The Others (2001)
A film that relies on much darkness and plenty of shadows to bring about the fear, The Others supplies tons of tension and fear even while we think we know what is going on. That is the other benefit to this supernatural horror film, we think we know the truth, and in part we do, but at the end, the audience comes to realize that the truth is much more terrifying than we realized. This film also came out right at the end of Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise's marriage (he's a producer and she's the main actress). Little did we all realize that the true horror of all is that Cruise is a raging lunatic, insane from years of Scientological indoctrination. Silly man. Oh... ahem... The Others... yes.
Very few people have not seen this movie at this point in time, so you all basically know the story. I'll try to add something you may have missed, make the review more fun and/or interesting, and maybe even add some psychoanalysis to the mix. Woo! Anyhoodle... the movie begins... We are in England, post World War II, in a great mansion with a young woman Grace, portrayed by Kidman, and her two young children, Anne and Nicholas (played by Alakina Mann and James Bentley respectively). Three strangers arrive at the door and Grace assumes they are there for an ad she put out looking for help taking care of the estate. These strangers are Mrs. Bertha Mills (Fionnula Flanagan), who seems to be the leader of the group, Mr. Edmund Tuttle (Eric Sykes) who is elderly but is good at performing yard work, and a young woman who is mute named Lydia (Elaine Cassidy).
Why in the world is Lydia in pajamas? Doesn't that seem odd at all to Grace? Well... I guess 'odd' is relative... especially when you've been married to Xenu-fearing Tom Cruise!
Grace soon discovers that her ad never made it out as it was still in the mailbox, and she confronts the three servants. Mrs. Mills calmly explains that she tried to tell Grace when they arrived that they had actually worked in this very house and that large houses often need help. This satisifies Grace. Anne and Nicholas do their homework in a darkened room (they are photosensitive), and Anne teases Nicholas by telling him about ghosts. She is chided by her mother for such foolishness... until she starts to experience the strange events as well. There is music playing on a piano in a room that is where Anne is studying. Grace goes in and shuts the piano and her to cut it out. Anne blames it on Victor - a ghost that she sees and talks to periodically. She hears thumping and moving about and assumes that it's Lydia and yells at the woman to stop. That night, Anne scares Nicholas by telling him that Victor is in the room and is going to touch him. Anne is clearly in trouble and must read aloud the next day.
Then Grace hears the noises again. Just as she is about to go after Lydia, she sees the young woman outside. She asks Anne, still reading on the stairs, where the noise is coming from and who it is. Anne claims that she doesn't know what to tell her mother since she got punished for telling the truth, but in the end points to the room where the noise is coming from. Grace enters and is overwhelmed and begins to uncover everything. At one point, she uncovers a mirror in time to see the door behind her beginning to close by itself. Meanwhile, Anne has drawn a picture of several people, including a very ghoulish looking old lady, with numbers next to them. When her mother asks what this is about, she claims to have seen them (ghosts) and the numbers represent how many times she has seen them.
Is it just me or is the lantern crazy scary? I mean.... look at the way it glows.... all... on... its... own!!
At this point, the children are hidden away and the draperies in all the rooms are opened so that Grace and the helpers can search for the intruders, finding no one. That night, she speaks with Mrs. Mills about how difficult things have been, and she visits the children and attempts to comfort Nicholas. Again, that night, she hears the piano playing, which has been locked, along with the door. With a shotgun she enters, shuts and locks the piano and slowly leaves the room. The door closes behind her... on its own. Trying to figure out what is going on, she opens the door again, only to have it slammed in her face, throwing her to the floor. She then screams for help.
The next day, Grace leaves to go to the town priest because she fears that there is evil in her house at this point. To add to the increasingly suspenseful and creepy atmosphere, Mr. Tuttle starts covering up a grave with dead leaves. Unfortunately, Grace continues on and she gets lost in the fog. Yet, she somehow runs into her husband, back from the war. It is clearly a surprising, unexpected, and unbelievable event in the film. Yet, it has happened. She brings him home, and Mrs. Mills comments to Mr. Tuttle that Charles, the husband, does not seem to know where he is. The kids, of course, are thrilled to see their father. However, Charles won't eat... he is confused, afraid, and in a state of shock. Anne upsets her mother that night at dinner, who still refuses to accept the ghosts. Mrs. Mills and the others realize it is time to put an end to the foolishness. They must do what must be done.
Well, this scene has been parodied to death... how can I make an original contribution.... uhh.... "There now, Anne. Now no one will have to see your hideous face." "What?!?!" "I mean, uh, er, uh... don't you look pretty?!"
The infamous "You're not my daughter!" scene. Grace allows Anne to play for a bit in her Communion dress and goes to visit Charles. When she returns, it is not Anne's face peering out from under the veil, rather the old woman that Anne has drawn and spoken of many times. When Grace claims that this person is not her daughter, Anne's voice is heard proclaiming that she is. Unfortunately, Grace attacks her and then sees that it is indeed Anne when the girl falls to the floor. Anne cries and tells her father what happened... Graces confides in Mrs. Mills. Then, Anne tells Nicholas that their mother is mad while Charles tells Grace he must return to the front.
The parents make love, and Grace wakes up to discover Charles has left. She goes out to the gate, but returns upon hearing the screams of her children. She runs back to the house to discover that all of the drapes have been taken. She hustles the children into an interior room, blocking a window with a chalkboard while she and (she hopes) the three servants search the house. When she first yells, Mrs. Mills suggests that perhaps the children's allergies to light has cleared up, earning her a bitchslap (vocally) from Grace. Mr. Tuttle is called in and calmly agrees, that oh, yes, the drapes are indeed missing. Hmm. Interesting. But hey... natural light... nice! When she realizes these crazy kids are just not going to help her, she orders them out of the house, at which point our lovely Mrs. Mills decides that now is the time to uncover the gravestones, as she and Mr. Tuttle (and we assume Lydia... poor thing... she just goes with what she's told to do) proclaim that they are tired of the shenanigans.
Awww, how sweet, they're posing for a portrait! Well, right before revealing themselves as ghosts come to scare the bejeezus out of everyone.
Although I realize that the majority of the population has seen this film, I do not want to give too much away. Clearly, in my fantastically hysterical caption of this picture, I have revealed that Mrs. Mills, Mr. Tuttle, and Lydia are indeed ghosts. However, I am going to leave the very end a mystery for the few who have not seen it. I will say, the movie does a fantastic job of providing scares, tension, fear, and suspense up until the final moments. The children have tried to run away to find their father. This is when they discover the graves...which happens to be at the same moment Grace discovers a memento mori photo... both the graves and the photo revealing that the three servants are indeed dead.
The rest of the film... now that you know the three are actually ghosts... is for you to watch. The children scream and run to the house to be with their mother... and it continues to get stranger and scarier, until the truth is finally revealed. I hope you enjoy it.
Go forth in fear!
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