*** Official "THE OTHERS" Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[David Chang]

***SPOILER***
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I want ask, has anyone notice the mirror in the bedroom scene? Is that reflection suppose to reflect noone, sort of foreshadow of what's gonna happen. Or was the mirror only reflecting the other side of bed where Charles(the husband, couldn't remember the name) wasn't sitting on? IMO that is a foreshadowing, which shows no reflection of kidman's husband.
One funny thought, Tom Cruise was actually the producer of the film!
Dave
[Edited last by David Chang on August 12, 2001 at 12:08 AM]

 

[Janna S]

David - I was watching for mirror scenes because I was sure that somebody was going to turn out to be not somebody, if you get my drift - and I am reasonably sure that as the door/mirror swung, it showed the whole bed - with no one on it.

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

**SPOILERS**
I had the same observations but wanted to make sure before commenting as the cabinet mirror did swung fast when Kidman opened it. But I paid attention and I believe that it was not supposed to show the husband. In an earlier scene, Kidman's reflection showed on a mirror thereby properly telling her dilemma in the film.
~Edwin

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

I noticed a couple of people (cough, Edwin) have stated that the closet scene was a cliche', i'll admit that it was, HOWEVER, within the context of the mood and tension, it worked. If this were 'Scream 4' it woudn't work, because your not wrapped up in the horror.
My point is, a GREAT horror film like The Others can get away with ANYTHING as long as it has you scared as hell first, and The Others had me SCARED SHITLESS!
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The Multi Channel Animal's truly, madly, deeply in love with Estella Warren!
[Edited last by John Williamson on August 12, 2001 at 05:03 PM]

 

[Kenneth]

I have been running this film back through my head (the sign of good movie, for me) and I have a few more observations.
I noticed that in the discussion about the war there was a very specific statement about the "goodies" and the "baddies". Here is my take on this:
Spoiler:Since the Father spoke of returning to the front, it seemed to imply that he was not the only lost soul spending eternity on the "Front". This gives rise to the possibility that where the afterlife is concerned there are no "goodies" or "baddies" but only "lost souls" from both sides. Of course, I may be reading too much into this but it seems to be a powerful implication.
The other is probably a stupid question (that's what I get for watching too many popcorn movies) but here goes:
It bothered me that the housekeeper suddenly appeared, unless you assume that Spoiler:that the housekeeper and the other two had been in the house all along and it was only after the Mother and children died that they had to pretend to rearrive. Otherwise, it doesn't make sense that they would appear at just that particular moment.
There seem to be so many layers to this movie.
Kenneth

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

*******MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD*******
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One of the things I really loved about this film was how it told it's story from the ghosts point of view and revealed that they were just as scared of us, the living, as we, the living were of them.
If you watch alot of documentaries about ghosts, the movie REALLY has a ring of truth to it, because parapsychologists always believed that, most of the time, ghosts don't really realize their situation and end up scaring the living when all their doing, in their eye's anyway, are going about their usual routine.
The Sixth Sense for all it's brilliance, really only just touched on this idea, while The Others really showed what may really be the reason behind why ghosts behave the way they do, because to them, WE the living are the ones causing a disturbance in THIER environment, of course we'll never know for sure.
As I stated above, this is a brilliant movie that will chill you to the core, and one of the best films of 2001, and IMHO, ranks as one of the greatest ghost stories ever made.
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The Multi Channel Animal's truly, madly, deeply in love with Estella Warren!

 

[Kevin Leonard]

Kenneth,
Yes, I believe you're correct. I can't remember exactly, but the housekeeper never fully explained how she knew the house needed servants even though the ad was never sent out to the papers. Remember, the trio had been living at the house for a long time; the housekeeper went to great lengths to explain she had been in the house before.
Regarding the housekeeper: does anybody know what she meant when she told Kidman's character to relax and she "would take care of [the situation]?" We learn at the end that Kidman took care of the situation (the "intruders"); I wonder what the housekeeper would have done.
Julie K,
I'm not terribly sure what you mean. I didn't see any evidence of CGI during that scene. It just looked like Kidman was firing blanks. I could be wrong; but even if there was CGI work, it was pretty seamless.
Man, was this ever a bright spot in the summer movie season. I too was scared out of my mind! One part that made everybody jump was when Kidman was searching the house and she walked past what looked like a face staring at her in the darkness...until it was revealed to only be a painting.
Great movie...I can't wait to see this again!
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Have you ever noticed anyone driving slower than you is an idiot? And anyone driving faster than you is a maniac!! - George Carlin
ICQ: 55259446 (or just search for "John Shaft"...can you dig?)

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Kevin, my guess for the housekeepers comment was that maybe she intended for the three of them (the servants) to get together and spook "the intruders" out of the house before Grace and the children found out what was really going on.
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The Multi Channel Animal's truly, madly, deeply in love with Estella Warren!
[Edited last by John Williamson on August 13, 2001 at 04:05 AM]

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

One part that made everybody jump was when Kidman was searching the house and she walked past what looked like a face staring at her in the darkness...until it was revealed to only be a painting.

For me, it would have been scary if it did turn out to be other than just a painting because when it first showed up, the face did look like a painting. One of the wonderful things of Jean Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast was his clever use of surrealistic sets and visual effects (not CGI), which this film could have benefitted from.
~Edwin

 

[Charles Guajardo]

I saw "The Others" this weekend and thought it was great. the pacing, music, and acting all made it feel like a ghost story told around a campfire. i did have one question though:
Spoiler:after nicole kidman attacks her daughter/ghost she speaks to her husband who says that annie "told him everything". To what was he referring? it couldn't have been about her smothering the children since they don't find that out till the end. any ideas?
[Edited last by Charles Guajardo on August 13, 2001 at 11:16 PM]

 

[Norm]

This is a really good movie. I can't believe that these gore fest directors Barker & Craven love this movie. They need to learn from it!
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[Jason Seaver]

Charles,
I think that's exactly what Anne told her father. She obviously didn't realize what the end result was, but she probably figured out the intent, especially after Grace apparently Spoiler:attacked her again.

 

[BarryR]

I saw THE OTHERS tonight and I have a renewed appreciation for audiences too--the place was packed with teenagers, and I thought--uh oh, they're going to get restless, But no, the whole film went by and the whole theatre was very attentive, and reacted at the right moments--nothing is more fun than being scared and laughing at the same time, which is what happened at certain points from the crowd. They had fun, and so did I.

 

[Mark D]

You can see my review here .

 

[Richard Fernandez]

Never thought I would say this but, Nice job Nicole Kidman. Love the ending.

Later

 

[Lawrence Stowbunenko]

** Spoilers **
First, what did Nicole's character say when the older servent responded "That's what (the mute girl) said right before she stopped speaking."?
Second, A nice jumpy moment that nobody has mentioned yet was when Nicole was checking the door to the piano room.
Third, I rarely go to the theater anymore, but for this one I made an exception because I heard it had a nice surprise ending and I didn't want to know about it before I was able to see it. With that said, I'm glad I went but it just reaffirmed why I hate going to theaters anymore. There was a child sitting next to me that was obviously bored and decided to rock back and forth on the squeaky seat throughout the movie. The couple behind me were scarfing down on popcorn for most of the movie while jangling what sounded like a loaded keychain. Finally, the quality of the print and equipment at my local theater was pathetic. It was off center so you can see this white vertical line at the edge of the screen the whole time. The lighting of the movie kepty wavering, and the print itself kept jumping around. Maybe next time I'll chance getting the ending of a good movie leaked to me.

 

[Holadem]

I do have to admit though that in one of the supposedly frightful moments where the kids were hiding inside the closet, over half of the audience jumped at that scene. I, on the other hand, already expected that a cliche' was coming and therefore, was not suprised at all at the predictability of that scene.

Edwin,
EVERYBODY knew a cliche was coming... knowing didn't make it less scary for most of us, that is all.
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Holadem - beside the cliche factor, we had ample warning with the music...

 

[Julie K]

Ok, no one else was bothered by the shotgun firing. As I said, the print I saw was in really bad shape, so maybe that was the problem. The whole scene just looked bad to me, but so did a lot of other scenes and they were definitely due to the bad print. Jeez, you make plans to go opening day and you get stuck with a rotten print.

Hopefully, the DVD will look just fine.
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My DVDs
"Some people think I'm over-prepared, paranoid...maybe even a little crazy. But they never met any pre-Cambrian life forms, did they?"

 

[Matthew Todd]

Has anyone else been struck by how much Nicole Kidman here looks like Grace Kelly? During the first scenes I was struck by how much she looked like her, and then realized her character's name was Grace also. Here's a couple of pictures:

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"Do not use to unclog a disposal drain." - On a box of Dynamite (from Joseph Howard)
[Edited last by Matthew Todd on August 21, 2001 at 04:44 PM]

 

[Dan M]

EVERYBODY knew a cliche was coming... knowing didn't make it less scary for most of us, that is all.

Good point. I certainly knew something was coming, that was obvious. It still made my hair stand up nonetheless.
I think my fellow movie goers felt it also! The reaction throughout the theater was pretty much unanimous.
SPOILER:
maybe just old, blind white eyed women with crazy hair popping out of nowhere just scares the poop out me. I dunno....

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