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The Others



A remote manor; hushed, candlelit atmosphere; and shivery, supernatural menace. With his first English-language feature, Chilean Spanish writer-director-composer Alejandro Amenábar resurrected the classic gothic chiller to create a ghost story of uncommon emotional resonance. Nicole Kidman stars as a World War II–era mother whose imperiousness masks a terrifying pain, as she keeps her light-sensitive children enshrouded in darkness on her country estate. The arrival of three new servants punctures her insular world—and seems to disturb the balance between the living and the dead. With each stunning twist and turn, Amenábar immerses us more deeply in a realm haunted not only by spirits but also by guilt, trauma, and repression.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED 4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

• New 4K digital restoration, approved by director Alejandro Amenábar, with Dolby Atmos soundtrack
• One 4K UHD disc of the film and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
• Audio commentary featuring Amenábar
• New conversation between Amenábar and film critic Pau Gómez
• New making-of program featuring Amenábar, actors Nicole Kidman and Christopher Eccleston, and producer Fernando Bovaira
• Archival programs about the film’s production, costume design, soundtrack, and visual effects, featuring interviews and footage recorded on the set
• Audition footage of actors Alakina Mann and James Bentley and photography from the “Book of the Dead”
• Seven deleted scenes
• Trailer
• English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• PLUS: An essay by scholar Philip Horne

Never seen this, but "Children's Limbo" came up on my playlist this morning, so I can only conclude the spirits want me to buy it.

I believe this is the first Miramax title that Criterion has licensed from Paramount.

The Harvey Weinstein seal has been broken

did the rights revert back to the producer though? as far as I can see, this was only distributed by Dimension. curious what the sell sheets say. if it is a Paramount license, that's genuinely impressive and certainly opens the door to some exciting things

Well, I don’t think anyone saw this coming. Even knowing the big spoiler in advance, I thought this was stylish and successful at its ghost story aims

Unexpected that the UHD is SDR only. If there was any title this month that I thought would take full advantage of Dolby Vision and HDR, it would be this, but nope.

domino harvey wrote: Mon Jul 17, 2023 8:40 pm Well, I don’t think anyone saw this coming. Even knowing the big spoiler in advance, I thought this was stylish and successful at its ghost story aims

Agreed. I think it occupies a neat mid-point between The Innocents and The Haunting, presenting itself as one type of ghost story and then turning into another, as someone terrorised by trying to deal with all of the uncontrollable aspects of her life eventually finds her place in the world. It also makes the Christopher Eccleston mid-point section (which is the most complicated section of the film) work extremely well on repeated viewings, even if arguably its (major spoiler)

Spoiler

a bit of a riff on The Sixth Sense's central uncommunicative relationship

Beyond Miramax titles, I would actually be even more excited if Criterion got to Amenábar's Abre los ojos/Open Your Eyes at some point.

ryannichols7 wrote: Mon Jul 17, 2023 8:40 pm did the rights revert back to the producer though? as far as I can see, this was only distributed by Dimension. curious what the sell sheets say. if it is a Paramount license, that's genuinely impressive and certainly opens the door to some exciting things

I'm curious too. This appears to be completely unavailable on digital platforms, which is odd for such a relatively high-profile film. It's also conspicuously absent from the catalog on the Miramax site. When the remake rights (sigh) were sold in 2020, Deadline reported that the film is now owned by Video Mercury, a Spanish company that Criterion has worked with on several previous occasions.

The Fanciful Norwegian wrote: Mon Jul 17, 2023 9:23 pm I'm curious too. This appears to be completely unavailable on digital platforms, which is odd for such a relatively high-profile film. It's also conspicuously absent from the catalog on the Miramax site. When the remake rights (sigh) were sold in 2020, Deadline reported that the film is now owned by Video Mercury, a Spanish company that Criterion has worked with on several previous occasions.

You actually could be right since the 2020 blu that Paramount put out is now OOP. However, I did find an article on Collider from last year that said Paramount was going to be releasing The Others last year, so who knows what the current licensing agreement is.

Haven't seen this since theatres, but I remember it as an incredibly effective family drama-as-ghost-story, and way better than the precursive hit that probably got it greenlit

colinr0380 wrote:

domino harvey wrote: Mon Jul 17, 2023 8:40 pmEven knowing the big spoiler in advance, I thought this was stylish and successful at its ghost story aims

Agreed. I think it occupies a neat mid-point between The Innocents and The Haunting

These three are perhaps my favorite ghost story movies featuring a slightly deranged woman, which is my favorite type of horror movie. This is the one I hold as the standard for any contemporary takes on the ghost story subgenre, and I can’t think of anything, off the top of my head, that has come close to it. Pulse, of course, but that’s a different kind of film. Maybe The Orphanage but I didn’t really love it. Or The Night House, but that’s mainly because they share a very strong female performance at the center. Or

Spoiler

The Eternal Daughter,

but I don’t know if that counts for me.

It's an effective little chiller, but so much of it is fog and people wearing black emerging from darkness that I'm going to hold on to my not-very-good Lionsgate blu until I see reviews reassuring me it's more like Criterion's Lost Highway than their Mulholland Drive.

This should be a lot of fun to revisit with the Dolby Atmos track. I recall the sound design being really effective. I also prefer it to you know which film. But brundlefly is right: the dark and foggy cinematography really needs a strong encode. They seem to have blown the month's budget for extras all on this film because it's stacked by comparison with the rest of the lineup.

domino harvey wrote: Mon Jul 17, 2023 8:40 pm Well, I don’t think anyone saw this coming. Even knowing the big spoiler in advance, I thought this was stylish and successful at its ghost story aims

Frankly, I'd be amazed if anyone was surprised by the big reveal - it's pretty much telegraphed in flashing neon as soon as the premise is set up.

But it's a film of overwhelming atmosphere rather than narrative suspense, so it really doesn't matter.

MichaelB wrote: Tue Jul 18, 2023 10:50 amFrankly, I'd be amazed if anyone was surprised by the big reveal - it's pretty much telegraphed in flashing neon as soon as the premise is set up.
But it's a film of overwhelming atmosphere rather than narrative suspense, so it really doesn't matter.

I myself wasn't surprised, but indeed, it wasn't really an issue.

Its about a Jagged Edge level of surprising.

The surprise in Jagged Edge isn't who it is, but how the movie is revealing it !

yoloswegmaster wrote: Mon Jul 17, 2023 8:32 pm I believe this is the first Miramax title that Criterion has licensed from Paramount.

Nevermind, I got confirmation from Jon Mulvaney that this is licensed from StudioCanal.

I have never seen this but since the director did not approve any HDR10/DV for the 4k what in theory would it have benfitted for this film since I am seeing that a lot of it is just blacks, greys and not really any instances of being colorful? I know the studio canal release has HDR10+ but I'm trying to decide which release to go with

black&huge wrote: Wed Oct 11, 2023 11:27 pm I have never seen this but since the director did not approve any HDR10/DV for the 4k what in theory would it have benfitted for this film since I am seeing that a lot of it is just blacks, greys and not really any instances of being colorful? I know the studio canal release has HDR10+ but I'm trying to decide which release to go with

It does? The blu-ray.com page shows it was SDR and according to what I heard on Twitter the director wanted it that way to preserve the original look. Criterion will almost certainly be SDR as well going by their description.

The Studio Canal disc is SDR 709, like the Criterion one.

This must be very popular. It's on backorder on the Criterion site

Or they’re just proactively shipping ‘em all to B&N and Amazon