Others, The (US)

Nicole Kidman stars as Grace, a protective and nurturing mother who takes care of her two children while her husband is away at war. One day, her servants literally disappear into thin air without a trace. Then three mysterious strangers show up at her door for the servant jobs. At about the same time, her daughter tells her that she`s been seeing what she refers to as The Others in their home. Will Grace believe her daughter and protect her family from The Others before it`s too late? This brilliant psychological thriller kept me on the edge of my sofa and guessing until the very end. It`s chilling and suspenseful, and climaxes to a (nope, I can`t tell you). What I can tell you is that the sound design was breathtakingly engaged during the many haunting scenes.

The Others is presented in anamorphic widescreen using a 1.85:1 aspect ratio. This is a two-disc set with disc one containing the movie and disc two reserved for supplemental materials. The print itself is close to being flawless. This is a dark, moody film with a lot of dark scenes. Black level is the key component for enjoying this film and Miramax has done an outstanding job on that front allowing us to see all sorts of shadow detail and never struggling to make out objects in the background.

The Others is a modern classic from director Amenabar, lead by a terrific screenplay and an absolutely riveting performance from Nicole Kidman. While it comes as somewhat dissapointing that there isn`t more in the way of supplements or a DTS track, this is an otherwise very enjoyable DVD edition that provides good audio/video and a fair amount of extras. "The Others" is a must-seehave.