The Orphanage
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Movie Reviews of The Orphanage
Movie Review: One of Years Best Movies....
Summary: 5 Stars
Its been a long, long time since I've seen such a stylish, creepy
ghost story with so much going for it. It certainly doesn't hurt this
movie when its producer is the aclaimed director Guillermo Del Toro.
First time Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona leaves no doubt he has
the talent and vision for creating beautiful, chilling human dramas and
with The Orphanage this movie stays with you long after you've left the theater. I told everybody the next day just what an experience this movie was. Even though it was in spanish subtitles it never gets in the way
of what you see on the screen.
Filmed in Northern Spain along the ocean, this haunted house along with the children and caves and that
lighthouse just gave off such a supernatural tenstion and although its story may be familiar
to the fans of the genre, this movie is in a league all its own. Its got
so many strengths and so many levels of fresh imagination and ultimatley left
me in awe, I just didn't think anyone was going to bring back those old
feelings I'd gotten from films I'd seen as a younger boy going back to
the late 60's into the 70's. Beautifully filmed, the movie just moves
along at its own pace and the acting, especially Belen Rueda as Laura,
whose role here will cause any mother in the audience to feel the heartbreak and manic loss of a child, this is great acting. Most movies
these days are hit and miss at best, "THE ORPHANAGE" is not to be missed.
This is a supernatural drama with a chilling bite. Fans of movies like
The Innocents,The Others & The Changeling will especially enjoy this one.
Movie Review: One of the best Horror Films in Years
Summary: 5 Stars
As a huge (and long-time) horror buff stuck in an American film culture that seems content to rip-off and remake the best films of its past and the best films of other countries - this film has already been tapped for remake rights - I was really looking forward to seeing "The Orphanage". Moreover, if there is one thing I enjoy more than a good horror film, it's a great ghost story. "The Orphanage" is both a terrific horror film AND a superbly-crafted ghost story, and more than that, it is one of the best films of 2007.
Gorgeous, well-acted, and flawlessly scripted, "The Orphanage" is a bone-chilling ghost story, a throwback to more traditional haunted-house mysteries, that relies on well-crafted and perfectly executed psychological scares instead of CGI effects and cheap 'bump-in-the-night' jumps and jolts. This film has atmosphere to spare. It slowly crawls under your skin and lingers long after you have left the theater. Some of the scariest moments will indeed make you jump, but its the disturbing nature of the subject matter and the skill with which director Juan Antonio Bayona handles it that will stick with you. Every single plant has a payoff in this film, and no scene or even shot goes wasted. The story is gripping, and will have you on the edge of your seat, and the ending is strangely touching and truly haunting.
I cannot recommend this film enough to horror fans, it is a work of true brilliance.
Movie Review: "We weren't looking to adopt a ghost.... but the grocery savings are great!"
Summary: 5 Stars
No one would have ever imagined Laura wanting to return to the Good Shepherd Orphange after finally being taken in by a new set of parents... Of course, no one could foretell her desire to open a school for children with special needs many years later as an adult and a mother to her own adopted child, Simon. While the long abandoned structure is now starting to thrive from its new ownership, so is the conjuring of its secret past long forgotten. Perhaps Simon's parents should've started paying a little more attention to his fast accumulation of imaginary friends... From the eventual discovery of the significance of an unscheduled visit from a social worker, to the meticulous scavanger hunt games, to the very ideals of how delicate the barrier is between now and the hereafter, this Spanish horror film (in its original language with English subtitles for this DVD release) magnificantly constructs one of the best ghost stories I've ever seen. Certainly, toned down from the visual perspective when compared to other work Del Toro has been involved with (although he was "only" the producer; credit Director Juan Antonio Bayona and Screenwriter Sergio G. Sanchez for much of the end result), but no less powerful. Additionally, to take something that would be considered morbid and downbeat for a climax if merely described and make it absolutely beautiful is, well... just that. You may also describe the experience of viewing this as such. 10/10Movie Review: A Startling Suprise
Summary: 5 Stars
I didn't have high expectations going into this movie despite the reviews (I wasn't very smitten with Pan's Labyrinth and thought this could be a similar experience) but I was in for a startling surprise.
The Orphanage has a simple story, no convoluted plot or superfluous characters to weigh it down. I felt it was a very clean and direct approach and appreciated that. I also felt a sense of "newness" about the film, as if it was different from all the horror flicks that are churning out nowadays - and it is different when compared to some of the trash torture porn which seems to dominate the market. The movie doesn't rely on gore or cheap thrills but builds the tense atmosphere slowly and steadily until the climax through powerful use of acting, lighting and camera work.
You may or may not see the end coming. For me, it wasn't a big surprise, I felt it had been building to this outcome for some time. However, it was deeply touching and despite the sheer horror and tragedy there was as underlying feeling that things were going to be OK. Not better than they were, but still OK. Normally these types of movies end on either a severe note of tragedy or a gimmicky bandaid-type magic ending to wrap themselves up. The feeling I had at the end of the film was the real twist for me, as it was greatly unexpected that a movie such as this would touch me so strongly.
I highly recommend.
Movie Review: Lovely, scary, and heartbreaking
Summary: 5 Stars
Not unlike its predecessor, Pan's Labyrinth, this film is beautifully photographed on a dramatic shore with a lighthouse and an old orphanage that has now become home to a couple with an adopted son. That the parents have kept the adoption and the boy's HIV status a secret from him, and that his mother had grown up in the orphanage, set in motion a chain of sad and frightening events when the ghosts of dead orphans tell the boy the truth. There's also a woman who had some information and was also a caregiver for a deformed boy; unfortunately, she is accidentally run over before she can tell Laura, the mother, what she needs to know.
The boy, Simon, disappears with the ghost kids and his heartbroken parents spend months searching for him.
All of this ends with life after death; Laura, Simon and the others die, but they seem to be very much alive, with Laura caring for them in the nursery since they will not grow any older, and Simon is reunited with her as well.
There is even a hint at the end that Laura's husband is greeted by her and the boy, though we will never know for sure.
It seems to be a common thread in this director's work that the living and the dead, the reality and the fantasy, are very close together and sometimes intermingle with each other. I will be very curious to see what he does with The Hobbit.