“the intruders are leaving, but others will come. sometimes we’ll sense them. other times, we won’t.”
the others was sat in my watchlist for the longest time - and to tell the truth, i initially just really wasn’t interested. i had it in my watchlist because i love everything horror, and it’d be best to obviously watch the best of the best, but supernatural or paranormal horror, whatever you want to call it, really just doesn’t really interest me. like they always follows a cliched story of a family who buy this really cheap house, and demonic entities enter their lives. while it can be fun as a one off watch, that trope just fills up majority of the subgenre - from the conjuring to the amityville horror. i’m not gonna say either of them are particularly bad horror movies, just ones that i have no interest in rewatching either ever again. now why did i pick this for movie night? my answer is nicole kidman. she’s just so incredible - to the point where i’ve already watched like five of her movies in the span of a couple months (many which i haven’t logged) but literally every film i’ve seen with her in, she always just carries with her unique performances, and her extreme versatility - from dogville, the nihilistic drama to moulin rouge, a campy musical. i went into this with an extremely open head, and i would be lying if i said i wasn’t infatuated from the very start. i will always love where horror films care about their setting and costumes - and the idea of a horror film taking place in a 1940s gothic mansion with a drowned out colour pallet and a rich family who’s father is at war, and them hiring housekeepers. i have a massive spot for period-pieces, and the general set pieces and aesthetic are totally on point. horror in the 2000s is very hit or miss - known as the era where torture porn becomes mainstream - with gory flicks such as saw or hostel, with a highly nihilistic lens and focus on extreme splatter. i don’t fully get the hate train, but yeah - most of them are kinda generic, even if i am a gore enthusiast. the other side of 2000s horror is what i was talking about before, supernatural - usually with the cheapest jumpscares imaginable. the amazing thing about ‘the others’ is it truly defies the otherwise cheap establishment that horror seems to go down. it creates dread not through gore or jumpscares - but creating true dread through its fog shrouded setting of a rural mansion - with the smart use of darkness throughout (due to the children’s photosensitivity) which allows a claustrophobic feeling to create true terror. another problem with horror in the 90s to the 00s is the over reliance on cgi - which honestly 99% looks super unrealistic, and when used in a movie like this, just ruins the experience. this film avoids cgi at all costs - and in replacement uses minimalistic lightning and an unsettling score. like i mentioned before, nicole kidman is truly incredible - and here, it’s honestly probably a career best performance - or one of the best. her portrayal as the paranoid, over religious mother both brings hatred and sympathy, and her constant screaming fits in the latter half are emotionally intense. now - the thing that i’m probably gonna spend most of the review talking about - the absolutely insane plot twist. spoiler warning from now on, but this movie is honestly up there for the best plot twist ever. i love how it tries something different - instead of the protagonists being haunted by ghosts, the protagonists are the ghosts! it’s just genius, and i’m surprised no one did it sooner. the use of subtle clues and foreshadowing really make this ending extremely effective. grace murdered her children in a fit - and are now stuck in purgatory with a family who came before them, the bodies they hear are actually the alive humans who inhabit the house after them. grace uses religion to hide her sins, and the children hide from the truth. it’s a powerful horror which explores grief, denial and religious paranoia.
“the intruders are leaving, but others will come. sometimes we’ll sense them. other times, we won’t.”
the others was sat in my watchlist for the longest time - and to tell the truth, i initially just really wasn’t interested. i had it in my watchlist because i love everything horror, and it’d be best to obviously watch the best of the best, but supernatural or paranormal horror, whatever you want to call it, really just doesn’t really interest me. like they always follows a cliched story of a family who buy this really cheap house, and demonic entities enter their lives. while it can be fun as a one off watch, that trope just fills up majority of the subgenre - from the conjuring to the amityville horror. i’m not gonna say either of them are particularly bad horror movies, just ones that i have no interest in rewatching either ever again. now why did i pick this for movie night? my answer is nicole kidman. she’s just so incredible - to the point where i’ve already watched like five of her movies in the span of a couple months (many which i haven’t logged) but literally every film i’ve seen with her in, she always just carries with her unique performances, and her extreme versatility - from dogville, the nihilistic drama to moulin rouge, a campy musical. i went into this with an extremely open head, and i would be lying if i said i wasn’t infatuated from the very start. i will always love where horror films care about their setting and costumes - and the idea of a horror film taking place in a 1940s gothic mansion with a drowned out colour pallet and a rich family who’s father is at war, and them hiring housekeepers. i have a massive spot for period-pieces, and the general set pieces and aesthetic are totally on point. horror in the 2000s is very hit or miss - known as the era where torture porn becomes mainstream - with gory flicks such as saw or hostel, with a highly nihilistic lens and focus on extreme splatter. i don’t fully get the hate train, but yeah - most of them are kinda generic, even if i am a gore enthusiast. the other side of 2000s horror is what i was talking about before, supernatural - usually with the cheapest jumpscares imaginable. the amazing thing about ‘the others’ is it truly defies the otherwise cheap establishment that horror seems to go down. it creates dread not through gore or jumpscares - but creating true dread through its fog shrouded setting of a rural mansion - with the smart use of darkness throughout (due to the children’s photosensitivity) which allows a claustrophobic feeling to create true terror. another problem with horror in the 90s to the 00s is the over reliance on cgi - which honestly 99% looks super unrealistic, and when used in a movie like this, just ruins the experience. this film avoids cgi at all costs - and in replacement uses minimalistic lightning and an unsettling score. like i mentioned before, nicole kidman is truly incredible - and here, it’s honestly probably a career best performance - or one of the best. her portrayal as the paranoid, over religious mother both brings hatred and sympathy, and her constant screaming fits in the latter half are emotionally intense. now - the thing that i’m probably gonna spend most of the review talking about - the absolutely insane plot twist. spoiler warning from now on, but this movie is honestly up there for the best plot twist ever. i love how it tries something different - instead of the protagonists being haunted by ghosts, the protagonists are the ghosts! it’s just genius, and i’m surprised no one did it sooner. the use of subtle clues and foreshadowing really make this ending extremely effective. grace murdered her children in a fit - and are now stuck in purgatory with a family who came before them, the bodies they hear are actually the alive humans who inhabit the house after them. grace uses religion to hide her sins, and the children hide from the truth. it’s a powerful horror which explores grief, denial and religious paranoia.
