Author: EVula
Date: 9/1/01
Rating: 9.1
Movie Rating: PG-13
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Right off the bat, let me say this: this is a real scary movie. There are no dead/semi-dead guys with various types of weaponry chasing scantily clad damsels through various types of precipitation (damn). So what does it have?
It has shadows. And slight lights in shadows. And slight sounds in the corner of the theatre. And more shadows. And a kickass ending.
It has characters that have actual depth. They have problems (especially the kids), and none of them involve running from zombies.
Alright, on to the actual movie. This is a review of it, right?
The movie starts off by showing the house. The house is the only place you'll ever see in this movie, besides the grounds that it is on, of course. And the house is, of course, creepy. Its the kind of house that you'd take a tour of, but pray that it is during the daytime, and you'd have a heart attack if you were to get stuck there overnight. The grounds its on are scary, too.
Moving on. In the first few minutes of the movie, you get to meet everyone that matters: the three new housekeepers (Mrs. Mills, Mr. Tuttle, and Lydia, the mute girl), Nicole Kidman's character (hot and demented, all at the same time!), and Mrs. Ex-Cruise's two children, whose names don't matter that much, and have a rare condition in which they are allergic to light (a.k.a. Michael Jackson syndrome).
The rest of the movie is just the movie messing with your head. A sound here, a shadow there, and thats all it takes. The only special effect in the movie is the fog around the house, and even then, thats just a bit of touching up here and there.
One of the really cool ways that the movie messes with your head is the fact that EVERY single room is VERY dark, no matter what time it is. Due to the kids' condition, all of the curtains are drawn all the time. Due to that, you have no idea what is hiding anywhere, and it sets the atmosphere for all sorts of very scary things.
Actually, there are only two scary moments. Every other time, its just going to be you scaring yourself.
And, just to clear the record should any of you ask Cara about this: I did not scream. I let out a manly yell at the same time that something scary happened. I wasn't scared, but I was concerned for the women-folk.
It was a manly yell. A holler, really. Not a scream. Definetly not a scream.
And just a note, something that I found funny: the movie was co-produced by Tom Cruise. Heh. I find that funny. I'm sure someone out there will, too.
Anyway, this was a really good movie. It even has a super kick-ass cool ending. I won't tell you what it is, since that is pretty annoying. Just go see it, its money well spent. If you didn't like it, mail me your ticket stub, I'll pretend that I'll care. :P