Pure Spine-Tingling Suspense And Perhaps

One Of Kidman’s Best Performances Yet

Things that go bump in the night do not go over well with me. The same could be said for creaky floors, squeaky doors, sinister shadows, dim lighting and spooky fog… all of which can be found in abundance in The Others, which was bumped from a recent scheduling for Edmond Town Hall in Newtown (but will hopefully be screened there soon) and recently completed a run at Bethel Cinema. Much to my surprise, however, I really enjoyed this unexpectedly classy haunted house chiller, directed with a sure hand by the young Spanish helmer Alejandro Amenabar, working on only his third major movie and his first English-language film.

Bolstered by some fine performances, The Others stars Nicole Kidman as Grace, a young mother living with her two children in a cavernous, creepy house on the secluded isle of Jersey during the waning days of World War II. Grace’s husband left home to fight in the war and she was left to fend for herself and her delicate children, Anne (Alakina Mann) and Nicholas (James Bentley), who are sensitive to light and could die from overexposure to extreme brightness. Thus, the movie opens with some intriguing twists on the usual gothic, haunted house conventions: Grace, as our protagonist, instead of seeking to expose the house to light and unlock secluded corners of the house, goes through the mansion closing heavy drapes and locking doors behind her in order to keep light out. But already, as an audience, we’re asking: She’s locked the light out, but what (or who) is it she has locked in with her and the kids?

The family’s solitary life is brightened somewhat when three new tenants arrive offering their services to Grace and the children. Mrs Mills (Fionnula Flanagan), Mr Tuttle (Eric Sykes) and the mute Lydia (Elaine Cassidy) get briefed on the ins and outs of the house, including the need for near-complete silence (Grace is prone to migraines) and the use of discretion whenever speaking with the kids. You see, Anne and Nicholas sometimes have strange ideas… like their insistence that there is someone else in the house.

Amenabar, who also co-wrote the film and serves as its composer (the score is minimalistic but highly effective), shows a deft ability to draw us into the narrative without actually giving us much of a story. Instead, we get vague, but tantalizing details about the family, their religious beliefs, the absence of the father, the backgrounds of the three servants, and more, and Amenabar uses it all as wallpaper for the dense mood of foreboding that he creates. Other tools in his arsenal include the sharp use of sound editing and sound effects which, at one point during the showing I attended, caused almost the entire audience to gasp and jump at the same time (which then elicited a host of giggles as we all realized how entranced we had become to the building tension in the film); and the stunning cinematography of Javier Aguirresarobe, who uses every trick in the fright-house catalog and gives it a seemingly fresh spin.

But perhaps most impressive about the film is the central performance by Kidman, who has rarely been better. Whereas many have commented in the past that she seems too cold and austere to truly connect with an audience, here she uses those characteristics to engender herself to us: Grace becomes highly sympathetic because very early on we sense that her rigidity is but a façade hiding a fragile shell of a woman trying to cope with difficult (supernatural?) circumstances.

The Others is rated PG-13 for thematic elements and frightening moments. However, there is no blood or gore to be found here… just pure, spine-tingling suspense and fine, big-screen entertainment.