The Orphanage (2008)

Wonderful movie, good service.

This is one of my most favorite movies since "The Devil's Backbone". A lovely story and quite scary. It's definitely a keeper. July 19, 2008

Not Really A Horror Film, Per Se...

THE ORPHANAGE is a tough film to review, as it had some really good points but some really low ones, too.

The highest point comes from Guillermo del Toro's association with it. For those unaware, del Toro was the genius behind such films as Hellboy, the new Hellboy II and the exquisite Pan's Labyrinth. Visually wondrous and stark, del Toro has a discerning eye for what does and does not work, and one can easily see his input (as a producer this time) within The Orphange. Although he had a hands-off approach for this film, you can see it is distinctly del Toro in nature, with heavy shadows, complex film shots, and a movie that lets the images speak rather than a visceral score (which was minimal).

Spanish stage-star-turned-film-actress Belén Rueda pulls in a fantastic performance as a returning woman to the orphanage she once inhabited as a child, but this time as owner of the failing building. Her pouty eyes, ruffled hair, and slumped shoulders gave her just the right mixture of attractiveness and cookyness that such a role demanded. When Laura's (Belén Rueda) adopted son Simón (Roger Príncep) goes missing from a party at the house/orphanage, Laura obviously does everything to try and locate him. Her husband Carlos (Fernando Cayo) also tries for many months but soon loses faith in ever finding the boy alive. He's probably right, too, since the boy was sick and needed daily medications. But Laura refuses to give up. She "feels" something in the house, just as Simón had before he disappeared. Simón kept referring to invisible friends who wanted him to stay and play with them. Laura and Carlos, of course, just assumed the boy to have an active imagination.

But Laura begins awakening to memories of her time at the orphanage, and with this comes a flood of troubled remembrances. When a group of paranormal researchers are called in to see if they can find out what happened to Simón, Laura's suspicions are aroused further, but cause a rift to grow between she and her husband. Carlos soon leaves but Laura stays, and she starts "playing the game" that these memories tell her to (including a game of hide and seek that results in some of the film's scarier moments, "1 ...2 ...3...Knock on the wall.")

Although the performances and filming were done with great care, the script itself was not. Deus ex machina rules the ending (just think of the movie The Others and you'll be real close). That this film has horror elements is undeniable, but genre-wise it doesn't quite fit. Although I don't think shoe-horning a film into a specific genre is a good thing, it does give the viewer a sense of what to expect and how the story will unfold. Not so here. The ending makes it a bit too sweet. Okay, so that might not be fair if you compare Pan's Labyrinth's ending and this one (true, they are similar). But Pan's Labyrinth had a much more cohesive story that came at you from a child's perspective. With The Orphanage, it is through Laura's eyes that we see this world, and she's a grown up with grown up ideals. Plus the brutality of Pan's Labyrinth was horrifically pulled off by the evil protagonist, while in The Orphange, it really had none other than its own circumstances.

But if you're in the mood for something visually appealing, this one will stimulate that portion of your brain. Just don't expect a smashing success ...or a horror film. July 18, 2008

Wonderful gem of a thriller

I hesitated to watch this movie as it was in spanish with subtitles. Boy am I glad I did.
This movie really pulls you along until the final moments. It starts with a good pace and gains momentum as the minutes go on. I felt myself completely drawn in, which is not easy to do.
I won't cover the plot here, that's been done already. I will say that if you want a movie that will make your skin shiver and have you jump at every noise then this is the one. Definitely made for scares and thrills. I hope we see more from this director.
July 3, 2008

Creepy movie that doesn't completely suck

Although this movie moves slowly at director's leisurely pace it's merits outweigh its flaws. This movie vaguely reminded me of the movie The Others. However imperfect, by the end it's far superior to other films in this genre, especially in craftsmanship. Although I don't normally watch these kinds of films at least this is one I can take seriously. It's not just made for the sake of sudden nonsensical scares like someone suddenly approaching from behind or a sudden klaxon coming from the soundtrack to make you jump.

I would have given it 3 stars until it reached the end, which I didn't totally predict, so that bumped up my rating up to a 4.

Note: I went in thinking this movie was directed by Guillermo del Toro (since his name is plastered everywhere); this is what originally drew me to the film. It wasn't till after I watched it that I realized he was actually just one of the Producers. June 30, 2008

Classic Supernatural Suspense

Guillermo Del Toro's film factory has produced another masterpiece of ghostly suspense for those of us old enough to remember when supernatural films were truly scary and not just disgustingly gory. Like previous films of this type, Del Toro's own Cronos, Devil's Backbone & Pan's Labyrinth and similar films such as 'The Other', 'The Shining'. and the 'The Haunting', this film by first time director Juan Bayona is suspenseful ghost story that relies on the audience's immersion into the details of the atmosphere of the story rather than visual shock. Not that there aren't a few quick shockers, but the film relies more on story and character development than the usual blood and guts that turns off many film goers. Like the 'Sixth Sense', the film's ending leaves you with the desire to view it again to catch what you missed the first time. The only negative aspect of this film is that some English speaking only viewers may be put off by the foreign language audio and subtitles. I watched this film on DVD and I wish that an English audio option was available even though I could follow some of the Spanish audio because the need to read on-screen text serves as a distraction to the visual style of the film itself. June 29, 2008

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