Rating: 
Summary: excellent
Review: I am not someone who usually gets scared while watching a scary movie. The Others, however, was very different. The movie has so many plot twists and the end is really surprising. I recommend this movie to anyone who loves thrillers!
Rating: 
Summary: Atmospheric Thriller
Review: The Others is not so much a horror as a tense and involving mystery. It didn't keep me awake at night, because it brings you down nicely, I felt, but I definately chewed my knuckles throughout it. It was a classic example of how what you don't see is often more frightening than what you do. The bumps and the slamming doors, the constant lack of light, the perpetually heavy fog, and the spooky understatement of the servants, (yes, Fionnula Flannagan can be scary, remarkably) were far worse than a bunch of digital ghosts could have been. And Nicole Kidman was great, wonderfully intense and completely loopy, and tottering around the house all day. The children's photosensitivity was an inspired touch, since keeping everything in the dark only increased the claustrophobia of the creaky old mansion. The cinematography is evocative and atmospheric.
Rating:
Summary: MILDLY MAD MEDEA OF THE MYST.............
Review: A consummate artist - that's Nicole Kidman! How perfect in this role of strict but caring mother circa WW11 somewhere lost in a grave, great mansion with those mysterious servants! Fionnula Flanagan - another great, neglected artist - so rarely seen is the caring housekeeper, part of a mute and semi-mute trio of servants.The mood and tone of this sparkling diamond is perfect - no CGI here - just good old solid acting skills. It's a very worthy companion to Jack Clayton's "The Innocents" [and even possibly Robert Wise "The Haunting"]. Expert direction by Alejandro Amenabar, lighting, camera, sound, music and wardrobe mesh with perfection - nothing distracts from the story - as it should be. BUT it's Nicole who shines in this setting - would love to see just what she could do to a modernized "Hedda Gabler". Footnote : try Kim Stanley's "Seance on a Wet Afternoon" for more visitations ..........
Rating:
Summary: THE OTHERS- - An Intelligent, Psychological Horror Film!
Review: ...I must say, I did not watch this movie when first possible. The previews for THE OTHERS made the movie seem like the scariest thing ever created, which is not uncommon these days with trailers. (The trailers ended up spoiling the real hair-raising scenes, such as when the little girl becomes possessed by the house's spirits...) Also, a friend of mine told me the ending of this movie. Nevertheless, I still watched it. And you know what? I LOVED EVERY SECOND OF IT. Nicole Kidman gives one of her best, if not her best, performances ever. I still am in shock that the Academy overlooked her role in this movie and the movie itself. (Fortunetly though, they were able to see her outstaning feats in MOULIN ROUGE!) For those who don't know the storyline, the film is about a mother and her two photo-sensitive (A.K.A. The light is fatal for them) children who live in a secluded mansion on an island in England. The man of the family is off fighting in the war. Becuase of the light's danger's, no two doors are to be open at the same time. Meaning--if you open a door, you must close the one behind you. These little "rules" of the character's lives are what make this movie one of the most stylish examples of horror out there. Anyway, back to the plot: At the beginning of the film, three people come to help the mother take care of the house, the grounds and the children. (The mother had placed an ad.) But soon, creepy goings-on begin, and the mother's tightly bound world starts to become loose. No special effects in this movie, which I think is a modern achievement considering what out culture calls "horror" and "thrillers". (Watch for the lovely twist of an ending too!) All in all, it's a great movie to sit down on a Saturday night to watch, and it's destined to become a masterpiece.
Rating: 
Summary: The Others Bereft of Themes and Ideas
Review: A slow, pretentious, academic film, The Others is enslaved to a single gimmick-driven plot with no character development and no real theme. In other words, The Others has nothing to say, so you have to watch a group of fine actors go through their perfunctory duties in order that the plot, in all of its self-congratulatory cleverness, is fulfilled. But what a long wait for the movie viewer, who must languish through all the cliches and bathos and paper-thin characters! And for what? There's no thematic pay-off here, no real idea. Finally, this is a very stiff and stage-bound film that is too self-conscious to jump out and connect with the viewer.
Rating:
Summary: A RETURN TO THE CLASSIC SUSPENSE FILM
Review: This movie features a regression back to the simple elements of the true suspense film. There are only simple special effects, such as that of the fog that blankets the setting of the movie. Yhe focus in Alejandro Amenabar's film was to create suspense by using the light and dark, implementing an interesting storyline, and relying on Nicole Kidman's excellent acting of a women who is in control, but on the verge of insanity. The pace is slow, but gripping, and when all is said and done, everything in the film comes together in a fantastic conclusion which gives a revoltuionary perspective to the paranormal world. Set in 1945 at the end of the war, a women awaits the arrival of her husband while looking after her two children who are photosensetive to light. After three strange servants arrive to tend to the house, some strange things start happening. Although it would spoil the whole movie if I were to tell you what they are, what I can tell you is that you will encounter the suspense in this movie through the movement of lights and shadows and fog and the acting of Nicole Kidman's supportng cast. And although you will never be confused by what is taking place, you will never be sure of what to expect to come next. This is a different kind of suspense thriller with its own thrills. This movie definately demonstrates how naieve and oblivious people are and the pain of the truth. This DVD gives you speical insight into the movie with interviews with Nicole Kidman, director Alejandro Amenabar, and the inspiring true story of a family that is the backbone of this film.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant Ghost Story
Review: The Others is a brilliant ghost story. The story takes place on one the Channel islands during the end of WWII. Grace Stewart (Kidman) is a young mother of two children that suffer from xeroderma pigmentosum - a rare genetic disorder that make the children allergic to sunlight. Grace awaits for her husband to return from the war. During that time, Grace's servants have suddenly left overnight and 3 mysterious servants arrive the next day. Grace's daughter begin to hear odd sounds and voices. She tells her mother that she sees a family in the house, but Grace doesn't believe her at first. Overtime, Grace starts to hear these mysterious sounds and slowly her sanity is tested. The Others is chilling story, at times I could feel the hairs on my neck bristle. The director did a great job keeping the environment dark and sinister. Nicole Kidman played her role well as did the child actors. I would recommend this movie for the DVD collection.
Rating: 
Summary: A Great Movie Spoiled
Review: .
Glad I saw this film on DVD: in a theater they would have had to keep the volume turned all the way up for you to hear important things whispered or said in a nearby room, thereby blasting your ears and body when something really really loud occurred. The story line is intriguing and suspenseful. It nice to see a film that doesn't depend on gore to create a sense of horror; I thought the motion picture industry had almost completely forgotten that was possible. The actors did a wonderful job. Settings--indoor and out--added meaningfully to the storyline. The ending is kept well-hidden throughout most of the film. But is anybody employing soundmen anymore? There was a time when whispers were made audible but still were clearly whispers. There was a time when loud sounds seemed loud but didn't try to destroy your hearing. I had to keep using my remote to turn the sound up and down, often rewinding to pick up something I couldn't hear because the sound was too soft, then finding myself blasted at times by sounds that were much too loud because I'd set my TV temporarily to a normal volume. That fact made it hard to enjoy the film. The film would have earned a 4+ of a 5 if it hadn't been for the soundtrack. As it is, the 3 that I gave it is actually a 3-.
Rating:
Summary: Creepy, Dark, and Preys on your imagination
Review: Unlike a lot of people when I rented this movie, I knew nothing about its plot, except what I had seen in previews on the tv. The movie starts off kind of slow, which got me thinking at first that this was going to be real sleeper. But being the patient person that I am and having an attention span longer than that of a fruit fly I kept watching. I guess what perked my interest to continue watching was when Grace tells her three new servants that every door must be locked first before another is opened. My eyebrow went up that point. I mean how strange! It seemed like a superstitious thing at first, but then Grace explains that her children are photosensitive (thus, making it so that no light must be able to enter any part of the house). I have to say when Grace went inside the room to retrieve her sleeping children I expected her to bring back two little gremlins or something. They way she acted and talked to the servants about the house ( "You will find there are many things about this house that are unusual" or something to that effect) kind of helps to set the tone for the movie's creepy aire. That in addition to its dark cinematology and lighting. The movie defintely gave me chills and caused me to pull up the covers of my blanket a couple of times. Nicole Kidman gave a pretty good performance as she slowly began to doubt her sanity -after a few strange happenings of slamming doors and stomping of footsteps up above - mainly due to her rigid, stern personality. This keeps her from being able consider other possibilities and look for the answers that are right before her eyes. After seeing the ending I don't want to say to much about the movie, because it will only dull any of you newbies to the suspense. The ending's unveiling of the movie's mystique to all the strange supernatural occurances immediately made me think of a certain Bruce Willis movie. Oh, god i think i said to much. Anyhow, definetely a movie worth watching if you're into psychological thrillers. Don't expect any gory stuff or major special effects.
Rating:
Summary: It was too familiar...
Review: I was deeply disappointed with this movie. I had read so much on how well Kidman did in this movie, and I agree she showed acting abilities that I had not often seen from her before. But the whole movie seemed way too familiar...like not only had I seen it before, but I also had read it before. Several family members sat together and watched this movie, and we were expecting a lot. But all of us knew what the ending was going to be before we got to it (and none of us had seen or read anything about the ending). So it was a bit of a disappointment. It was a more stylized version of the Sixth Sense, without the 'fear factor' involved. Though Kidman and the other adults were well acted, the children left a bit to be desired. Whether this was the kids' fault or the fault of the directors, I have no idea. So many people came out and said that this movie was going to become a classic...is that just because the abilities of our directors/producers are not as good as in the past (with Hitchcock and others) that movies without obvious violence, gore, etc. cannot reach the previous level that those directors met in the past...that we are settling for 'classics' which are not as good? If this movie had come out prior to The Sixth Sense, I think I would have liked it more...but it didn't...and I don't! Karen Sadler
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