The Others (2001)

The Others (2001) Movie Review
Written By: DEMM
Edited By: Grave Reviews Staff

Film Information

Director: Alejandro Amenábar
Producer: Fernando Bovaira, Eduardo Chapero-Jackson, et. al.
Screenwriter: Alejandro Amenábar
Date released: August 10, 2001

Cast:
Nicole Kidman as Grace
Fionnula Flanagan as Mrs. Mills
Christopher Eccleston as Charles
Alakina Mann as Anne
James Bentley as Nicholas
Eric Sykes as Mr. Tuttle
Elaine Cassidy as Lydia
Renee Asherson as Old Lady
Gordon Reid as Assistant
Keith Allen as Mr. Marlish

Rating: 2.5/ 5 Graves

***May contain some spoilers***

Synopsis

Grace is a mother living with and taking care of her two photosensitive children named Anne and Nicholas. She usually does not believe in ghosts, but her faith was put to the test when one day, Grace started experiencing strange incidents in their house. That’s when she believes that the house, they have been living in for how many years was invaded by what she calls “intruders”.

Gore Factor

If you are someone who likes too much blood in a horror movie, then this is not the one to watch. There was not a single bloodshed in this movie. The movie purely showcased mundane horror scenes like a piano suddenly playing on its own, hearing footsteps, and slamming of doors.

The Grave Review

This film started on a slow pace but had an unexpected twist in the ending. It takes a good amount of analyzing to appreciate the plot of this film. The first few scenes were too ordinary to say that this was a horror film. But as you go along the story, the film itself screams a lot of mystery and drama.

Most of the horror in the story happened inside the old Victorian manor of the family. It was quite noticeable that most scenes follow a dark eerie mood, which highlighted the unusual condition of Grace’s children. But the height of the story started when the housekeepers appeared in the picture. Although the three of them looked harmless, few strange things happened after that led to an atmosphere of complexity in the story. It was a question whether they were behind those mysterious events or not.

Some of the characters and scenes in the story added an unsettling effect in the film. Like in the first part of the movie when Grace revealed that her children were photosensitive. She mentioned how they experience getting sore once exposed to light, but when the children went out of their dark room, there were no traces of previous exposures in their skin. No marks or scars at all. It was difficult to tell whether their condition was downright true, or Grace was just being a control freak mother given how strict and religious she was. Another was when Grace’s husband Charles suddenly returns home after being deployed to war for more than a year. It was unclear what the purpose of his return was. It was also quite confusing the way he acted despite being reunited with his family.

Since the movie was more of a mood than a scare, the acting of each character was ordinary yet perfectly suitable to the frame of mind they want to achieve from the audience. Another thing was the fog surrounding the house. It was a good idea to set an uncanny feeling in the movie, especially in the scene where Grace went through the forest. It low-key created an illusion that the story had a lot of settings.

Overall, this film is not the usual horror movie you’ll ever watch in the year 2001. It doesn’t have the most unique plot twist that viewers usually look out for in a movie, but the storyline had a clever idea of revealing such a surprise at the end. Viewers will be challenged to analyze and dig deeper into the story. It may or may not catch your interest easily, but this is certainly worth watching until the end.

For the foregoing reasons, Grave Reviews gives The Others (2001) two and one-half graves out of five graves.

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You may also like our review of the film, The Strangers: Prey at Night.