The Others

REVIEW
Creating atmosphere so thick you could cut it with a scream, Spanish director Amenábar travels the lonely, haunted hallways of The Innocents and The Turn of the Screw with this mannered though stylish, effective ghost story, his first English-language film. In the last days of WWII, Grace (Kidman), a war widow, lives on the isolated Isle of Jersey with her two children hoping against hope that her MIA husband will return home. The servants have left without word, creating positions for the newly arrived, mysterious trio of domestics seeking work. There are several house rules that need to be obeyed, the strictest being that the curtains are to be closed at all times, for the children suffer from a debilitating sensitivity to sunlight. As it becomes apparent the servants have an unknown agenda, the children soon report sightings of a child from the other world. Kidman gives a controlled, passionate performance as the reserved Grace, attempting to find normality in surroundings bereft of it. Her composure (and its eventual loss) is in smart sync with director Amenábar's deliberate pacing, in which details are economically given. Mysteries soon give way to chills, which become overpowering until the turn of the last screw -- an ingenious twist no one should see coming.