?The Others? brings creepy Gothic horror to screen

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"The Others"|ret||ret||tab|

Directed by: Alejandro Amenabar|ret||ret||tab|

Starring: Nicole Kidman, Fionnula Flanagan, Alakina Mann, James Bentley|ret||ret||tab|

Rated: PG-13|ret||ret||tab|

When I was in seventh grade (let's see ... was that eight or nine years ago?), Mrs. Blankenship, my English teacher, read aloud "The Pit and the Pendulum." Thus was my introduction to the pleasures and horror of Gothic literature and to Edgar Allen Poe, an author who to this day remains a personal favorite. |ret||ret||tab|

True Gothic horror films are few and far between of late, but young Spanish director Alejandro Amenabar, with his first American release, "The Others," has served up a near masterpiece. |ret||ret||tab|

The tale follows the Gothic formula closely and the cast, led by Nicole Kidman in one of her best performances, is dead-on perfect. |ret||ret||tab|

Not a "slasher" film, nor a special-effects-laden-knock-you-on-the-head-to-scare-you sort of affair, "The Others" revels in crawling up your spine rather than punching you in the face. |ret||ret||tab|

Amenabar, 29, has only directed one other film, the Spanish language "Open Your Eyes," which has been remade by Cameron Crowe ("Almost Famous") for an American release. |ret||ret||tab|

The film, retitled "Vanilla Sky," stars no less than Tom Cruise. Release date as of this writing is December 14th. Cruise is a huge fan of Amenabar and served as co-producer on "The Others." |ret||ret||tab|

With the recent spate of "haunted house" movies, it would be easy to misperceive this film as another in the line. Not so. |ret||ret||tab|

"The Others" outclasses things like the latest versions of "The House on Haunted Hill" and "The Haunting" by a long shot.|ret||ret||tab|

In "The Others," Ms. Kidman plays Grace, a lady waiting for her husband to return from World War II. |ret||ret||tab|

She lives, with her two children Anne and Nicholas, in a huge Victorian mansion on the Isle of Jersey off the English coast. |ret||ret||tab|

Such is her longing for her husband that she often wakes in the night, screaming.|ret||ret||tab|

Maybe it's this or maybe something else, but one night the servants just disappear. |ret||ret||tab|

Grace knows she can't manage the house and children by herself, so she advertises in the local paper for a staff.|ret||ret||tab|

The trio that show up, Mrs. Mills, the young mute girl Lydia, and the ancient gardener Mr. Tuttle, seem perfect. Not only are they experienced, but they've actually worked at this place before. Before Grace and her family moved in.|ret||ret||tab|

They know the house, but not the new rules. It seems Anne and Nicholas have a rare condition that makes them allergic to sunlight. |ret||ret||tab|

All drapes must be closed before the children enter a room, and to help ensure the children are not exposed to light, no door may be unlocked and opened until the previous one is shut and locked. |ret||ret||tab|

This can become a bit troublesome in a house with 50 doors and 15 separate keys. The English can be ever s-o-o-o eccentric.|ret||ret||tab|

As the new servants settle in, we begin to get a sense of everyday life at the manor: Grace home schools the kids, Mrs. Mills cooks, things go bump in the night, strange voices are heard, pianos play themselves. ...|ret||ret||tab|

Amenabar paces this film very deliberately, building tension as it moves (sometimes creeps) along. |ret||ret||tab|

Everyone will have their own ideas about what is really happening, and who knows, some of those ideas may even be right. |ret||ret||tab|

All I know is the twists and turns the director (he also wrote the screenplay, as well as composed the score) uses worked on me. |ret||ret||tab|

I had no less than two genuine spinal goosebump moments, one jump out of my seat followed by a goosebumps moment, and too many nervous giggles to count. |ret||ret||tab|

When the payoff gets around, I think a lot of people are going to be in for quite a surprise.|ret||ret||tab|

Films like "The Others" are hard to review, because to give away much of anything may ruin the experience for someone who hasn't yet seen it. Suffice to say if you like supernatural/horror movies, this is the film for you. It's the most effective film in that genre to come along since "The Sixth Sense," although as stated above, "The Others" has quite a Gothic bent.|ret||ret||tab|

If "The Others" is up your alley, you'll want to go to your local video outlet and seek out the 1961 classic, "The Innocents." |ret||ret||tab|

The film is based on Henry James' novel "The Turn of the Screw." Those familiar with it may at first (in the first act anyway) think "The Others" is a remake. It isn't, but they're both worth seeing if you like that disturbing feeling these kinds of movies give you. |ret||ret||tab|

(Jim Wunderle works at Associated Video Producers and is a Springfield free-lance writer and musician.)[[In-content Ad]]