The Others

So effective is writer-director Alejandro Amenábar's manipulation of the viewer's psyche that his English language debut (he was previously best known for Open Your Eyes, remade as Vanilla Sky), a seriously goosepimply homage to old-school haunted house movies, would be unshakably bone-chilling even if you blacked out everything on the screen except star Nicole Kidman's porcelain face, her eyes frozen wide with fear. A sophisticated return to the kind of seat-grippers in which it's what you don't see that scares you most, The Others takes place in a creaky, empty estate house on an eerily foggy island just after WWII, where Kidman and her two children are trapped and subjected to the whims of unseen spirits. While it almost unravels in the second half because viewers begin to think the characters are stupid for not suspecting the laughably uncanny servants of being connected to the ghosts, the finale really pulls the rug out from under us, revealing a twist we'd never imagine. In fact, the payoff, while not erasing the film's nagging shortcomings, makes this a strong optional purchase. [Note: The double-disc DVD extras include a standard 22-minute "making of"; a fascinating, but too short, 9-minute featurette on xeroderma pigmentosum (profiling one family's wonderful idea to create 'Camp Sundown', where children afflicted with the illness--which causes a terrible allergic reaction to sunlight--engage in camp activities during the night); an 8-minute featurette showing director Amenábar working on the set, a 5-minute piece on visual effects (mostly centered around matte shots and the creation of "digital fog"); and a photo gallery. All in all rather skimpy double disc "Collector's Series" entry, given the absence of a commentary track, and the fact that the second disc contains less than 45 minutes worth of material.] (R. Blackwelder)[Blu-ray Review—Sept. 13, 2011—Lionsgate, 104 min., PG-13, $14.99—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 2001's The Others features a good transfer and DTS-HD 5.1 audio. Blu-ray extras are identical to the DVD release, including a behind-the-scenes featurette (22 min.), an “Xeroderma Pigmentosum” featurette on one family's experience with the disease (9 min.), a segment on director Alejandro Amenábar (8 min.), a visual effects featurette (5 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a solid Blu-ray debut for this uneven but atmospheric chiller.]