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The Others Movie Review

The Others is a 2001 horror film directed by Alejandro Amenabar and starring Nicole Kidman. It is a pretty good, but flawed effort.

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“Sometimes the world of the living

gets mixed up with the world of the dead“

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Now obviously this film is a very interesting horror experiment which I admired, but also did not really love. Its double twist ending I did not see coming and it pleasantly surprised me. It was a worthy pay-off to an otherwise dull and uninvolving picture. That ending made it somewhat original and definitely unforgettable, but it also heavily relied on that twist which is so obviously influenced by ‘The Sixth Sense’.

It also made the entire movie implausible. The protagonists turned out to have been dead all along and thus the reveal that “the intruders” are the only living people in the house is fun, but doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. Why then would they have not seen them before? They are living in the house so they should have been there all along. It rendered the movie totally unbelievable and full of plot holes.

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But I still did like The Others, do not get me wrong. I just think that it could have easily been great with a couple of tweaks here and there, but ended up being just good. It is one of those serious horror films and it utilizes on its haunted house trope as best as it could. Certainly the first half is overly slow and frankly even dull at some points, but it has its moments and the second half was worth the huge build-up in my opinion.

Nicole Kidman is excellent here. She obviously was trying too hard with her British accent, but her performance is still terrific per usual. The others are also fine. I liked her character and she was very well established. I found the entire part with her husband sort of unnecessary, but at least the kids are very memorable and cute and I liked their dynamic. And of course Bertha and the others are terrific and the highlights here.

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The Others is very well shot and I liked the house, but did not love it. Some scenes were terrific such as that sheet sequence and of course the entire third act. To me the film worked best in the ghost sequences while it was too slow in non-ghost ones. I loved the score as it was so great and atmospheric and the film is very well directed by Amenabar, though weakly paced.

The Others is a good horror film, but far from a great one. It looks and sounds good with a great score, Nicole Kidman is very good in the main role and the film features an interesting story that utilizes on its haunted house trope well. But the first half is way too slow and frankly even dull at times and although the double twist ending is a lot of fun and unforgettable, it also rendered the movie totally implausible and full of plot holes.

My Rating – 4

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