Parents' Guide to

The Others

By Nell Minow, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 14+

Good but creepy; may be too intense for some.

Movie PG-13 2001 101 minutes
The Others Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

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age 12+

Based on 19 parent reviews

ahmad74syahid
ahmad74syahid Adult
December 11, 2022
age 13+
The content is quite heavy. The movie also has one adult scene in bed. It is good once we've been able to deliver the message. But, not every age is ready for the topic inside it.

This title has:

Great messages
ContentFlag
ContentFlag Adult
July 29, 2022
age 12+

Rated PG-12 (moderate scary scenes, infrequent murder & suicide references).

MAIN CONTENT ISSUES - There are scary scenes throughout, often moderately intense or unsettling, and mainly involve ghostly voices and noises. One of the more disturbing moments depicts a girl with an old woman's face behind a veil, although still retaining the girl's voice, as well as an old woman's hand, to which the mother appears very distressed by and lashes out on her. The scary scenes and supernatural menace are broken up throughout the film by quieter moments, so none of them are particularly sustained. There are also infrequent, brief references to the suffocation of two children by their mother, and then how the mother shot herself. These references are largely undetailed and integral to the plot. | OTHER ISSUES - There is a moment of mild aggression/violence by a mother towards her young daughter when she mistakes her for someone else; she shakes her around and pushes her over to the floor, making the girl scream. One very brief moment of sensuality between two characters. There are some mildly upsetting scenes and thematic material. | RATED "PG-12" - Parental Guidance, some scenes may be unsuitable for children under 12. Contains some content generally suitable for persons aged 12 years and over, and parents/guardians are strongly advised to watch the film with any person below that age.
See all 19 parent reviews

What's the Story?

THE OTHERS centers around Grace (Nicole Kidman) and her two children, who live in a huge old home on an isolated British island. World War II has ended, but she still hasn't heard from her husband and is trying not to let herself fear that he may be dead. Her two children have a genetic photo-sensitivity and break out in welts if they are exposed to any light stronger than a candle. The servants all left mysteriously, so they are there alone when three new servants show up, explaining that they worked at the house once years before and were happy there, so they have returned. Their arrival is unsettling, but not as unsettling as evidence of "intruders," including sightings by Grace's daughter Anne. Grace does her best to hold everything together, to protect the children's souls (she is deeply religious). She also has an elaborate system of keys to make sure that all doors are locked and all curtains drawn, to keep out light, as she says, the way a ship is designed to keep out water.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (19):
Kids say (71):

This movie is more mood than plot, but the mood is expertly handled by the writer/director and by Kidman, who makes her attempts to maintain control scarier than outright terror. The cast is outstanding and the ultimate resolution properly eerie.

Way back before computer graphics, moviemakers knew how to scare us through what the movie didn't show us. They knew that no one knows what scares us as well as we do ourselves, and that anything we could imagine would be far scarier than anything they could put on the screen. The Others is a return to that kind of old-fashioned-squeaky door hinge-flapping shutter -- "Who is that playing Chopin downstairs when I know I locked the piano?" -- "She can't leave now! It's too foggy!" sort of thriller, the kind that creeps into your bones and makes you shiver.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about their views on life after death and why that has been a powerful theme in fiction as well as theology from the beginning of time.

  • This movie is creepy, but it isn't gory. How does it manage to be scary without being bloody?

Movie Details

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