by Sophia Tran (’24) | November 17, 2023
Warning: Spoilers Included
People tend to say, “If you believe in something hard enough, it will come true.” Unfortunately, wishes fail to revive the dead in the 2001 horror film The Others. A film with an unexpectedly heartbreaking twist and fraught with gaslighting, this underrated psychological thriller sits on the shelf of any true horror movie fanatic. Although I’ve enjoyed my fair share of memorable horror films, The Others stands in a league of its own for its poignant portrayal of a mother and her human experience of denial.
The film wastes no time in setting the scene. It begins during 1940s New Jersey in a dark mansion secluded in the middle of a foggy forest. The introduction gorgeously captures the ethereal beauty of the woods, while in contrast, the lack of human life creates a foreboding sense of isolation. It’s another classic image straight out of any generic horror film. All we need now is a killer.
Our main character is the ever-so-charming Grace, an uptight mother of two young children. She comes off as a fragile-minded woman, and her 1920s hairdo doesn’t help soften her edge persona. She suffers from constant, almost-debilitating migraines. Grace smothers her children with her overprotective concerns, but her reasons come to light when we see her constantly remind her children that their father will soon be coming home from the war, even though he’s dead. Still, her motherly appearance and pretty face didn’t assuage my suspicions and fears. Why were this woman and her two children occupying a four-story mansion in the middle of the woods? There didn’t seem to be any friendly neighbors nearby, but there was a rather lovely collection of gravestones. Also, why did she have a gun locked away in a wooden chest? Was there a 1940s version of Jason the Killer nearby that I wasn’t aware of?
Her young children’s behavior only worsened my anxiety. They perfectly embodied the sibling dynamic with their catty but endearing jabs at one another, but I found it quite odd how much joy they derived from hitting each other with their pillows.
The ending simultaneously confirmed my suspicions and broke my heart: Grace and her children were dead all along. Grace had used the pillows to smother her children to death and used the gun to end her own life, explaining her migraines.
The film ends with a reveal of the real mansion. Bathed in warm sunlight, the mansion sits on a bright green lawn with butterflies and a plethora of servants strolling along the front door. The mansion I had seen so far—the depressing, secluded gray block of a home—was only a reflection of Grace’s own purgatory. Her life had been trapped within the house, and the distinct fog surrounding the landscape symbolized how death had spiritually caged off all of her family.
A thoughtful portrayal of one’s denial of reality, Grace’s story finally made sense to me. Not only did the fog represent her spiritual entrapment, but Grace’s gradual discomfort also revealed the psychology of denial within human beings. Although Grace was aware from the start that she and her children were dead, she refused to acknowledge the consequences of her actions. Upon a second viewing of this movie, I could see how Grace was already torturing herself with the knowledge of her deeds and gaslighting herself into ignoring her wrongdoings. Her denial not only explained her overly suffocating persona, but it also reflected her inability to accept grief. She was subconsciously mourning the loss of her and her children’s lives, something that no elusive hope could change. Grace and her family would be forever entrapped within the very mansion they had died in, a simple yet heartbreaking fact. The Others is a tragic and psychologically thrilling film—a movie that stands out not just for its fresh take on the horror genre, but also for the psychology of its characters.
