SummaryLaura returns to the stately manor house that holds such a special place in her heart. The orphanage was abandoned years ago; Laura and her husband, Carlos, plan to reopen it as a center for sick and disabled children. It will be a place where boys and girls--including the couple's beloved 7-year-old Simón--can play freely in the open ai...
SummaryLaura returns to the stately manor house that holds such a special place in her heart. The orphanage was abandoned years ago; Laura and her husband, Carlos, plan to reopen it as a center for sick and disabled children. It will be a place where boys and girls--including the couple's beloved 7-year-old Simón--can play freely in the open ai...
Delivers more goose bumps than anything Hollywood has served up in years – which I hope does not mean that Bayona, a first-time feature director and music video whiz, will be enlisted to direct "Saw V."
Despite a few bloodcurdling shocks, this handsome Spanish ghost story from producer Guillermo del Toro follows in the suggestive, richly romantic tradition of the old Val Lewton chillers.
In a season filled with dark-themed films, it stands out as an elegantly mounted, surprisingly humane but terrifying horror thriller well worth seeing.
The filmmakers know the tropes of spooky movies: Glowering shadows, squeaking playground equipment, eerie storms and half-glimpsed forms, but the film rests on Rueda's subtle, intense performance, rooted in every half-articulated anxiety that ever gnawed at a parent's brain.
This movie was brilliant! I can't think in anything wrong about it. Perhaps there are some small details that needed to be clarified -if they were not left like that deliberately-, but, in movies, as it is in life, there is always room for improvement. The performances were great, and the characters were perfectly elaborates, so the audience empathize with them. I actually felt pretty close to Laura and Simon, and also to the 'ghost' children and their story. Moreover, this movie manages to continuously surprise us. There is always suspense, which makes it thrilling. In fact, at time, I had goosebumps; that, even though I am not a person who gets easily scared. Further, I love the emotional component of the film, because it was not a movie that dealt merely with death, life, and the super natural world, but it was a movie that confronted us about how each of us deals with his/her humanity. The Orphanage questions our coping mechanisms to face, pain, loss, reality, the 'unknown', and more. I think that those people who see is a 'dumb' 'silly' 'pointless' or 'boring' movie are probably more into gore or have a very narrow perspective about what is horror. I have read some of the reasons why some put this movie just a '1 or 2', and frankly, in most of the cases, their criticism shows an absolutely basic analytical thought. So, if you like intellectual stimulation, this is the movie for you! It is magnificently done. Moreover, the photography is breathtaking, so is the landscape. I loved the ending I found it very **** open to your imagination. I did have tears, and I am not an overly emotional person so that means something to me. I think I can easily watch this movie twice the same day, not just because of its beauty, but also to play myself a bit with the clues...I may be able to discover more about **** end note: I did like this movie more than Pan's Laberynth. I find The Orphanage is much better. Pan's Labyrinth was beautiful -what I enjoyed the most was the art direction- but the whole story didn't really impressed me much. The Orphanage is Del Toro's masterpiece!
Algo que debemos agradecer fue que aprovecharon un recurso tan conocido -la casa embrujada- con el mayor provecho posible, con una historia que sabe transmitir al espectador la ansiedad de la protagonista, con un hábil uso del suspenso. Sin los últimos tres minutos, estaría mucho mejor. Tomen nota de la actuación de alguien bien conocido en México: Edgar Vivar.
The Orphanage is a truly brilliant work from director J.A. Bayona, Guillermo del Toro's protege. As a horror film, "El Orfanato" is incredibly terrifying and has you on the edge of your seat until the very end. The use of sound, mystery, and great horror acting, all combine to make for one seriously scary film. However, where The Orphanage truly knocks it out of the park is the ending. Truly, it manages to take it from being a great horror flick to one of the better films I have ever seen.
*SPOILERS*
The ending is truly great for its portrayal of death and loss. There are few films that deal with it as well as this one. It still works as a horror film by allowing in the emotional element, but works very well even as a non-horror film, even though all of the scares are explained by largely rationale things.
*END SPOILERS*
The Orphanage is an absolutely impeccable film with a fantastic story, beautiful costumes, a creepy atmosphere, beautiful set pieces, and an overall wonderful ending. Truly, you must watch The Orphanage.
The acting was great, the visuals were interesting, the story was intriguing and the first half of the movie is genuinely atmospheric and scary. Unfortunately, during the last half of the movie, it becomes cliché and predictable, the tense atmosphere goes way and the ending was disappointing to say the least. It's not a bad horror flick and if you're interested in ghost movies you might like it, but don't expect anything mind blowing.
When this film was released in Mexico it was widely publicized with Guillermo del Toro's name, so a lot of people believed the film was actually his and therefore when they saw it they faced their expectations with something they weren't expecting and many people I know were disappointed by the final result.
Personally I think the film has a fairly respectable quality, but the script mixes too many elements and many times those elements borders the implausible and credible and while the tension that Bayona prints to his story is appropriate and convenient the ending feels rushed and anti-climatic but in general I think The Orphanage is not a bad choice.
Production Company
MEDIA Programme of the European Union,
Instituto de la Cinematografía y de las Artes Audiovisuales (ICAA),
Generalitat de Catalunya - Institut Català de les Indústries Culturals (ICIC),
ICF Institut Català de Finances,
Canal+ España,
Televisió de Catalunya (TV3),
Asturias Paraíso Natural,
Wild Bunch,
Telecinco,
Rodar y Rodar Cine y Televisión,
Telecinco Cinema,
Warner Bros. Pictures Mexico,
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