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The Other (1972)

Rate: 2
Viewed: 5/21

Other72
5/21: No matter how hard I try, I can't get into The Other.

To pinpoint the problem, it's the kid who dominates the screen in a vacuum almost 100% of the time which is highly unusual. For the life of me, I can't understand why the pitchfork in the hay is pointed in the wrong direction. Who does that?

For the most part, The Other is the kind of movie that the book has to be read first before proceeding to see it. Even Tom Tryon, the author who wrote it and was the leading actor in The Cardinal, didn't like the film. After I was done, I checked out the trailer. Now, I can see why people would be misled because it's full of best parts which are mostly from the last ten minutes. And no, the ending isn't enough to save the film as a whole. The reality is I got stuck with a dull drama with long stretches of stagy dialogue and acting.

Also, I wondered what happened to the kid and his twin brother. To my surprise, Chris Udvarnoky, who plays Niles Perry, died eleven years ago at age 49 from polycystic kidney disease. Martin is still alive. They both never acted before or after The Other was made. Meanwhile, John Ritter made an early on-screen appearance, looking exactly the same even years later. He also passed away from an aortic dissection in 2003.

All in all, the filmmakers forgot to make the "horror" part more prominent and thus long-lasting in The Other.