← Back to Reviews
in
The Orphanage (Juan Antonio Bayona, 2007)
This is a very thorough and complex film, even if the clues are laid out for you to be able to know what's going on before the characters in the film do. In fact, this is probably one of those movies (like The Innocents) where it's more fun to watch it at home so you can yell out loud what you think is going on, and then you can rewind it to show everybody else (or vice versa). The plot is extremely tight, and that's one of the reasons that it enables the viewer to "guess" about what will happen. Now, the fact that 90% of my guesses have less to do with the fact that I was right, and more to do with the fact that I was guessing about once a minute.
Of all the classic horror films I can compare this to, I'd probably choose The Haunting (1963) more than any other because the sound was often quite loud to try to disturb the characters and the viewers. Producer Guillermo del Toro's fingerprints are all over the film, but it's obvious that he was gleeful to give the following people their feature film debut: director J.A. Bayona, scripter Sergio G. Sánchez, cinematographer Óscar Faura, and a few others. The acting honors go to Belén Rueda, who plays the mother and totally inhabits a character in between her ill, adopted son, who sees many imaginary friends and her doctor husband who could never see them in a million years, at least unless he changed his way of living.
If you haven't already, watch this suspense film which is meticulously crafted. It's both scary and thoughtful. Don't forget to watch The Innocents when you get a chance, too.
This is a very thorough and complex film, even if the clues are laid out for you to be able to know what's going on before the characters in the film do. In fact, this is probably one of those movies (like The Innocents) where it's more fun to watch it at home so you can yell out loud what you think is going on, and then you can rewind it to show everybody else (or vice versa). The plot is extremely tight, and that's one of the reasons that it enables the viewer to "guess" about what will happen. Now, the fact that 90% of my guesses have less to do with the fact that I was right, and more to do with the fact that I was guessing about once a minute.
Of all the classic horror films I can compare this to, I'd probably choose The Haunting (1963) more than any other because the sound was often quite loud to try to disturb the characters and the viewers. Producer Guillermo del Toro's fingerprints are all over the film, but it's obvious that he was gleeful to give the following people their feature film debut: director J.A. Bayona, scripter Sergio G. Sánchez, cinematographer Óscar Faura, and a few others. The acting honors go to Belén Rueda, who plays the mother and totally inhabits a character in between her ill, adopted son, who sees many imaginary friends and her doctor husband who could never see them in a million years, at least unless he changed his way of living.
If you haven't already, watch this suspense film which is meticulously crafted. It's both scary and thoughtful. Don't forget to watch The Innocents when you get a chance, too.