Following what has been a highly successful year for Nicole Kidman, comes this chilling horror from debut director Alejandro Amenabar.
For fans of the usual MTV style of slasher horror films this may not be for you. However, for those looking for a well paced, superbly directed and atmospheric horror film then this may very well be in your top five films of 2001.
The story is set in 1945 with World War two having just concluded. Grace, played by Nicole Kidman, lives in a country home set in a remote part of Jersey with her two small children Anne (Alakina Mann) and Nicholas (James Bentley) . She has not heard from her husband since he left to fight. The children both suffer from what is described to us as “a photo-sensitive disorder” which, helpfully for the director of a horror film, results in them being shut away from sunlight.
It is when three newly appointed servants, Mrs. Mills (Fionnula Flanagan), Mr. Tuttle (Eric Sykes) and Lydia (Elaine Cassidy) appear that things begin to go bump in the night for the family. If this all sounds very corny and overplayed, don’t worry because it isn’t. Amenabar slowly introduces you to the horrors which the family will have to face with an almost Hitchcock sense of tension. I found myself in an almost permanent state of panic which I found far more chilling than being forced to watch CGI ghouls and ghosts which you find in most films of this ilk.
Kidman is superbly cast as the troubled mother who has to find the heart to confront her fears whilst still trying to put on a brave face for the sake of her two children, both of whom play the supporting roles to perfection.
The only criticisms I could throw at this film is It may be slightly too long and when the ending does arrive I think the director has spelt it out for everyone rather than letting us work it out.
I will not give you any more hints as to what might be the cause of it all, but I will encourage you to go and see this film for yourselves. 104 mins tbc © WPS
“The Others” is in York from the 23rd of November, 2001.
