When Prestige Horror Just Means Watching Nicole Kidman Yell at Curtains
There are slow-burn horror films, and then there’s The Others—a movie so slow it makes drying paint look like an adrenaline sport. Alejandro Amenábar’s “masterpiece” is often praised as atmospheric, Gothic, and haunting. Personally, I think it’s the cinematic equivalent of being trapped in a dark room with your grandmother while she insists the house is haunted because she misplaced her glasses.
The Setup: Mom’s Got Issues
Nicole Kidman plays Grace Stewart, a devout Catholic mother who keeps her two light-sensitive children in a mansion darker than a Hot Topic in 2005. Heavy curtains block out the sun, the house is perpetually gloomy, and Grace spends her time giving stern lectures about faith and proper curtain etiquette.
Then three servants show up: Bertha Mills (who looks like she stepped straight out of a Scooby-Doo episode), Edmund Tuttle (a gardener who could pass for a wax figure of himself), and Lydia (who apparently took a vow of silence because dialogue is expensive). They move in, and of course, spooky things start happening—footsteps, voices, and enough creaky doors to stock an entire Home Depot aisle.
The Kids: Creepy by Default
Anne and Nicholas, Grace’s children, suffer from photosensitivity, which in horror movie language translates to: “let’s keep the entire film so dim you’ll think your TV is broken.” Anne claims she’s talking to a boy named Victor. Nicholas screams like a malfunctioning smoke detector whenever light touches him. They’re basically living Victorian dolls, and by the 30-minute mark, you’re secretly rooting for the ghosts to take them out just so you can get a nap.
Grace: Queen of Gaslighting
Nicole Kidman spends 90% of the runtime shrieking, praying, and accusing everyone in the house of conspiring against her. At one point, she finds her daughter wearing a communion dress, but instead of Anne’s face, she sees an old woman. So she does what any mother would do in a PG-13 horror film: she slaps the kid across the room. Parenting, Gothic edition.
Later, she runs around the estate like a deranged curtain inspector, accusing the servants of removing drapes as if sunlight itself is a terrorist plot. Kidman does give a committed performance, but at a certain point, you wonder if she read the script thinking it was about a woman who wages psychological warfare against her own upholstery.
The Husband: Christopher Eccleston as Emotional Wallpaper
Grace’s husband, Charles (Christopher Eccleston), wanders home from the war like he accidentally walked onto the wrong set. He looks lost, traumatized, and possibly regretting signing the contract. He mopes around, mutters some cryptic dialogue about the war not being over, and then leaves again like a bad Airbnb guest. His role is so pointless, the movie could have replaced him with a cardboard cutout of a soldier and saved money on catering.
The Big Twist: Oh, We’re Dead? Shocking.
After nearly two hours of whispering, gaslighting, and curtain-related hysteria, we get the infamous twist: Grace smothered her children and then shot herself. They’ve been dead all along. The “others” are actually a living family who moved into the house.
Now, some people call this twist “genius.” But let’s be honest—it’s The Sixth Sense in a corset. By 2001, audiences had already been M. Night Shyamalan’d into submission. Watching Kidman whisper, “We’re the ghosts,” feels less like a revelation and more like déjà vu with candlelight.
Atmosphere: Or Just Bad Lighting?
Critics rave about the film’s “atmosphere.” What they really mean is: “This movie is so under-lit you’ll wonder if your electricity bill is overdue.” The endless shadows, muted color palette, and foggy exteriors create a mood, sure—but it’s the mood of being stuck in a damp basement while your upstairs neighbors drag furniture for two hours.
The Scares: Jump Scares for the Elderly
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A piano plays itself. Terrifying… if you’ve never seen a cat walk across keys.
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Footsteps echo in empty hallways. Wow. Goosebumps. Truly groundbreaking.
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An old woman with milky eyes shows up during a séance. That’s not horror, that’s just cataracts.
The movie relies on atmosphere over gore, which is fine. But there’s atmosphere, and then there’s making your audience feel like they’re watching the world’s longest haunted house tour narrated by a very angry Nicole Kidman.
The Servants: Ghostly Union Workers
Turns out the servants are already dead, too, victims of tuberculosis from the 1890s. Mrs. Mills drops cryptic hints every five minutes like she’s auditioning for the role of “Exposition Granny.” Edmund Tuttle mostly covers graves with leaves, which I assume was his side hustle before dying. Lydia is mute the entire time, probably because she read the script and wisely decided silence was golden.
The Awards: Proof That Critics Love Curtains
The film was showered with awards, nominations, and critical acclaim. Best Film at the Goyas, Saturn Awards, BAFTA nominations—you’d think Amenábar cured cancer instead of writing a movie about an angry housewife and some haunted drapes. Nicole Kidman was praised for her performance, which, to be fair, is intense. But let’s not confuse “intense” with “good.” By that logic, every toddler throwing a tantrum at Walmart deserves an Oscar.
The Legacy: High Art, Low Entertainment
The Others has been canonized as one of the greatest horror films of the 21st century. Personally, I’d say it’s the perfect movie if you:
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Love staring at dimly lit rooms for two hours.
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Think scolding children is peak horror.
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Believe every movie should end with Nicole Kidman whispering like she just lost a staring contest with a lamp.
Yes, it’s elegant. Yes, it’s “psychological.” But it’s also boring, predictable, and about as scary as a lukewarm cup of tea.
Final Thoughts: The Scariest Thing Is the Hype
The Others is basically a Victorian-era episode of House Hunters: Paranormal Edition. It’s moody, pretentious, and convinced it’s smarter than it really is. Nicole Kidman works her ass off, but she’s essentially carrying a movie about spooky curtains, creepy kids, and one big recycled twist.
If you want genuine scares, watch The Sixth Sense. If you want gothic melodrama with fancy costumes, watch Crimson Peak. If you want to see Nicole Kidman scream at sunlight like it just insulted her, then by all means, The Others is your film.
