Mommy, can I go out and kill tonight?

It's hard to beat the 70s for sheer nastiness in movies. Political films like the Conversation and the Parallax View, horror movies like the Exorcist, and dramas like Badlands took a much harsher view of the world and went to much darker places than most of today's films. The horror film the Other is visually bright and sunny but is a particularly dark take on the evil child theme. Set in a rural 1930s New England the movie is centered around the young twin boys Niles and Holland. Their father has died and they find themselves getting into trouble with the neighbors and their family. As it happens, bad things start happening around the farm and it looks like one of the twins is behind it.

The movie is fairly slow going at the start, involving lots of running to and from the swimming hole, the hidden area of the barn, the invalid mother's room and so on. Things start to get peculiar when the Russian grandma starts practicing what she calls the Game with Niles. It seems Niles has some psychic ability, and in horror movies, that is never good.

The end is where the big nasty comes as well as the big question as to what really is happening, a move so beloved by horror movie directors. You will probably call one of the twists in the first 10 or so minutes, but don't think that is all this moving is bringing.