orphanage

THE FLICK: It’s been seven years since the sleeper success of Alejandro Amenabar’s The Others proved a ghost story didn’t have to lift up its skirt to get an audience’s attention. And while Hollywood continues to beat a dead horse when it comes to the Japanese horror craze, Spanish filmmakers are quietly staging their own mini-comeback in the form of The Orphanage courtesy of producer Guillermo Del Toro. In an attempt to confront her own personal demons, Laura (Belen Rueda) moves her family into the converted orphanage in which she was raised, planning to help disabled kids and cement the relationship with her own adopted son, Tomas. But the appearance of a mysterious stranger and the disappearance of her own son convince Laura that restless spirits have invaded her home with malicious intent. In order to find her child, she must return to the games of her youth and uncover the mystery lurking with the orphanage’s walls. Produced with understated elegance, The Orphanage plays a familiar tune but with inspired moments of grandeur. Equal parts Poltergeist and The Innocents, the plot itself is satisfying but rather transparent. Yet Rueda’s forceful portrayal of a wounded mother who comes full circle is the backbone of the film, anchoring the supernatural aspects of the story with real-world gravitas. You see her pain, her guilt and her fear. And her performance amplifies our own experience. And what an experience it is! The Orphanage has more peek-through-your-fingers moments than any movie in the last five years. But it’s the slow, creeping dread that interests director J. A. Bayona, not the typical music-cue shocks or excessive gore that pervades most Hollywood horror nowdays. Here is a film that relies on mood, atmosphere and emotion to generate suspense, but is not simply content to scare you. The real triumphant of The Orphanage is it reaches for a transcendent happy ending that you’ll never see coming. Not just the pick of the week, this is the pick of the month! THE FEATURES: It’s great that New Line had enough faith in this one to debut it one Blu-ray, not to mention a good amount of extras including When Laura Grew Up: Constructing The Orphanage, Tomas’ Secret Room (The Filmmakers), and Horror in the Unknown: Makeup Effects, along with still galleries, rehearsal footage and marketing materials. If you enjoyed the film, this is all just gravy.