Set on an immense estate in the British Channel Islands after the end of World War II, The Others is one of the year's most thrilling movies. Unfortunately its conclusion gives up the tension so expertly built through the rest of the film thus also making it a disappointment.

Potential greatness aside, however, The Others is worth a look in light of its miniscule $15 million dollar budget. Especially when given the divorce proceedings between its lead actress, Nicole Kidman, and one of its producers, Tom Cruise, that might have derailed any attention to the movie at all were it not as good as it is.

Kidman laudably plays Grace who is awaiting her husband's return from the War. Weighing the prospects of being a widow the longer he remains unaccounted for, she works tediously at raising her two children, Anne (Alakina Mann) and Nicholas (James Bentley).

The pair suffers from a rare sensitivity to sunlight requiring their cavernous home to be constantly shrouded in curtains and darkness. Illuminated as it is with candlelight and lorded over by Grace's intentions to keep them safe, the family is isolated under the mists of the English coast.

By chance three strangers happen upon the house and offer their domestic services. Normal conduct ensues but then Anne's stories of seeing ghosts in the house multiply against various unexplained bumps in the night. Gradually Grace discovers other intruders into her home beyond her three new employees, though they might also be figments of her questionably sane mind.

Naturally there are mishaps bespeaking the ghostly presence in the house though none are more disturbing than the maddeningly numerous locked doors dominating the landscape. Behind every one of them lingers the specter of a long-dead person until the film's climax when the truth of what's happening is revealed in a reversal that's as clever as it is not very frightening.

Without ruining the surprise suffice it to say the stomach-churning scares in the film will undoubtedly create a loyal home video audience just as it has created a stir at the domestic box office.