The Others

By Clint Morris

When The Sixth Sense's Haley Joel Osment uttered those few short words "I see Dead People" little did he know it would awaken the morbid imaginations of many a screenwriter. And whilst many of these clones have been downright annoying, one sneaks through the cracks and touches us in all the right places that M.Night Shyamalans film did. Interestingly enough, It's not Hollywood that's done it here, but the Brits (filmed in Spain).

Set post-WWII, Nicole Kidman stars as a mother raising her children in a large mansion, not unlike a prison warden would guard the inmates. Grace (Kidman) has enough on her hands single-handedly raising her two British children who can't be expelled to direct sunlight otherwise they may suffer a fatal allergic reaction. The three elderly servants who just turned up aren't exactly here to sweep either. Not a ghost of a chance in that.

This film moves at a snails pace but it does this so it can scare the wits out of you by it's last half. In true suspense films, it's not what you see, but what you hear, feel, fear...around the corner. And some of the scenes in this film work like a charm. Grace's youngest daughter is the one in the family who seems to believe that ghosts of the previous tenants are lurking around - one of them a freakish, almost blind grandmother.

Successfully scary are the three servants - who could they really be? And even the expressions on Nicole Kidman's scared witless face are enough to shock the bell of a kitty.

Like The Sixth Sense and various other successful scary flicks - The Others succeeds on every level because it doesn't overdo it, it gives us some real characters and it has the untypical Big Twist ending. If it had come along a few years ago - before young Haley Joel saw Dead People - it would have been even fresher.

4.5 out of 5

The Others
Rated: M15+
Australian release: Now Showing across Australia
Director: Alejandro Amenabar.
Website: Click here