132. The Others (2001)

Load Bearing Beams: A Movie Podcast

You need to stay away from the light! Or do you? What is light anyway? What is truth, what is meaning, what is words? We try getting to the bottom of all of this by discussing the 2001 ghost movie The Others.

Nicole Kidman is Grace, a young mother who seems to have misplaced her marbles. She’s alone in an enormous house with two little moppet children who can’t go into the light because of an illness [citation needed]. For some reason, she still needs to open the curtains every day and pretend like everything’s okay. Grace, we’re here to tell you: surrender. Keep those curtains closed. Don’t bother cleaning. Adopt the darkness, like Bane. You’ll be happier.

Anyway, this movie rules, and it’s a great contrast from last week’s bloody meta mess movie, Scream.

Bonus video: We play The Trailer Challenge(™), where we recall lines from trailers of long ago that stick in our craw, then watch the trailers to see if we’re remembering them correctly. Watch it on our Twitter, Instagram, or TikTok.

Next week: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986) with special guest JT the Talking Head!

Time stamps:

00:06:13 — Our personal histories with The Others

00:18:51 — History segment: Gothic horror; director Alejandro Amenábar; star Nicole Kidman

00:32:19 — In-depth movie discussion

01:29:36 — Final thoughts and star ratings

Sources:

“The Others: Something in This House” by Philip Horne | Criterion, 2023 - https://bit.ly/3ZOB3x7

“The Others at 20: the haunted house movie that reinvigorated the genre” by Scott Tobias | The Guardian, 2021 - https://bit.ly/4gTeltQ

Artwork by Laci Roth.

Music by Rural Route Nine. Listen to their album The Joy of Averages on Spotify (https://bit.ly/48WBtUa), Apple Music (https://bit.ly/3Q6kOVC), or YouTube (https://bit.ly/3MbU6tC).

Songs by Rural Route Nine in this episode:

“Winston-Salem” - https://youtu.be/-acMutUf8IM

“Snake Drama” - https://youtu.be/xrzz8_2Mqkg

“The Bible Towers of Bluebonnet” - https://youtu.be/k7wlxTGGEIQ

Follow the show!

Twitter: @LoadBearingPod | @MattStokes9 | @LRothConcepts

Instagram: @loadbearingbeams

TikTok: @load.bearing.beams | @mattstokes9

Letterboxd: @loadbearinglaci | @mattstokes9