Together with her justly acclaimed performance, Kidman supports an emotional intensity this fuels the film's supernatural underpinnings. And while Amenábar's pacing is deliberately slow, it befits the tone of penetrating anxiety, leading to a twist this expands the story's reach from beyond the grave. Amenábar unveiled a similarly efficient twist in his Spanish thriller Open Your Eyes (remade by Cameron Crowe as Vanilla Sky), but where this film drew debate, The Others is finely crafted to provoke well-earned goose bumps and chills down the spine. --Jeff Shannon