The Others (2001)
★★★ — The Others (2001)
Alejandro Amenábar was still only twenty-nine when he made The Others, and the project represented a significant leap in scale from his earlier Spanish-language films, Tesis (1996) and Open Your Eyes (1997), the latter of which was remade in Hollywood as Vanilla Sky the same year. Written and directed by Amenábar, and co-produced through Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner's company, the film was a transatlantic co-production shot almost entirely at the Palacio de los Hornillos near Santander in northern Spain, doubling convincingly for a Channel Islands estate in 1945. Nicole Kidman, coming off her divorce from Cruise, took the lead role and delivered what many consider a career-best performance. On a modest $17 million budget, the film earned over $210 million worldwide, making it one of the more surprising box office successes of the early 2000s horror revival.
The Others (2001) is the most M. Night Shyamalan-esque film not actually directed by the man himself. A slow-burning supernatural thriller steeped in gothic atmosphere and psychological unease. Alejandro Amenábar crafts a masterclass in restraint: a secluded Channel Islands manor in 1945, perpetually shrouded in mist and shadow; heavy velvet curtains drawn against the light; the faint creak of floorboards where no one walks. Nicole Kidman delivers a tightly wound performance as Grace, a mother fiercely protective of her light-sensitive children, her piety and paranoia blurring into something quietly unhinged. The premise alone (a house that may not be entirely empty) is enough to set the nerves on edge. Yet for all its chilling setup, The Others is more unsettling than outright terrifying. Those expecting jump scares or spectral grotesquery will be disappointed; this is a film that trades in dread rather than dreadfulness. The horror lives in the spaces between lines of dialogue, in the slow turn of a doorknob, in the way a room feels different after you've left it. It's a ghost story told with the solemnity of a period drama, prioritising mood and mystery over visceral fright. For viewers who dont particularly enjoy with "ghost" horror (myself included), it's almost a relief that the tension is palpable, but the terror remains cerebral. A beautifully mounted, impeccably acted exercise in gothic suspense that lingers through atmosphere rather than shock. It never quite ascends to greatness (the pacing occasionally drags, the payoff polarising) but as a supernatural thriller that respects its audience's intelligence, it remains quietly compelling. More haunting than horrifying, and perhaps all the better for it.
Rating: ★★★ | Year: 2001 | Watched: 2026-03-30
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Related on Movies With Macca
More from Spain: Nightmare City (1980) · Birdboy: The Forgotten Children (2015) · Land Without Bread (1933) · [REC] (2007)
More from the 2000s: Kirikou and the Wild Beasts (2005) · Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) · Daredevil (2003) · Apocalypto (2006)
More horror: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) · Viy (1967) · Nightmare City (1980) · Angst (1983)
More mystery: Mononoke the Movie: The Phantom in the Rain (2024) · Mononoke the Movie: Chapter II - The Ashes of Rage (2025) · Carnival of Souls (1962) · One Way or Another (1975)
