The Others (2001)

Even if you end up not impressed with the plot developments, which to some may seem obvious or derivative or - in light of other ghost stories released a year or so earlier - "done", Alejandro Amenábar's story of a family - Nicole Kidman's mother and her two photosensitive children whose condition demands they remain cloistered inside their stately manor home with curtains drawn and in the dark - will transfix with its cinematography - painterly visions of Kidman navigating a fog, for example - and captivate with the performances from Kidman, the kids - both terrific -  and Fionnula Flanagan as the head of a trio of house servants who know more than they are letting on.

★★★★☆

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Long Dark Hall (1951)

We know from the outset Rex Harrison's Arthur Groome, a married man, didn't kill his 'bit on the side' —  one of those disorganised serial killers, a starey laneway night dweller, did — so this isn't a mystery and instead thrills are supposed to come from the court case that makes up most of the movie (filmed in London's Old Bailey) where everything is stacked against our "wrong man", but the movie also wants to be a character study of Groome's spurned but devoted wife — interesting, well-acted, but hardly thrilling — and the movie ends quite abruptly, almost as if everyone involved — the serial killer, the judge, the journalists, the actors,the audience — all simply got fed up with the dreary situation and suddenly wants it over.

★★☆☆☆

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