FilmBlather.com

"Is there someone in this house?!"

The Others felt like it was made specifically for me. This doesn't mean that you'll love it, mind -- some people just don't fancy this kind of picture -- but I do heartily recommend that you give it a try. It's a ghost story, but like the best ghost stories, it's frightening because of what you don't see; suspenseful because we anticipate disaster, not because it has struck.

The movie begins with a scream -- literally -- and it's about the only screaming that goes on in this subdued affair. Nicole Kidman plays Grace, who lives with her two children in a mansion after the end of World War II. Her husband did not return from the war. The old house servants ran off, apparently frightened by something, and one of the film's first scenes has the new servants showing up at the door. Mrs. Mills (Fionnula Flanagan), Mr. Tuttle (Erik Sykes), and Lydia (Elaine Cassidy), who is mute, used to work at the house, we find out, and have returned on the off chance that Grace needs some help.

Grace's young children -- Anne (Alakina Mann) and Nicholas (James Bentley) -- are extremely photosensitive, and exposure to daylight will cause them to break out in sores and, eventually, die. They're normal kids in every other respect -- smart, playful, curious, reluctant to study -- except that Anne sees people in the house, a family who isn't supposed to be there. It's not long before Grace herself starts hearing weird noises that subside whenever she gets close. And then there are those housekeepers...

The Others has been criticized for being slow, and, indeed, if deliberate filmmaking isn't your thing, you may not appreciate what this film has to offer. I fell in love with the movie almost from the word go, with its moody atmosphere, slowly building suspense and neo-gothic production design all coming together beautifully. Unlike any given Slasher Flick X, The Others is also genuinely scary, combining good old-fashioned jolts with the sort of eerie quiet that's tantamount to utter terror.

Nicole Kidman is a magnetic presence, but the acting props here go to Fionnula Flanagan, the veteran actress who so creepily encapsules the mystery of her character. I also liked newcomers James Bentley and Alakina Mann, who collectively pull a Haley Joel Osment in convincing us that they are terrified and bringing us along for the ride. Spanish writer-director Alejandro Amenabar, who gained some American fans with his mind-blowing import Open Your Eyes (now being remade as Vanilla Sky with Tom Cruise), makes a confident English-language debut, never faltering with his rhythm; he's patient and expects the same from us.

The movie holds on to its nearly Luddite storytelling until the very end, when we're presented with an ending that's anchored in plot, not special effects. It works not only as a Neat Twist, but as a plausible character resolution as well; Amenabar thrills, but he doesn't betray his own creation.

I can't get enough of this type of movie, mainly because they are barely ever released (the last film that took such a deliberate approach to the supernatural is Unbreakable and before that The Ninth Gate; notice the grade for both). Until M. Night Shyamalan's new film comes out, Alejandro Amenabar is my hero.