Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

The Others Blu-ray Movie Review

Everybody do the twist.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 3, 2011

Perhaps it’s due to nothing more than the ubiquitous Twilight Zone reruns which were weekday after school viewing staples for me growing up, but I have an almost inerrant ability to predict supposed “twists” in film from virtually the moment the film starts. Unfortunately for my wife, who usually accompanies me to the theater or is by my side when we watch at home, I always want to announce my conclusions just to prove that I’ve outwitted the filmmakers early in their own games. Having been raised on the artful last minute surprises dished up by Rod Serling, Richard Matheson and all the other fantastic writers who made Twilight Zone such an unforgettable phenomenon, I have rarely been surprised by shocking revelations delivered in modern films. The Sixth Sense? My suspicions were instantly raised with the segue from the shooting scene and as soon as Haley Joel Osment looked directly at Bruce Willis and declaimed that famous line about what he saw, the game was up for me and I knew exactly what was going on. Similarly, I figured out the main ruse of The Others almost from the get-go, but it’s to the film’s credit that even though I knew what the “big twist” was going to be, it really didn’t defeat the film’s energy or moodiness for me, and I doubt even those who may be able to figure out who’s haunting whom in this evocative ghost story will mind very much if they sense the reality behind the illusion of this well crafted and suitably spooky 2001 film written and directed by Alejandro Amenábar. Amenábar, a Chilean-Spanish filmmaker, works in a somewhat similar style to Guillermo del Toro, at least insofar as del Toro mines the hallucinogenic dreamworld of children a lot of the time. Though The Others is ostensibly told from the point of view of seemingly neurotically overprotective mother Grace (Nicole Kidman), it’s the presence of her two young children Anne (Alakina Mann) and Nicholas (James Bentley), both of whom suffer from an allergic reaction to light (an actual, albeit rare, disease called xeroderma pigmentosum), who give the film its emotional heft and most disturbing aspect. Taking place in the immediate aftermath of World War II on the Channel Islands which were of course invaded and occupied by the Germans, The Others is a wonderfully Gothic, incredibly atmospheric piece that brings to mind a long series of ghost or possession pieces like Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw, where the audience is never quite sure if the hauntings are figments of an overactive imagination or something more sinister at work.

The film starts with a horrifying scream emanating from Grace’s lips as she evidently wakes from a bad nightmare. And yet Grace’s waking life seems to be the stuff of bad dreams. Her soldier husband hasn’t been heard from since the end of the war, her servants up and disappeared without a word a few days previously, and both of her children suffer from an incredibly rare illness which requires Grace to haul around a huge ring of keys to keep each of the 50 individual interior doors locked lest any stray light peep through an unexpected crack. Grace rises to find three new applicants at her door for the staff jobs she has posted in the local paper. There’s kindly Mrs. Mills (Fionnula Flanagan), elderly gardener Mr. Tuttle (Eric Sykes) and a younger girl who turns out to b mute, Lydia (Elaine Cassidy). Mrs. Mills and Mr. Tuttle seems to be strangely cognizant of events that are impacting Grace and her children, and with a series of things that go bump in the night and other apparitions, Grace descends rather quickly into a perhaps understandable paranoia.

The Others isn’t an out and out shock-fest, and in fact there are only a couple of downright startling moments in the film. What it is, however, is something perhaps much more resonant: an eerie mood piece that is rather quietly unsettling, letting the viewer enter the confused and troubled world of Grace and her children while never getting overly graphic about what’s really going on. In fact the film does an incredibly artful job of keeping the viewer guessing whether there really is supernatural activity or whether it’s just some sort of St. Vitus’ Dance shared by an increasingly frenetic Grace and her children. But running just beneath the surface of the drama is a subtext of menace and even sadness, and it’s in those elements that The Others manages to become one of the more spooky films in recent memory.

The subtle interplay between Kidman and Flanagan is one of the greatest pleasures of this film, and there’s a wonderfully shifting interrelationship between the two where once again the viewer is left slightly unsure as to what exactly is going on. Does Mrs. Mills really have some inside knowledge she’s not being entire forthcoming about or is she part of some grand conspiracy which is slowly but surely driving Grace mad? Similarly, is Grace mad or is she the victim of some outrageous spectral presence which is out to get her and, perhaps more terrifyingly, her children? The Others walks this fine tightrope with a rather considerable flair, building its suspense craftily but without haste and without cheap tricks.

The film does take a rather bold step, which becomes a misstep, about two thirds of the way through the film when Grace’s husband shows up, against all odds. At this point Amenábar tips his hand a little too much for his own good, and the plot point peters out a little while later, making the ultimate denouement a bit more predictable than it might have been otherwise. There’s a nice sleight of hand a bit later, however, when the writer-director leads us to what is one conclusion about the trio of servants before delivering a final devastating blow that some at least may not see coming.

The Others Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Others arrives on Blu-ray with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. Amenábar has shrouded this film in lots of fog and mist, mixed with an autumnal amber hue, all of which are delivered very well in this high definition presentation. The misty ambience never devolves into digital noise territory, and while the image is frequently soft because of the overlay of haze, it's not unappealing or problematic. A lot of this film takes place in the cavernous rooms of the mansion, which is of course kept near blackness due to the children's condition, and while the Blu-ray supports fairly solid black levels, crush runs rampant throughout the film simply because so much of it is so dark. Heads seem to float (somehow appropriate given the ghostly nature of the storyline) if apparel is black (as it is a lot of the time) and shadow detail can all but disappear in many dimly lit sequences. In fact The Others more than most films seems to depend upon how much light is in any given scene to determine how sharp its image appears.

The Others Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Others is rather notable in terms of its sound design for forsaking typical horror-thriller clichés like jump cuts with accompanying loud LFE to startle its audience. Instead, the soundtrack, delivered here via a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix, is subtly assembled, with quieter, but often subliminally disturbing effects. There are a couple of loud moments, to be sure, and the DTS track supports them with boisterous LFE, but on the whole, this is a more nuanced track that allows nice ambient environmental noises to populate the surrounds rather than bombastic sonic activity. Fidelity is strong throughout the track, with all dialogue crisp and easy to hear. There's a surprising amount of dynamic range here as well, despite the film's smaller scale ambience, and the DTS track handles everything from a spectral whisper to a scream of terror with ease.

The Others Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Xeroderma Pigmentosum: What Is It? The Story of a Family Dealing with the Disease (SD; 8:57) is a fascinating profile of the Mahar family, whose daughter is one of the incredibly few people worldwide who suffers from XP, the allergy to light which is depicted in the film.
• A Look Inside The Others (SD; 21:56) is a decent enough EPK, with good interviews with Kidman and several other principal cast members, as well as Alejandro Amenábar. Interestingly, while co-producer Paula Wagner is featured, Tom Cruise, Wagner's producing partner and then toward the end of his marriage with Kidman, is rather sparsely included.
• Visual Effects Piece (SD; 4:29) is a really interesting split screen look at chromakey and other effects generators utilized in the film.
• An Intimate Look at Director Alejandro Amenábar (SD; 8:14) is a brief but interesting profile of the writer-director, showing him at work on set and consulting with the actors.
• Theatrical Trailer (SD; 2:30)

The Others Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

In terms of relatively recent films with a twist, The Others fare better than—well, then others due to the fact that its moody, spooky ambience doesn't depend on some big climactic denouement which seems to recast everything that's gone before. Helmed very smartly by Amenábar, and with top notch performances by Kidman, Flannagan and the supporting cast, this film quietly but very surely builds its suspense, letting the audience attempt to ferret out who, if anyone, is "playing" whom. The film makes a potentially disastrous misstep in its third act with the introduction of the missing father-husband, but otherwise this is an impressive thriller that holds up to repeated viewings, something rather unusual for a film built around a big surprise. The image quality here is a tad problematic, but overall the film and Blu-ray come Recommended.