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The Orphanage Movie ReviewGuillermo Del Toro presents a chilling horror movie from Spain
The Orphanage is a creepy haunted house movie that places Spain on the map as the new masters of horror and suspense.
The Orphanage: A SynopsisThe Orphanage stars Belen Rueda (The Sea Inside) as a former orphan named Laura, who has purchased her old orphanage and renovated it in hopes of opening its doors again as a home for children with special needs. She moves into the building along with her psychiatrist husband Carlos (Fernando Cayo, Wolf) and their adopted son Simon (Roger Princep), a highly imaginative young boy who is also HIV positive. When Simon disappears without a trace, a distraught Laura believes that the spirit of a deformed orphan accidentally killed years ago is extracting revenge for his death. The Orphanage cements Spain’s position as the new masters of horror.The Orphanage was produced by celebrated filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro (Pans Labyrinth), and is directed by long time short film and music video director Juan Antonio Bayona. Hopefully, the style of Spanish filmmakers will rub off on the torture porn infested dregs which clog up the Hollywood back lot, who could learn a thing or two on how to effectively scare audiences through strong story, memorable characters, and well paced thrills rather than an over abundance of violence. The Orphanage is a visceral and aural creep festThe Orphanage a chilling film experience which benefits from Banoya’s keen visual eye. But along with being a visceral treat, the film also contains quite an aural impact due to its excellent sound effects. It is a film intent on creating thrills, and less focused about vomit inducing gore, although a shocking gore moment does occur which works spectacularly well due to the great work by the films make up effects team. The plot is meticulously paced, as tension reaches breaking point and creates some genuine scares. This is especially felt during a frightening sequence where a spiritual medium (played by Geraldine Chaplin) channels the ghosts within the house. The Orphanage contains strong philosophical themesA main theme found in The Orphanage revolves around Laura’s belief in the paranormal, which clashes with her psychiatrist husband’s scepticism. It is a theme which makes for great character fodder and the naturalistic performances by Fernando Cayo and especially Belen Rueda lends credence to their characters and the plight which they are facing. Also, an anti-Hollywood ending pulls no punches and ends the film on a sad yet heart warming note. The strength of the moments comes down to the power of the films screenplay which was written by Sergio G. Sanchez.
The copyright of the article The Orphanage Movie Review in Horror Films is owned by Matthew Robert Pejkovic. Permission to republish The Orphanage Movie Review in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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