If nothing else, “The Others,” the work of filmmaker Alejandro Amenabar, may prove that England is without a doubt the scariest country on Earth.
Besides the bad food, bad weather and sometimes-pasty people, England is littered with hundreds of seriously scary mansions, the perfect setting for a psychological thriller like “The Others.”
Grace (Nicole Kidman), who refuses to believe her husband Charles was killed in WWII, is forced to raise her children Anne and Nicholas (Alakina Mann and James Bentley), who suffer from a rare allergy to light, alone in a forbidding manor located on the fog-covered English Isle of Jersey.
Short of domestic help due to the strange disappearances of her last employees, Grace hires the services of a new nanny Mrs. Mills (Fionnula Flanagan) and her two associates, gardener (Eric Sykes) and a mute maid (Elaine Cassidy).
Because of the children’s malady, a rightfully troubled Mrs. Mills is instructed to keep all the curtains pulled and all doors locked in order to control the amount of light in the house.
Strictly Catholic, Grace teaches her children English by forcing them to memorize the bible and other religious doctrine. If not already an eerie enough scene, strange noises are heard throughout the house, until one night, the precocious Anne reports contact with a little boy in her room.
Angry with her daughter for causing unnecessary worry for the gentle Nicholas, Grace punishes Anne, until she herself experiences evidence of an intruder.
Battling to keep her family safe, Grace tries just about everything to prove to herself and to her children that they are safe in the house. The only problem is they may not be alone.
The Chilean-born director Amenabar, paints brilliantly scary scenes in his first work in English. Eerie and suspenseful, at times “The Others” may force you to close your eyes due to the combination of a chilling set, the believable performances of Kidman, Mann and Bentley and one shocking ending you may not see coming.
