The Doctor
What part did the doctor play in the whole thing? I was just a little confused as to why he was in the house at the end of the movie keeping David from leaving.
shareHe was a spook, a specter, a wraith, a spirit person(said with Derek Acorah voice, a shade....A GHOST. Plus he probably knew about the shenanigans and turned a blind eye when he could have told the mother and saved her perhaps from suicide so remaining in the world of the cold and intangible was his penance.
or am i overanalyzing?
"Kid, don't threaten me. There are worse things than death, and I can do all of them."
You are overanalyzing just a bit...The Doctor is a ghost...once you know that, it turns the movie on its head because then you have to wonder how The professor, but more importantly, how Beckinsale's character can see him, talk to him, and interact with him. Furthermore, if he's a ghost, he MUST know that all the other characters, with the exception of the Nanny are ghosts as well. It also explains the terror the nanny has when the "doctor" examines her near the beginning of the movie. Knowing the doc is a ghost would be the BIGGEST clue to the twist of the movie if you knew about it at the beginning...
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Hello "starfleet_99",
you wrote:
"Knowing the doc is a ghost would be the BIGGEST clue to the twist of the movie if you knew about it at the beginning..." - yes absolutely! But that's just why this movie is so scary, for it lasts quite a while until the mystery is then solved!
I can imagine other people had different opinions, but speaking about my own experience, I can say that this movie managed to create completely false conclusions - for instance, as one of the brothers is presented as a rather bad character, I thought, ah, I see, there must be money involved: These young people want their aunt's money, if there is any; and so it would be best to "dispose of her" in a mental asylum...
Which means, I supposed these "men" were bad people but there may be nothing about ghosts and things. And further I thought for quite a while the young girl was honest in her sorrow about her aunt. A young woman, not very serious a person, maybe even immoral in certain respects, but not a bad character. Oops, I was misled ;-)
And that's quite a good and difficult to achieve thing - lead the viewers astray and create an effect of surprise when in the end all comes to the sunlight with a big bang. And the time inbetween, from the start until the last, say, 10-15 minutes, let the viewer have a growing feeling that there IS something definitively wrong, but WHAT is it, WHERE is the centre of the evil, etc. ...that keeps people in front of the screen.
And when the young "lady" appeared behind the professor at the platform in -wherever it was, London? anyway, his hometown - many people may have thought, oh, how silly, this is just another movie with a sort of ending which permits easily to add another one (Pt. 2, Pt. 3, etc. etc.) - but no, I personally found just that last moment very creepy; for it shows, once he has seen the ghosts secret, he's no longer safe - "they" will get you. Some day. Somehow. Somewhere.
I wonder what other people think about the "girl's" appearance at the station: Just another rather useless stereotype to make a sequel movie possible, or did you also think this was a quite creepy and suitable ending?
Best regards
sprendlinger
Sprendlinger,
Thank you for your insight about this picture. I answered the question about the ending and the elderly doctor's purpose in the story in another post on this string. However, I was wondering, did anyone else notice how the white sheets (covering the furniture and mirrors in the unused rooms) suddenly turned black just before the house fire? I did, and I immediately knew the black sheets signified death. It was customary for centuries to cover the front door of a home with black crepe and especially to cover mirrors with black sheets after a death in the family. (Hence, the term "crepe hanger" used to denote a pessimistic person). Mirrors were covered because it was feared the spirit of the departed might see its reflection in a mirror and then refuse to leave the house. The contrast between the light-colored walls and the black sheets also made a very creepy atmosphere. Remember how pleasant the house was with the white sheets?
Sheila Beers
But Nanny isn't their aunt. She's a servant, as is clear from the start. Any money won't be hers.
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