Another Shawn review for us in our Halloween triple header, up next is Shawn's review for Twilight Times's release of Robert Mulligan's 1972 chiller, The Other. Now i've never seen or even heard of this film and from the sounds of things neither has Shawn, check out his review after the jump...
Written By Shawn Francis
I
have never seen this movie all the way through before now. Like
Mindwarp (1992), I came across it one day, watched a little
bit of it and then quickly lost interest. I have always known of the
movies existence but also like Mindwarp, which I recently
reviewed, and whose post-apocalyptic subject matter was always a turn
off, the “homicidal kid” sub-genre never grabbed my interest
either. But when the opportunity came around to actually view the
movie straight through I decide to give it a second chance.
The
Other is based on a novel of the same name, written by Thomas
Tryon, that takes place in 1935 New England, Connecticut to be
precise, and when the movie opens we are introduced to twins, Niles
(Chris Udvarnoky) and Holland (Martin Udvarnoky) who are playing. The
twist to this movie, or at least, hints of it is evident early on
since none of the adults ever interact with Holland. The twins,
however, see one another since the movie is told through their eyes,
and we learn Holland is the troublemaker. But that doesn’t totally
leave Niles in the clear. Throughout most of the film he carry’s a
tobacco tin where he keeps this family ring and something wrapped in
blue paper. We eventually learn that a rotted human finger is wrapped
up in the paper.
As
the kids go about their daily lives of playing and enjoying the
summer, certain family members and neighbors end up getting on their
nerves. These people tend to end up dead by accident later on. It
appears Holland is more than just a troublemaker.
Upon
first glance this appears to be a “bad seed” tale, but from what
I saw of a scene Niles shares with his grandmother Ada I got the
feeling something borderline paranormal was occurring. And the scene
I’m referring to reminded of a scene from Highlander (1985).
Niles wants to play “the great game;” Ada obliges. She has him
focus on a crow in the distance and asks him to concentrate on it, to
feel the animal. The bird takes off and Niles experiences sight
through its eyes, kind of like the quickening in Highlander
where Remirez (Sean Connery) has Connor (Christopher Lambert)
concentrate on the stag in the distance and to be one with the
animal.
At
the hour mark the twist is revealed that Holland is dead. Ada forces
him to look at his grave stone, to play the game with Holland’s
coffin buried underneath to show him his twin brother is really and
truly dead. It’s an attempt to snap him back to reality once Ada
learns something strange is afoot.
The
movie can be interrupted in one of two ways. You can either view
Niles as a psychopath in the making or a boy with some kind of mental
powers who can communicate with his brother’s ghost who may
actually be the one killing people.
I
will say the ending is never clear-cut. It’s tragic, yes, but the
way it’s cut you never know for sure if Holland was a separate
entity, or how Ada’s final act allowed Niles to continue to live.
It was a creepy movie without a doubt with convincing performances by
the twins, but personally I didn’t find it captivating enough to
want to see it more than this one time.
Twilight
Time brings it to blu-ray in a 1080p high definition anamorphic
1’85:1 transfer which looks exceptionally gorgeous. An English 1.0
DTS-HD Master Audio is used with subtitles in English only.
Extras
added are an Isolated Score Track and the movie’s theatrical
trailer.
Twilight
Time is a boutique label that presses only 3,000 units of any title
they release. As of this writing The Other is still available
to buy. You can only buy Twilight Time discs from two sites—Screen
Archives Entertainment and Shop.TCM.com, so if you want it, do not
hesitate.
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