Cushing or period dramas from the 40's and 50's. Kidman in fact is a perfect female counterpart to Cushing. Cushing's edgy, almost over the top performances were a highlight of even the weakest Hammer film. Here Kidman's acting choices seem inspired by both Cushing and the stable of Hammer actors from the 50's (including the underrated Michael Gough and Christopher Lee).

It's not The Matrix nor does it pretend to be. This fine film is a throw back to an older film tradition where a director actually expected intelligence from his audience. Approach The Others with an open mind. It's rather ironic, because I read a review posted at amazon that claimed Alien was a lame horror film. Remember, that horror is showing the audience but suspense is withholding until the very last minute. The later takes more skill. Hitchcock was a master of suspense (much like Ridley Scott is at his best). It's always scarrier not knowing what you're up against than having it all laid out for you.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A Good Scary Movie
Review: When I saw this movie, what struck me the most was that this was a good scary movie that didn't need gore or a demonic lunatic that can't die. It wasn't a teenager slasher flick rather it was a dark, well-developed horror/suspense that raised the hair on my neck without grossing me out.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: But did you guess ALL the plot twists?
Review: SPOILER ALERT: don't read this review unless you have seen the film. As one earlier reviewer has observed, you can figure out one major plot twist about halfway through, but I think you're supposed to. When the missing and presumed dead husband turns up walking and acting like a zombie, and says he's come to say goodbye, it becomes obvious when Kidman throws her arms around him that either he's still alive (unlikely) or that neither of them are. But the question still remains to be resolved, who are these frightening "others" in the house that no one except the little girl can see, and what are they doing there? The final twist was very effective, IMHO, and surprised me even though I had seen The Sixth Sense. What really makes this movie work, however, isn't just the story, which would have fallen apart in lesser hands, but the excellent direction and performances by the entire cast, with special kudos to Kidman, who creates a wonderfully ambiguous character, and a couple of excellent child actors. Like The Sixth Sense, this movie uses its slow pacing to build up a relentless mood of suspense, and the typical reaction at the end is "Wow!"

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Boo (ring).
Review: Oh...I really wanted to like this movie! It's been drizzling & dreary all day, I made a huge pot of soup, and figured, rather than watch "Rebecca" for the 90th time, I'll give a new one a chance, as I'd heard this one in particular was "It!", "The One". "An Instant Classic!", ad infinitum... They fooled me again. I liken this movie to the making of a cake. You take the best ingredients, the freshest eggs, the purest flour, sugar, lovely vanilla, etc...then, when it comes time to slowly bake it in the oven, and anticipate the heavenly smells that will soon be filling your house, you decide to take a short cut, and MICROWAVE it! Nicole Kidman is milk maid pretty in her English wool, there's a wonderful English country manor viewed by moonlight , framed by gnarley, leafless trees. The furnishings are authentically period antique, suggesting just the right formal coldness. There's the obligatory spooky servants, fog, skeleton keys, slamming doors, headstones, EVERYTHING for what you think would make a great Gothic type horror/thriller. Well, this cake fell flat. (Okay, enough with the cake analogy). I don't know if it was the script, or lack of one, but this movie never caught fire for me. I guess the acting was adequate, especially the pasty little children, and everyone has lovely English accents. But I found what story there was boring and predictable, the progressive so-called spookiness of the servants laughable, and when they try to wrap everything up at the end with sweeping music and wistful last looks, I didn't care anymore. Definatley made for t.v. material. While I didn't figure out every detail of the ending, I was really close to it by the first half hour of viewing. If you saw the previews for this film in the theater, you've pretty much seen the film, or, at least the best of it. It tries hard to be "the Sixth Sense", or "The Innocents", but, in no way does it reach those levels of quality. I don't mean to trash it, but it seems it's just another example of most of todays movie making, where it's about the Star, the publicity, everything but the movie itself. And I guess I'm just disappointed. Judging from most of the reviews, I'm definatley in the minority in my opinion of this film. Okay, maybe it's ME! ...

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Very good film.
Review: I give it five stars because I find difficult to find well crafted, intelligent movies in the horror/suspense genre. I thought it was much better than Sixth Sense, which I found boring.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: It wants to be th Sixth sense, but it isn't...
Review: Its impossible to review this without blowing the end, so if you have not seen it, and do not want a major spoiler then it would be best to pass up this review.
I was on a group date when I went to see this movie, and was relatively excited for the film because it had looked quite good, and an acquaintance of mine had recommended it. Sadly, this plot was entirely predictable, and the movie in and of itself came off as being somewhat unlikable. Nicole Kidman and her child costars seemed quite whinny to me, and I didn't particularly care for them. I liked the servants though. There was quite a bit of cleaver cinematography, but those of us who learned the artistic clues from the Sixth Sense were able to pick up on what was going on very early into the movie. Some one was a ghost... and it wasn't the "others" living in the house. At first I knew that the servants were ghosts. That much was obvious, then, halfway into the film I figured out that Nicole Kidman's character and her kids were also dead. In a very Sixth Sense manner this twist ending that I predicted halfway into the movie came about. It is the sort of ending that only works on seasoned horror fans once. I would have liked the movie better had the "others" been the ghosts, and this had been a more traditional ghost film. The problem with twist endings is keeping them fresh and unique. An ending can make or break a film, and in this case its "I want to be the sixth sense" "I saw that one coming" ending ruined it for me. But I am pretty hard to please when it comes to horror films.
To its credits it did have a couple of good scares, but this was not enough to save it from its over all mediocre "me too" plot. The Others is a cheap attempt to mimic the dark magic and genius of M. Night Shayman's masterpiece "the Sixth Sense." Nothing more. What is really sad is that this movie could have been a brilliant spook show if it had lead you to believe that the mother and kids were dead, only to reveal that they were indeed alive and slipping into the precious of madness, like in Eternal darkness. Since no one in Hollywood has thought of it, and I just did, I hereby copyright that idea. Perhaps I can make a better movie with a few tin cans and a roll of toilet paper.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Gothic Subtlety
Review: This is one of those one of those movies that I've had in my hand at the rental shop several times and inevitably put back in favor of renting something different. I never knew quite what to expect from this film. I can't believe it took me this long to see something so enjoyable and intelligent. I wish my friends had made me see this sooner.

The production of the movie is deceptively simple, and therefore both elegant and provocative. You never know exactly what the camera is going to find lurking in the shadows, around a corner, or behind a door. From the beginning, there is an air of the supernatural. A persistent fog cloaks a mansion on the Channel Island of Jersey, three people show up unsummoned to work as housekeeping staff after the previous staff has inexplicably abandoned the family living there, two young children that must live in darkness, a controlling mother, and a missing father - a great place to begin a Gothic yarn, isn't it?.

The escalating tension of this film is not reliant on special effects wizardy but good old-fashioned character interaction, brilliant acting (by all parties), outstanding cinematography, and a sparse musical score. If this attention to detail is indicative of what we'll see from Amenabar, then I'm going to be making a point of seeing all of his future films.

As a DVD package, this is a good one that offers a second disc of behind the scene featurettes. "The Others" is definitely a film I'll be looking to add to my burgeoning collection.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent Movie !
Review: I think this is a excelent movie ... and is the best movie of Nicole Kidman.

You have to see it !!


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