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

[Joel Turpin]

The movie really worked for me as well, though not so much for my fiance. I liked the deliberate pacing, she thought it was too slow. The fact that the incidents were few and spaced apart added to the tension for me, she didn't think that enough happened. We both figured out the ending somewhat. Different strokes.
Regarding the cliche'd "jump" bit, we both knew it was coming, and we both bit anyway. Same with the piano scene.
I've gotta concur with the spooky, wrinkly grandma lookin' lady with the eyes being scary, regardless of context. I also loved the byplay between the siblings, making it impossible to tell if the sister was messing with her little brother's mind or if there was actually something sinister at work.
Thumbs up from me, thumbs down from my lady.
Joel

 

[Dan Hitchman]

Isn't this a bit of a reworking of "The Turn of the Screw" (the original book) and its movie version "The Innocents" (1963) with Deborah Kerr and two small children (a precocious boy and girl-- also very good child actors) which had a screenplay by Truman Capote?
Yes, I liked it and I jumped out of my frickin' seat with a yelp during the scene with the glass eyed lady throwing open the closet where the children were hiding (so did most of the audience, who were teenagers and college kids mostly!), but didn't feel like it was a very original concept although it seemed like it at the time due to the unusually large gap between truly chilling horror movies being released.
At least this wasn't just another horny teenage slasher flick passing itself off as a genuine horror film.
Reminded me a lot of Robert Wise's "The Haunting" in its atmosphere and creepy, shadowy, gothic mood. The Others was practically black and white anyway.
Too bad there were a few too many "give away" lines and "knowing" glances peppered throughout by the three caretakers. It might have been a modern masterpiece otherwise.
Dan
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[Edited last by Dan Hitchman on August 23, 2001 at 01:39 AM]

 

[Brett_B]

Kevin & John,

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.

I think it was simply that when...
Spoiler:Grace and the children were alive, the housekeeper and crew were already dead and residing at the house. So, Grace and the children had no idea they were even there, because the housekeeper and crew never revealed themselves as ghosts before (remember the housekeeper telling them about co-existing with the living). Now when Grace kills her children then herself, they are now ghosts and can see the housekeeper who more than likely knew the outcome, but didn't want to come out and tell them of their demise.
Brett B.

 

[brentl]

I'd have to that the Others ranks "up there" for me.
Good pacing, good acting, and script.
I'm sure most people figured it out right away butSpoiler:I knew her husband was dead even before he said "Ineed to go back to the front"
The only thing I wish would have happened was when NKs character was flipping through the book of the dead Spoiler:and she sees the servants pictures I wish they would have turned and looked at her from the picture.
I've seen that done once before and did I jump??....wohoo
Brent L

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I'm interested. I thought I'd never say this, but would some who's seen the movie care to spoil me rotten? Spoiler:I know Grace killed herself and her two children, but how did this happen? Why? And what happens when they are ghosts?
This is one film where it has an ending which intruiges me, but the premise does not. I'm not a fan of the Haunted House genre, the sole exception being the original House on Haunted Hill, (which follows the campy haunted house formula right to end where it totally does a 360), so I don't plan on going to see this, but I'm interested in the story. Maybe if they make a novelization, I'll read it.
Thanks.
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[Danny R]

Did anyone else get fooled by the graves?
Spoiler:I guessed early that the mother and children were dead, and was thinking it would be their names, which would be the method of how that state of being would be revealed.
The part I really like about this film is thinking about how the hauntings work. Spoiler:After all, think about how spooked Kidman's character was by the piano. Now think about what the "others" were thinking during the same scene. I can just picture the woman on the other side of the door also playing with it, and finally slaming it shut. Also what must they have thought about the drapes always closing up?
Adam, your answer is pretty much the spoiler.Spoiler:They don't realize that they are dead, and take the everyday movements of the "alive" people as the hauntings of ghosts. As the story unfold, you learn about the conditions of the house under Kidman's control, and can easily understand why she might go mad and would kill her kids and herself. The twist ending is when she discovers she is dead and it was she who was doing the haunting.
[Edited last by Danny R on August 26, 2001 at 03:30 AM]

 

[Patrick Sun]

I thought it was kind of cool to know that Spoiler:ghosts have a sex life too.
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[Bob McLaughlin]

Tom G:
This reply is a little late, but the movie your boss is probably thinking of is "The Other" (no 's' at the end). This was your basic "evil twin" movie, based on Thomas Tryon's bestselling novel in the 1970's. It has no relation to this movie.

 

[Phil Florian]

Howdy and, oh SPOILERS:
Just saw last night, was great, and so on and so on...
That said, I love getting into the details. I want to know some of the other details that the movie hits on. Was any part of England invaded in WWII? She keeps talking about the Germans invading and cutting off the power. Or was this her "rationalization" for their situation? Also:
Spoiler: When did the family die? The kids tell the housekeepers about the time before when "the others" came and drove their first housekeepers away. Was this the time when Grace killed them and that is why they "went away?" Or have they scared off inhabitants before?
Phil

 

[Tom-G]

I saw The Others last night and I must say that I was highly disappointed. I usually enjoy slower paced movies--movies that take time in letting the plot develop--but in this case, pacing was a detriment. I was frustrated that things took so long to develop. By the time we get the payoff, I already had guessed what would happen, so the ending was of no consequence.
I didn't like The Sixth Sense at all, but the pacing in that film was much better than in The Others. Although, both films amounted to nothing more than an attempts to trick the audiences. It's ashame because both movies had chilling atmospheres, but were poorly written.
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[Edited last by Tom_G on September 06, 2001 at 10:36 AM]

 

[Dome Vongvises]

Putting on flame retardant suit...
Okay, I liked The Others a lot, but I want to know why it keeps getting compared to Robert Wise's The Haunting? I found the intro to The Haunting the only good part of the movie. I think that The Others does a hell of a lot better job of suggesting that there is something wrong with the house or there was something amiss in the atmosphere. As far as The Haunting is concerned, I'm still not sold on the idea as to why it's creepy. Most of the events can easily be attributed to bad plumbing, paranoia, or bad luck. With The Others, you at least get ghostly whispers, unexplainable weird fog, creepy haired servants, pianos playing by themselves, etc etc. All you get in The Haunting is cold "spots" and banging on the walls.
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[Luc]

I went into this movie knowing that it will have a twist so I was playing the guessing game along the way. At first when the movie started and the two children condition was introduced, I thought that the two kids are some sort of demons. That idea left me pretty quickly. Then my next thought was that the little girl was doing all the haunting. She had the evil look in her face. There's this scene when she was talking with the "ghost" boy in front of her brother about closing the curtains. I can't remember the boy's name. Did anyone noticed that her jaws moved when the "ghost" boy spoke? She was sitting on her bed next to her brother and the camera shot was of her back head but you can clearly see part of her jaws. I watched the second time and pay special attention to that and indeed her jaws did move when the other boy spoke. Weird! So I was kinda believe she was faking the voice the whole time. Later, most of my quessing relates more with the 3 servants. Either they're doing the haunting or they know who is doing the haunting.
But at the end when the twists were revealed, I was completely surprised. Boy, you think after the sixth sense, you'll be more alert.
What did you think the twist was going to be and did you try to guess along the way like I did?

 

[Tino]

I am just amazed at the box office performance of this film. It has stayed in the top 5 for its entire run, and moved up to second last week, increasing 14% from the previous week.
Talk about having legs. Word of mouth has been extremely positive on The Others, and it is THE sleeper hit of the summer and now has a chance to cross $100 million.
This great film deserves all this success.

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Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus.

 

[Brad_W]

[spoilers maybe]
One of the reasons why I love this movie so much is because the atmosphere is so creepy. This being because the children were photosensitive and Kidman's character had to keep the whole house dark. I think that made it even creepier than what it would have been. So instead of all the creepy stuff happening at night, this allowed the film to have creepy stuff during the day too. I really enjoyed that twist and thought it was reletively original.
I saw this movie on opening weekend and haven't had a chance to see it since... did Robert Zemeckis have anything to do with this movie. I can't remember.
Also, I LOVE Clive Barker and enjoy the fact that he praised this movie. To me, Clive has an imagination beyond imagination and to praise this movie means a lot.
As for the ending... Completely awesome! I don't care how much I get flamed for it, I loved it.
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[Patrick Sun]

The reason this movie has legs is decent word of mouth, and a lack of any truly good movies at the theater currently...timing is everything.
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[Tino]

I would say that The Others has had more than "decent" word of mouth, otherwise it would have disappeared very quickly.
Also, I think audiences go see a movie that's good regardless of whether there is a lot of competition, or none at all. Most of the time good films find their audience through great word of mouth, as this film has.
I think I'll see it once more before it leaves theaters.
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Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus.

 

[Andrew W]

One of the reasons why I love this movie so much is because the atmosphere is so creepy. This being because the children were photosensitive and Kidman's character had to keep the whole house dark.

I initially thought that maybe the children were normal, but that she had convinced them they were photosensitive in order to be overprotective and controlling.
Spoiler:I was pretty sure the servants were ghosts and that the husband was dead. The rest was a bit of a surprise to me.
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[Sean Cauley]

Actually, Tino, the jump in box-office this past weekend is probably due to a renewed marketing campaign. I know I saw TV spots for The Others several times last week. I think Dimension was taking advantage of the recently-created openings in the September release schedule (not to sound crass about it, as I've taken the attacks and their aftermath very seriously, but had the WTC/Pentagon tragedy not happened, 9/21 would have seen the releases of Big Trouble and Training Day) by reminding people of a good movie they might have missed in the summer hubbub. In fact, I know one co-worker who thought The Others was a new release for 9/21.
Extreme positive word-of-mouth has helped it stay near the top of the charts, though. I know I've done my part; after seeing it on opening weekend, I called to recommend it to a friend who, it turns out, also saw it that weekend. I also dragged a couple of friends to see it this past weekend (and the theater was close to packed for the Saturday prime-time showing). It's played well both times I've seen it, even managing to keep two theaters full of noisy teens (as evidenced by behavior during the trailers and opening credits) pin-drop quiet through most of the movie.