Film Filter: Off - The Others

The Others PG-13 (2001)


Film Filter: Off- This film appears to be dark, mysterious, and has all the right ingredients to the recipe to be  scary.  After ingredients are prepared according to directions, however, it disappoints.

Pros- Nicole Kidman and the two children deliver very believable and hearty performances.  Overall, the entire cast does an excellent job portraying their characters and administering to the dialogue, which is good since speaking envelops most of the film.
  The setup for the setting is quite clever as well.  Similar to The Woman in Black, this story is successful in its ability to be true to an unfamiliar time period to most of the viewers of the film.  When done properly, this concept can prove to enhance the level of fear by the audience, due to the idiosyncrasies of the time period i.e. no electricity, no phones, no neighbors, etc.  It was also an interesting, and useful, twist that the children were allergic to light.  This required most of the scenes to take place during the dark, which (voila!) is a naturally occurring, perfect set up to a scary movie.
  I will say that for the few shortcomings the film offers, the ending makes up for it.  A very good twist ending that I didn't see coming.

Cons- For a scary movie...this film is pretty damn un-scary.  With the exception of one part, that you could argue is more freakish than actually frightening, there really is a lot to be desired in this film.  A  lot of the suspenseful portions were just things going bump in the night, doors closing unexpectedly, and unexplained seeings from the daughter's perspective.  While these components are all well and good for a scary movie build up, they are left to dangle while there is no follow through on actually seeing or experiencing these things first hand.  Unless you want to do the Paranormal Activity route and use the "found footage" genre that is catching like wildfire, it is very difficult to make a movie that is "scary" without SHOWING the audience something.

Wrap up- This is not a bad movie, if you're looking for a suspenseful drama with a slow moving plot and lots of dialogue.  Definitely not for the average thrill seeking, scary movie veteran, though.

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