The Others (film)/YMMV

Crowning Moment of Awesome: The part when Anne, after getting tired of her mother saying she'll go to Limbo for lying, says she read the Bible and knows that only unbaptized children go to Limbo. While she was punished later on, it was awesome and funny, watching a child revealing her overly-religious mother to be a liar in return for being accused of being such.
Crowning Music of Awesome: The entire soundtrack.
Esoteric Happy Ending: Or a Bittersweet Ending, or a Downer Ending, depending on your views. Grace killed her children, and they are all presumably forced to dwell in the house forever, separated from their husband/father and with no indication that there's a higher power looking after them. However, they have resolved most of their internal strife, the children are no longer harmed by the light, and Mrs Mills' general demeanour suggests that being dead isn't really all that bad. Grace even manages a small, grateful smile when she offers to get her a cup of tea.
Fridge Brilliance: Careful viewers will realize that the ghosts of the servants were responsible for Grace's madness in the first case, because she could see them. Mrs. Mills' comment at the end of the film ("But that's the way it's always been...") hints that the ghostly servants, attached to the house for the past fifty years, likely encountered the Stewart family before. They feel guilty for causing her familicide.
- Some different examples of Fridge Brilliance include Grace's odd reaction when she first picks up her rifle - she pauses, frowns and looks at it for a moment, as if trying to recall something, but then pushes it out of her head and carries on. Also, Mr. Tuttles' line "I expect he's dead, like all the rest" takes on a new and much more significant meaning after the first reveal.
- There's also the fog seen throughout the film, and is mentioned a fair amount by Grace and Mrs. Mills. At one point, Grace mentions how the fog has never lasted this long. Later, when it starts to become clear that there are more to the servants than meets the eye, Mrs. Mills and Mr. Tuttle have a brief discussion about the fog when Grace leaves the house to try to find the local priest. "Oh yes... the fog, of course." It could therefore be theorised that this fog does not exist in the world of the living, but only in the world of the dead.
Harsher in Hindsight: The twice-repeated "Stop breathing!" takes on a tragic new meaning after the final twist.
High Octane Nightmare Fuel: The famous "I am your daughter!" scene, the attic scene and the scene with the old woman bursting into the cupboard. Also, the opening scene with a closeup on Grace shrieking as she wakes up from her nightmare.
- Not to mention the way the final reveal is done. The way the line "Is that how she killed you?" is delivered is truly chilling, as well as shocking.
- Also, the scene with Anne and Nicholas in their bedroom being visited by Victor. Imagine, every terror you would have as a child in the dark of your own bedroom realized, where the bedsheets do not protect you. *shiver*
- That scene in the upstairs storeroom. The sound effects (especially that sudden moaning noise) and that creepy Virgin Mary statue really ramp up the scariness of the scene.
Squick: The "book of the dead" Grace finds, filled with photographs of corpses posed for portraits. What's amazing is that the film downplays this very real practice -- In the film, all of the corpses are posed either alone or with others of their kind, with their eyes closed as if to be asleep. In real life, most such photographs involved living family members -- and their eyes were very much open.
Tear Jerker: Grace, in a fit of madness, smothered her two children and then shot herself. She and the children are therefore stuck in their manor, never aging, never changing, just living each and every day knowing they are dead. Everything Grace knew about God and her religion, including the afterlife, has been destroyed by the absence of a life waiting for them beyond death. Charles was killed in the war and his wife and children may never see him again. Also, Grace truly loved her children despite her fit of madness and now has to spend the rest of her afterlife with the knowledge that she killed them and is responsible for their current predicament. Wow.
- The scene where Charles returns from war also has the tendency to cause a few tears, as well as the scene where he leaves Grace the morning after they make love. It is the last time he's seen in the film. Heck, pretty much every scene with Charles counts as a tearjerker.
The Woobie: Grace, Nicholas and Lydia.

Back to The Others (film)