 |
| Rated PG-13 for thematic elements and frightening moments. |
Sooner or later, they will find you.
Some secrets are better left unknown than said. Or should I say remembered?
In Alejandro Amenábar's suspenseful thriller The Others, it's nearing the end of World War II in England, where the Stewart family is distraught over the long wait for Charles Stewart (Christopher Eccleston) to return from combat. His wife Grace (Nicole Kidman) and their children Anne (Alakina Mann) and Nicholas (James Bentley) are convinced that he isn't gone. As they wait, the children are to live under Grace's rules in their house in Jersey.
The movie starts with three servants -- elderly Bertha Mills (Fionnula Flanagan), gardener Mr. Edmund Tuttle (Eric Sykes), and mute Lydia (Elaine Cassidy) -- coming to apply for work under the Stewart family. Grace explains that all their servants left unexpectedly a couple weeks back without a trace of where they had gone. Throughout the film, the world outside slowly gets denser with strange fog.
However, Grace has some very strict rules. Anne and Nicholas have a condition where they are photosensitive to light, making them vulnerable to anything brighter than a candle. Under these conditions, the new servants are told to always keep the curtains closed and "never open a door without closing the previous one."
As the days go on and the house stays dreary, Grace goes to check the mail and learns that the advertisement for new servants was never sent out. She confronts Mrs. Mills, who explains that the three of them have worked in the house before a long time ago. Shortly afterwords, strange happenings begin to occur in the house, which includes Anne seeing a young boy by the name of Victor. Thuds on the floors, footsteps on the stairs, and doors closing are some of the phenomenons that Grace witnesses -- but refuses to believe that "intruders" (or ghosts) could be lurking in their blessed home.
The plot unfolds when Grace, on a hunt to find the "intruders," finds a book full of photographs. What looks to be peaceful people sleeping is actually the complete opposite -- the album is known as the book of the dead. The story becomes even more twisted when one morning, while Anne is trying on her Communion dress, Grace sees an old blind woman instead of her daughter and attacks her, only to release her and see Anne crying.
There were also previous mentions of Anne telling Nicholas of their mother holding a pillow, and Nicholas always refusing to believe that their loving mother was going crazy. Then the audience watched the strange occurrence of Mr. Tuttle burying gravestones with dried leaves, his face hiding an unexpected secret.
Who are the others, you ask? Well, I can't tell you, but I can say this: This movie simply gave me the chills! It was definitely an eery plot with the most unpredictable of an ending. (Though deemed as a thriller -- not a horror -- film, my friends were curled up on the couch crying.) I recommend it full heartily and give it a thrilling 10 out of 10!
Watch the Trailer!
I PEED MY PANTS IN THIS MOVIE...D:
ReplyDelete