Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with the next installment of A Movie A Day: Halloween 2010 edition!
[For the entirety of October I will be showcasing one horror film each day. Every film is pulled from my DVD shelf or streamed via Netflix Instant and will be one I haven’t seen. Unlike my A Movie A Day or A Movie A Week columns there won’t necessarily be connectors between each film, but you’ll more than likely see patterns emerge day to day.]
I actually watched this last night as a way try to keep a step ahead of the column. It was also a way for me to keep these coming in on time (or at least close to on time). Because of my ridiculous sleep schedule (which has me going to bed around dawn) I’m not up until early evening, so watching the movie for the next day helps me from getting a day behind.
In the case of The Other I’m really glad I did. Had I written this review immediately after seeing the movie I’d probably be a little tougher on it. As the film has settled with me I’m finding I dig it more than upon the initial viewing.
To be honest the movie lost me in the middle. It drags a little, especially if you’re ahead of the story, which I was because I foolishly read the synopsis on the back of the DVD as my player was booting up. It starts off with a big secret that isn’t revealed until halfway through the picture and as such I was so ahead of the story that I felt like I was just waiting for it to catch up.
The start is strong, introducing twin boys Niles and Holland, played by the surprisingly strong young twins Chris and Martin Udvarnoky. I have to imagine director Robert Mulligan (To Kill A Mockingbird, The Stalking Moon, The Nickel Ride) felt like he hit the jackpot when he found these two kids.
For one, their eyes are a piercing green, very emotive, and for two they can deliver a line! Holy shit! Good child actors that also happen to be twins!
The Other is a variation on the good twin/evil twin story. Before I get much further I have to compliment Fox on their DVD. You know a trend I’d love to see take off? Vintage trailers before the DVD menu.
Fox does it here, showing trailers for The Omen (original and remake), The Good Son and, for some reason, The Hills Have Eyes remake. All but Hills thematically play into this film.
I know Anchor Bay used to do that, but I’d love to see library releases like this keep doing that. But what do I know? I’m a trailer fanatic.
Anyway, there is a Damien feel to Holland Perry. He acts out, he curses, he breaks things, including a poor little rat’s neck. When he’s upset people in this tiny Little House on the Prairie-ish community turn up dead.
Niles is the sweet kid, the family favorite. He’s a sensitive boy, loves his psychic Russian granny (played by the great Uta Hagen) and is her star pupil when it comes to “The Game.” The Game isn’t dwelled upon, but it’s a little like The Shine in King’s The Shining in that it’s a twinge of supernatural in a story that’s told in a very down to earth context.
Essentially, The Game is the ability for a person to put their consciousness into another living thing. We see Ada talk Niles into a relaxed state and see him enter a crow, seeing the small town from the bird as it flies.
There’s a mourning feel over the whole film, a stark contrast to the kids-will-be-kids energetic joy seen by Niles and Holland as they run around the woods surrounding their country home. Their mother has been isolated in her room, barely seen, since the tragic death of her husband (and the boys’ father). That hangs over the whole house, including the older sister who is pregnant and her husband, played by an impossibly young John Ritter.
I’m going to get into some spoilers here, the exact same stuff that the back of the DVD ruined for me, so fair warning.
About halfway through we find out that Holland has been dead for a year, having fallen down a well. Their mother isn’t just mourning the loss of her husband, but of a child as well.
Which leads to what I believe is the most interesting aspect of this film. Is Holland real in any sense? I don’t think he’s a ghost, but in a flashback we see Niles us “The Game” to speak with Holland while he’s in his coffin. It doesn’t work at first, but eventually he talks to his dead brother.
So, the real question is do you believe The Game worked and Holland, the evil child (we find out he did some crazy horrible things in his living years), is now influencing the good one, Niles, or has Niles cracked and is using his dead brother as a visual to deal with the horrible things he’s doing.
Mulling over that aspect of the film is what elevated it in my eyes. The finale is fantastic, a horribly fucked up tragedy and the Grandmother’s realization that she herself is to blame for opening this Pandora’s Box.
I liked that from the start, but the dragging middle becomes much more interesting when you begin to deconstruct it.
This film made an unintentionally good follow-up to yesterday’s AMAD, Prophecy, in that both are genre films told by very serious dramatic filmmakers. While Prophecy goes very cheesy in parts, the whole is told as a dramatic story. Same here. Mulligan films this as if it could be a spiritual follow-up to TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, but with fucked up kids and supernatural ambiguity.
Both films chronicle life in small town America from a child’s perspective. The Other just has us see the world from an evil kid’s eyes and not sweet little Scout’s eyes.
Final Thoughts: Dressing a horror movie over the corpse of a drama with great direction, a good story (if a little predictable in this day and age of spot-the-twist) and fantastic acting, especially from the twins and Uta Hagen, you get an interesting picture that’ll make you think a little bit, a rarity for the genre.
Currently in print on DVD: YES
Currently available on Netflix Instant: NO
Here are the next week’s worth of AMAD titles:
Thursday, October 14th: THE MUMMY (1959)
Friday, October 15th: THE GORGON (1964)
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Saturday, October 16th: MAD LOVE (1935)
Sunday, October 17th: REPULSION (1965)
Monday, October 18th: THE VIDEO DEAD (1987)
Tuesday, October 19th: THE BLACK CAT (1981)
Wednesday, October 20th: THE BLACK CAT (1934)
Tomorrow brings Christopher Lee as The Mummy in Hammer’s take on the classic creature!
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
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