The Others Review
by Jen Manna
I went to The Others with little idea of what the movie was about other then the basic elements: Creepy house, kids, and Nicole Kidman. And that's the way I like. No scripts, no reviews, just a movie and my own opinion.
And my opinion is this movie is slow, uninspired, and left me feeling like I spent over an hour going nowhere in particular.
The Mood HammerTM is applied repeatedly with this phrase written on it:
SpoooooOOoooky!
The house is spooky, with all the windows often covered with curtains and the big dark English manor thing going on. Kidman's character is spooky, locking doors and looking haunted all the time. The kids are spooky, not able to stand direct sunlight and the girl speaks with ghosts. The help is spooky with it's secret agenda and a maid who cannot speak of something so horrible it has struck her dumb. Even the weather is spooky with an almost constant fog. (What do you think they spent on smoke machine rentals? Bet it was at least 40% of the budget.)
The characters are disappointing. I didn't really care about anyone enough to care what happens to him or her. The mute maid and the husband are barely developed and seem thrown in for 'effect' or as plot devices with feet. Mr. Tuttle (Eric Sykes ) is a mild kind of comic relief, indifferent to the situation. Grace (Nicole Kidman) is a ball of nerves with shifts in behavior that resemble a clock pendulum. Now I'm loving; now I'm psycho; now I'm tender again...Now I'm losing interest in the fate of Ms. Mood Swing.
Problem is, there is so much effort put into creating this aura of 'Spooky' that it just gets old, fast. It could only be worse if the actors ran around with flashlights under their chins while they delivered their spooky lines just brimming with unspoken double meanings and secrets. The moments that should build tension just seemed slow. The ending is anti-climatic after all the waiting and 'spooky' tension building. Worse then that, the ending's been done. You can put a horse in a top hat, but it's still going to eat hay and crap manure.
But just remember, the Mood HammerTM says it's 'SpoooooOOoooky!'.
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