Reviews

I'm astounded by the hype.

When The Others was first released on these shores, people were talking about it as if it represented a groundbreaking new genre. It was as if the critics had never seen a haunted house movie before - and despite the glowing recommendations and boundless praise, the 'highlights' that got screened on TV to promote the movie seemed cheap, obvious and just plain silly.

So, in light of all the hype, I avoided the movie until it was screened on TV this evening.

What a load of cobblers.

For a start, The Others isn't creepy in the slightest. Robert Wise's original version of The Haunting was creepy. And some of the scenes in Peter Medak's The Changeling were unsettling in the extreme. The Uninvited got it right as far back as 1944, and yet The Others succeeds in doing little more than rattling chains and shouting BOO! Perhaps part of the problem is the lack of subtlety - I got the whole story at the end of the séance sequence. It said all that needed saying. But just in case you weren't paying attention we're treated to a painfully contrived monologue that renders many of the most effective sequences utterly redundant. It's this lack of regard for the viewer's intelligence that ultimately lets the movie down, as it degenerates into cheap cliché rather than genuine chills.

Or maybe the problem is its lack of originality. I love horror movies. In particular, I love the really scary ones - which are usually very different to the really gory ones. In watching The Others, it seemed as if Amenábar were simply making a list of 'things a ghost story should have'. At times, I felt like I were being treated to selected scenes from The Haunting or The Changeling, but without the tension or elegance of either.

And - spoilers ahoy - the moment I saw Eric Sykes cover those gravestone, I saw the ending coming a mile off. But let's not have any more comparisons with the Sixth Sense, as we'd already seen the same shock ending in movies like Dead and Buried or Blade Runner - and I'm sure they weren't the first to do it either.

In all, The Others proved to be as engaging, frightening and unsettling as Jan De Bont's laughable remake of The Haunting.

If you've never seen a haunted house movie before, please have fun and enjoy The Others. If, like me, you've been spoiled by all the really great stuff that came before, and genuinely enjoy a good cinematic scare, give it a very wide berth. Check out The Devil's Backbone instead - it's pure undiluted terror by comparison.

*SPOILERS AHEAD!*

I was really looking forward to this one. I like Next Gen, and the trailer made Nemesis look like a huge epic spectacular. Add all the claims that Nemesis is the best Trek movie ever, and I was certainly keen to be near the front of the queue when it opened in the UK.

What a disappointment.

The plot was little more than a rehash of the Wrath Of Khan. Think about it - a personal enemy for the captain, driven to the point of madness in his pursuit. A deadly weapon on the baddy's ship. A cunning standoff with both ships dead in space. The noble self-sacrifice of a well-liked crewmember... This is Khan all over again, but nowhere near as good. For one thing, Ricardo Montalban was a much better villain than the spoiled brat that Picard faces in this outing.

And what's happened to Patrick Stewart? In Nemesis he shows none of the imposing and formidable personality or commanding presence that made him such a great captain. It looks like Jean-Luc Picard, but it isn't.

Another gripe is that - aside from brief scenes on Romulus, and one on a planet surface under annoying sepia lens filters - the entire movie takes place on two starships. I could accept this of the TV show, where budgets and time were limited, but not of the tenth big-screen adventure!

Rumour has it that the next movies will follow the original Enterprise crew. Let's hope these are a little more inventive!