The Orphanage 2007: Review
Bayona Hits One out of the Park with Debut Horror Flick.
Laura (Belen Rueda ) discovers that Simon's (Roger Princep) imaginary friends are very real, and they are playing for keeps.
Atmospheric film reminiscent of The Others and The Innocents
For his debut film, director Juan Anthonio Bayona has hit one out of the park. Executive produced by Guillermo Del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy), The Orphanage is a smart, frightening take on what happens when a child’s imaginary friends turn out to be very real and very dangerous. Bayona and first time screenwriter, Sergio G. Sanchez have crafted a sensitive, unsettling film that explores the relationship between loss and forgiveness. In the tradition of The Others and The Innocents, the film gradually builds suspense and makes you want to care about the characters.
Picturesque orphanage has secrets
Popular Spanish actress, Belen Rueda (The Sea Inside and Saving Grace) gives an outstanding performance as Laura, a devoted mother, wife and child advocate. Laura, her husband Carlos (Fernando Cayo) and their seven year-old boy Simon, have recently taken up residence in a picturesque mansion that was once an orphanage and Laura’s former home. Based on Laura’s warm experiences as a child at Good Shepard orphanage, both Laura and Carlos decide to transform their home into a center for sick and disabled children. Despite the charm of the old mansion, there appears to be an air of uneasiness surrounding Laura, as if the walls of her new home were holding unsettling secrets rather than good memories.
When imaginary friends become real
Simon begins to experience trouble settling in his new environment, and seeks refuge in imaginary play with his invisible friends. Laura doesn’t think anything is wrong with this imaginary play until they take a leisurely walk into one of the gothic caves overlooking the ocean near their home. While in the cavern, Simon takes a detour along a dark part of the cave and is overheard inviting another “imaginary friend” to come back home and play. Laura curiously takes a look around the corner and sees footprints-but no child. The story gets eerie when Simon accumulates several more invisible friends who not only like to play elaborate scavenger hunt games, but who reveal to him a secret that his mother was keeping, that Simon is adopted and HIV positive.
Disappearance
Simon begins to withdraw more and more into imaginary play, and on the day of the center’s opening, he suddenly disappears. Laura runs through the house frantically searching for Simon, until she spots a mysterious little child standing in the middle of the hallway. At first glance, Laura mistakes the child for Simon, but then notices that the child is dressed in the same uniform she wore as an orphan at the mansion, with a name tag that reads Tomas. A dirty, cloth mask hides Tomas’s disfigured face, which is almost as jarring as the ski mask that Jason wore in Friday the 13th. The child vanishes and the real game begins. Carlos and Laura enlist the help of police detective Pilar and medium Aurora (Geraldine Chaplin) to assist in the search for their son.
This film is clearly a cut above most horror flicks. Bayona doesn’t rely on cheap tricks to produce knee jerk reaction screams. The suspense is gradually paced and the pay-off is big. There are truly scary moments in this film and the performances of Belen Rueda, Fernando Cayo and Geraldine Chaplin make it worth the $8 bucks.
