Other Review: Olga Kurylenko’s Mostly One-Woman Show Leads David Moreau’s Somewhat Mixed Psychological Horror
David Moreau’s follow-up to his ambitious single-take zombie apocalypse thriller MadS sees the writer-director embracing a bold creative choice in Other. And that choice in question is presenting Olga Kurylenko, who plays Alice, as the only person we can see her face clearly. The rest? Their faces are either obscured by something or blurred as if they are nobodies. Why this happens is anybody’s guess, as Moreau leaves the ambiguity wide open for us to make sense of what’s going on throughout the movie.
Right from the onset, the movie doesn’t waste time establishing the ominous mood with a grisly prologue — a remote home in the middle of the woods equipped with a state-of-the-art security system, flashing red lights reminding me of something that would eerily appear in a creepy interior of a spaceship, and a woman in a face mask looking for her dog. What happens next is an unexplained tragedy that comes to Alice’s attention after receiving a phone call about her mother’s death.
Even before that, Alice’s life looks as if she is stuck in a distorted world surrounded by faceless people. There’s already a sense of unease during the earlier stretch of her introduction as a veterinarian in a scene that amplifies violence and trauma, and nothing else matters, foreshadowing what she’s going to experience later. That later? Returning to her childhood home, the place where her late mother died under mysterious circumstances. Upon arrival, Alice finds her home exactly the same as she remembers, like it belongs in a time capsule.
Except for one significant difference: the advanced security system that tracks her movements with hidden cameras everywhere. Then, for some reason, she is trapped at home, but at least it’s a trip down memory lane, particularly revisiting her old bedroom. With no one else at home other than herself, she fills her free time by listening to and dancing to her old CD and gets drunk. Or so she thinks. There’s someone or perhaps something lurking around the house.
Here is where Moreau tapped into the dark side of technology, which, in this case, is the surveillance system that somehow invades Alice’s privacy. The otherwise comfort zone of a so-called home sweet home is steeped with dark secrets, such as Alice’s discovery of her mother’s VHS collection. Truth gradually unveils about Alice’s past with recurring flashbacks about her days as a beauty queen, and that’s not the only thing that bothers her. Moreau made good use of dread-inducing sound design, and even cranking up to a persistent level to make us just as uncomfortable as Alice is panicking about whatever things that go bump in the night.
Other is predominantly a one-woman show, and that means whether it makes or breaks depends heavily on one’s acting prowess to carry the movie effectively. Thankfully, Olga Kurylenko manages to hold her own here as Alice, while Moreau stages some effective frights with plenty of jump scares and gory moments (the scene revolving around the fence comes to mind), even though they tend to get repetitive after a while. This is especially true in the movie’s somewhat rinse-and-repeat middle stretch, and not to mention the erratic pace, despite its modest 95-minute runtime.
As the movie progresses with all the revealing bits and pieces through a combination of flashbacks and breadcrumb storytelling, I was expecting a thrilling payoff after a deliberate buildup. Too bad the third act is rather underwhelming, leaving a divisive finale that doesn’t exactly justify lots of questions (and questionable choices) lingering throughout the movie. Although Other lacks the visceral shock and unnerving tension seen in his past directorial efforts in Them and MadS, Moreau’s latest horror movie remains a decent watch.
Other is currently streaming on Shudder.
