# The Other
**The Other** is a 1972 American psychological horror film directed by Robert Mulligan, adapted by [Tom Tryon](https://www.edgepedia.org/tom-tryon) from his own 1971 best-selling novel. Set on a [Connecticut](https://www.edgepedia.org/connecticut) farm in the summer of 1935, it follows twelve-year-old twin brothers Niles and Holland Perry as a series of fatal accidents strikes their family, and their grandmother Ada slowly realizes what the boys' innocent "game" has unleashed.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/54421) • [2](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069050/plotsummary/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | New York opening 23 May 1972; Los Angeles opening 24 May 1972; distributed by Twentieth Century-Fox[3](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54421-THE-OTHER) |
| Director and writer | Robert Mulligan (also producer); screenplay and novel by Thomas Tryon[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/54421) |
| Principal cast | Uta Hagen (Ada), Diana Muldaur (Alexandra), Chris Udvarnoky (Niles), Martin Udvarnoky (Holland)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/54421) |
| Setting | The Perry family farm in rural Connecticut, summer 1935[2](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069050/plotsummary/) |
| Production | Shot mid-September to late November 1971 in Murphys, California; Panavision widescreen, DeLuxe color, Westrex sound; MPAA rating PG[3](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54421-THE-OTHER) |
| Source novel | Tryon's debut novel, a bestseller for six months with about 3.5 million copies sold[4](https://kendallreviews.com/past-due-critic-g-g-graham-discusses-lesser-known-genre-fiction-and-the-celluloid-nightmares-they-inspired-the-others-1971-dir-robert-mulligan/) |
| Reception | 83% Tomatometer (12 reviews), 66% audience score, Metacritic 65/100, IMDb 6.8/10[5](https://thehorrormovietracker.com/movie/35280) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
In the summer of 1935, twelve-year-old twins Niles and Holland Perry live with their widowed mother Alexandra, their Russian-born grandmother Ada, and other relatives on a Connecticut farm, a year after their father died in a fall in the apple cellar.[2](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069050/plotsummary/) Holland, the more mischievous twin, goads the shy Niles into mischief and takes the family's peregrine-falcon ring, handed down after their father's death.[2](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069050/plotsummary/)
Ada has taught Niles "the game," in which he projects himself into other people and animals, presenting it as a harmless exercise.[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1015710-other) As accidents accumulate, including the death of their cousin Russell by a rigged pitchfork and the fatal frightening of elderly neighbor Mrs. Rowe, Niles comes to believe Holland is responsible.[2](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069050/plotsummary/) During a thunderstorm, the baby of Niles's sister Torrie disappears, and Ada, following Niles to the barn, hears him confess that Holland caused every tragedy, including their father's death. Ada forces him to confront Holland's gravestone: Holland died on the twins' last birthday.[2](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069050/plotsummary/)
In the climax, Ada pours kerosene in the apple cellar and sets it alight to end the game and Niles's life, but Niles escapes because Holland had cut the cellar padlock. Now that Ada is gone and their mother is bedridden, nobody imagines Niles is responsible; the last glimpse of him shows him at his window, summoned to the midday meal.[7](https://www.cinnamondb.com/movie/the-other-1972)
## Production
Thomas Tryon (1926–1991), a Hollywood actor whose starring film *The Cardinal* had flopped, turned to writing after seeing *Rosemary's Baby* and produced his horror novel *The Other*, set in rural Connecticut in 1935.[8](https://www.tcm.com/articles/339951/the-other) According to an October 1970 *Daily Variety* item, Tryon had retained the film rights with business partner Ed Dukoff, and in March 1971 the two joined with Mulligan to produce the film.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/54421) Tryon was even considered to direct before Mulligan, fresh from *Summer of '42* and known for *To Kill a Mockingbird*, took the job.[9](https://horrorcultfilms.co.uk/2015/02/the-other-1972-on-dual-format-blu-ray-and-dvd-march-23rd/)
**Casting.** Tryon wanted [Ingrid Bergman](https://www.edgepedia.org/ingrid-bergman) for the grandmother Ada and [Mark Lester](https://www.edgepedia.org/mark-lester) for the dual role of the twins, but Bergman had a stage commitment and Lester turned the part down. The final cast contained no major stars, though [John Ritter](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-ritter) appears in an early role as Rider.[9](https://horrorcultfilms.co.uk/2015/02/the-other-1972-on-dual-format-blu-ray-and-dvd-march-23rd/) The film marked the feature debut of the noted stage actress Uta Hagen (1918–2004).[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/54421) The twins were played by real-life brothers Chris and Martin Udvarnoky.[8](https://www.tcm.com/articles/339951/the-other)
**Locations and photography.** Mulligan hoped to shoot in Connecticut, but the autumn foliage would have given away the season, so the film was made in California, with production running from mid-September to late November 1971 in Murphys, California.[3](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54421-THE-OTHER) • [9](https://horrorcultfilms.co.uk/2015/02/the-other-1972-on-dual-format-blu-ray-and-dvd-march-23rd/) Cinematographer Robert Surtees kept the camera at a child's eye view, bathing the pastoral settings in warm golden light more typical of [Norman Rockwell](https://www.edgepedia.org/norman-rockwell) paintings than of horror films.[4](https://kendallreviews.com/past-due-critic-g-g-graham-discusses-lesser-known-genre-fiction-and-the-celluloid-nightmares-they-inspired-the-others-1971-dir-robert-mulligan/) Mulligan drenches most of the film's evil in bright sunlight from the opening moment, avoiding clichéd dark corners.[8](https://www.tcm.com/articles/339951/the-other)
**Post-production.** Mulligan cut substantial footage during post-production, and Tryon claimed the film had been ruined as a result. The film was not a box office success, and early US television showings altered the final lines so that "the bad guy doesn't get away with it."[9](https://horrorcultfilms.co.uk/2015/02/the-other-1972-on-dual-format-blu-ray-and-dvd-march-23rd/)
## Reception and legacy
Contemporary critics generally responded well. Roger Ebert, writing in the [Chicago Sun-Times](https://www.edgepedia.org/chicago-sun-times), defended Mulligan's rich, nostalgic look against charges that the film was too beautiful, arguing its chocolatey browns and bloody reds were "perverse and menacing" rather than pretty.[10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069050/criticreviews/) Vincent Canby of The New York Times judged Tryon's novel more precise and complex than the "Summer of '35" sort of movie Mulligan had made from it.[10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069050/criticreviews/) Variety praised the writing's structure and dialogue.[10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069050/criticreviews/) On aggregate measures the film scores 83% on the Tomatometer from 12 reviews, 65/100 on Metacritic, and 6.8/10 on IMDb, an average of 68/100 across seven tracked sources, with its IMDb rating placing it in the top 10% of horror films with at least 1,000 votes on that site.[5](https://thehorrormovietracker.com/movie/35280)
**Genre position.** Reviewers have often resisted calling it a straightforward horror film. Starburst describes it as a taut psychological thriller that predates by a couple of years the mid-1970s horror boom of *The Exorcist* and *The Omen*, and notes it is far less adrenalized than *The Omen*, with no interest in graphic or exploitative gore.[11](https://www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/the-other-review/) The Harvard Crimson's 1972 review observed that the film's evil is ultimately resolved in terms of psychology, without recourse to metaphysics, and that the film improves on a second viewing.[12](https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1972/8/8/the-other-thriller-pbab-few-weeks/) Big Think credits the film's use of the seemingly innocent child archetype as central to its power, while noting that despite the novel's popularity the film has all but vanished from public imagination.[13](https://bigthink.com/high-culture/the-other-horror-film/) It ranks #376 in TSZDT's list of the 1,000 greatest horror films.[14](https://www.icheckmovies.com/movies/5050-the%2Bother/)
The novel itself returned to print when New York Review Books reissued it in its Classics series in 2012.[4](https://kendallreviews.com/past-due-critic-g-g-graham-discusses-lesser-known-genre-fiction-and-the-celluloid-nightmares-they-inspired-the-others-1971-dir-robert-mulligan/)
## References
1. [The Other (1972), AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/54421)
2. [The Other (1972) – Plot, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069050/plotsummary/)
3. [The Other (1972), AFI Catalog (details page)](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54421-THE-OTHER)
4. [Past Due: G.G. Graham on Thomas Tryon's The Other, Kendall Reviews](https://kendallreviews.com/past-due-critic-g-g-graham-discusses-lesser-known-genre-fiction-and-the-celluloid-nightmares-they-inspired-the-others-1971-dir-robert-mulligan/)
5. [The Other (1972), Horror Movie Tracker](https://thehorrormovietracker.com/movie/35280)
6. [The Other, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1015710-other)
7. [The Other (1972), Cinnamon DB](https://www.cinnamondb.com/movie/the-other-1972)
8. [The Other, Jay Carr, Turner Classic Movies](https://www.tcm.com/articles/339951/the-other)
9. [The Other (1972) on Dual Format Blu-ray and DVD, Horror Cult Films](https://horrorcultfilms.co.uk/2015/02/the-other-1972-on-dual-format-blu-ray-and-dvd-march-23rd/)
10. [The Other (1972) – Metacritic reviews, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069050/criticreviews/)
11. [The Other (1972) Blu-ray review, Starburst Magazine](https://www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/the-other-review/)
12. [The Other Thriller, The Harvard Crimson (1972)](https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1972/8/8/the-other-thriller-pbab-few-weeks/)
13. [Why 1972's "The Other" is a forgotten classic of American horror films, Big Think](https://bigthink.com/high-culture/the-other-horror-film/)
14. [The Other (1972), iCheckMovies](https://www.icheckmovies.com/movies/5050-the%2Bother/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Horror films (individual works) › Psychological horror films › Psychological horror films, 1960s to 1980s*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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