A REAL BIRTHDAY TREAT (The Others (Collectors Edition, 2 DVDs))

Member Name: jacklover

Product:	The Others (Collectors Edition, 2 DVDs)
Date:	28/11/01 (30 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent film

Disadvantages: Nothing

Come Friday 16th November I found myself sitting in a relatively packed cinema ready to watch 'The Others' I was so excited, I was with loads of mates from school and it was my birthday which made it even better!

I hadn't really heard much about the film, hadn't even seen the adverts but I knew that Nicole Kidman was in it and it was supposed to be a great ghostly adventure ~ PERFECT! Just my thing!

Nicole Kidman stars as a young woman named Grace, we see her with her 2children, Anne and Nicholas living in a big country mansion. The father/husband doesen't seem present and we then learn that he is missing in World War II.

The story goes on to reveal the family needs a nanny and some people to do housework since the previous workers have somewhat 'dissapeared' into thin air and left!? (This is when you start to realise this film isn't going to be too normal!) One foggy morning Graces' problems are solved when 3 people knock at the door:

Ms Bertha Mills who is acted by Fionnula Flanagan offers to be the nanny and she is accompanied by Lydia who wishes to do the housework (Elaine Cassidy) who for some reason cannot speak (She is a mute) and a groundskeeper Mr Tuttle who is acted by Eric Sykes.

The 3 are accepted into the families household and are welcomed by Grace to a tour of the house. Then we see weird goings on and happenings as we notice that Grace insists that every door opened must be locked after going through it before opening another door!? Also the house must never be full of light, curtains usually closed and candles used for seeing.

We are then properly introduced to the children, we then realise that the children have a disease/illness and are allergic to normal sunlight which explains the darkness and drastic measures of light in the house. We also realise that the children have been seeing ghostly figures walking around the big and creepy mansion. Grace gets very
annoyed when they tell her all this nonsense about ghosts and Grace uses the bible and cristianity to try and calm them.

This house really isn't normal though, you can tell that there are 'OTHERS' in the house when noises come from locked rooms in which nobody is in and weird un-known voices can be heard.

The film goes on to reveal all and what is behind the strange happenings that occur, it is shown in such a way that you can really believe what is happening and this surely sent shivers down my spine!

Without giving the whole plot I think I have given you a brief conclusion of what you can expect. If you have ever seen the film 'Sixth Sense' starring Bruce Willis and loved it like I did, I am sure you will love this film too, they are very simalar in their un-natural and twisted ways. ~ By the way the house in which the majority of the film is set in, is based in Jersey.

I personally love the film and I know everyone else did that was with me! The way the whole plot was told and revealed really gets you thinking and I will have to watch this again on its release on video/DVD just to spot all the things I missed!

The plot may of made the film a very good one but without a shadow of a doubt this film would have been nothing without the superb characters and actors performances. Nicole Kidman played a huge role in this film, she was perfect for the character, her acting was shown off throughout the whole feature and was definitley noticed by myself and many others, she really is a great actress.

The children were too amazingly good, I find it hard to believe that such young children can learn such long lines and understand such a complicated storyline. They were truly outstanding.

Another superb performance was the nanny, Ms Mills. Fionnula Flanagan acts this wonderful character with such depth and understanding, she was very, very good.

The director of this film was a non-eng
lishman named Alejandro Amenabar who I praise for making this flik such a sucessful one, he has done himself proud.

I'll warn you now that this film isn't a BIG THRILLER that will have you screaming and out of your seat every 5seconds, this may be a good or a bad thing for you, but I do promise there are a couple or a few scary bits! ~ Good luck!!!

The flik is 105 minutes long which I thought was a brilliant time for the movie itself. This film has been in the US top ten box office for weeks and there is no doubt it will probably do just as well in the Uk.

Overall I loved this film and it certainly made my birthday a great day! We all had fun, even though we got told off for screaming and giggling too much! This film really is a one to see if you're interested in the criteria. As I said before if you liked Sixth Sense, you should see this! Thanks for your time everyone, hope I've helped, cheers ~M~ :0)

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