Cast: Belen Rueda

Director: J. A Bayona

Screenplay: Sergio Sanchez

Running time: 1 hr 40 mins

Genre: Foreign Film/Horror


REVIEW:


It’s been a long while since we’ve seen horror films with ounces of intellect. As of today, Hollywood has been flooded of cheap scares, well foreseeable frights from fake, preposterous slasher films, with the endless chase of dumbed down damsels (especially with bleach blonde hairs) by masked masquerader of the night. So rarely had horror films been able to actually play on the basics, which is fear itself, and the likes of the classics such as THE SHINING, THE OTHERS, THE SIXTH SENSE are the brilliant apotheoses of the genre. And the last time I have ever been so engrossed by a horror film was watching PAN’S LABYRINTH; technically, it’s a fantasy flick, but the sub-domain is basically a horror film. THE ORPHANAGE, meanwhile, is what you get when you cross PAN’S LABYRINTH with THE OTHERS, with added touch of THE SHINING’S atmosphere of dread. The result is enthralling, celluloid of escapism that compels you into its world, and plays into your fear without easily giving you frights but instead sends shivers up your spine. THE ORPHANAGE allows not to give away too much, there’s no intention of providing graphic violence here, to which films of recent periods tend to provide garishly (pools of blood, layers upon layers of butchered human flesh), but instead shows you nothing much. However, it makes you believe that something is around, an eerie closing of a door, a tap on the window, a thump on the walls, and the whispering voices of children. It is a terrific ghost story, beautifully told, hauntingly portrayed all throughout, slow-burning at times, but when it gets to its engrossing finale, it sweeps you over with a heartbreaking conclusion – a poignant touch of humanity.


It’s no wonder, such a template would exist when PAN’S LABYRINTH genius himself Guillermo Del Toro ruled his thumb over this project as the Executive Producer. It offers nods to frightener classics such as THE OTHERS, PSYCHO, ROSEMARY’S BABY, but it doesn’t stray from its own pathos. It still remains original, with its own plot and a chilling story to tell. Bayona, in his directorial debut, sticks to the basics style and fluid movements of cameras takes us into places of dread, within his set piece that is the titular orphanage itself. What is more, it is in Spanish so one has to endure squinting at subtitles while keeping attention with what’s going on. Nevertheless, Spain has suddenly become an arena of good horror films and its language should not become an obstacle to the viewing, as it only more mysticism to the whole experience (the use of Spanish sceneries here bolsters the mood and the atmospheric feel of the film).


Like most “effective” horror films, THE ORPHANAGE hands down an imprint, and that’s the horrific child sack mask. The tale of a former orphan being uprooted out the titular orphanage, who grows up and goes back to live in the orphanage, seems a story about redemption, but there’s more to what sees the eye. It lets us know that there are ghosts in the massive, sprawling orphanage, unrest souls of children – but soon we ask ourselves, are they really ghosts or perhaps, ghosts of somebody’s past? As intelligent a movie as it is, it makes us ask such question. The loss of the mother’s child leads the main character, Laura (an excellent, emotionally draining performance by Spanish actress Belen Rueda), to embark on a journey to recover her child and seek for the truth. And it is a kind of film that every movie critic should start eating their own tongues and shut their selves up about the plot, otherwise the experience shall be spoiled.

However, one final dollop of hint: that scene where a group of medium are investigating the orphanage employing the use of green-tinged night-vision cameras – is the film’s gem. Fraught with tense musical score, the derelict corridors seen through monitors, and the night vision amped up the genuine scare.


THE FINAL WORD:


A familiar ghost story employing traditional back-to-basics visual histrionics is what it takes to achieve an over-all effective and affecting horror movie, with a thrilling finale that’s just superb as it is heartbreaking. THE ORPHANAGE is an excellent addition to the genre that is undermined by the recent cheap fares.


VERDICT: A-