Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #299 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-07-21
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.77:1
• Formats: Box set, PAL
• Original language: Spanish
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 102 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Backed by Guillermo del Toro and yet made by a surprisingly inexperienced group of film makers (especially considering the end result), The Orphanage is a chilling, tense supernatural thriller that could certainly teach more established directors a thing or two about how to send shivers down the spine.

It tells the story of a woman, Laura, returning to the orphanage where she was raised as a child. Her plans are to look after sick children there, but it doesn’t take long for things to go awry. Without giving too much away, visions from her past and a threat to her own family are the starting points for a complex and quite haunting thriller, that stays in the mind long after the credits have rolled.

A film that works on more than one level, The Orphanage really is some piece of work. Juan Antonia Bayona, behind the camera, generates an incredibly atmospheric mood that underpins the film, and wisely takes time to put pieces in place. He’s aided by a terrific cast, and an unsettling screenplay that layers in an uneasy horror that’s as anti-Hollywood as it comes.

The result of all of this is one of the scariest films of recent times, and yet something that still manages to be that little bit more, that sticks in your mind for some time afterwards. Make no mistake, The Orphanage really is something different, and all the better for it. --Jon Foster

Synopsis
It might come as no surprise that the producer of the Spanish supernatural thriller THE ORPHANAGE is none other than Mexican director Guillermo Del Toro (PAN’S LABYRINTH, THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE), for his influence is felt greatly throughout the picture. Made by an entire crew of newcomers--director Juan Antonio Bayona, screenwriter Sergio G. Sanchez, director of photography Oscar Faura, composer Fernando Velazquez--THE ORPHANAGE is an extremely accomplished work. The story concerns Laura (Belen Rueda), who has returned with her husband Carlos (Fernando Cayo) and adopted child Simon (Roger Princep) to the large manor where she was raised in an orphanage as a child. Laura is determined to fix up the abandoned house and open it as a refuge for ill children. But from the moment she returns, the past begins to haunt her. It isn't long before she begins to see the children who she used to play with as a seven-year-old. And when Simon goes missing one afternoon, she's convinced that they have taken him hostage. What follows is a murky descent into Laura's mind, where she doesn't know what is real and what is a figment of her tortured imagination.


Bayona brings Sanchez's complex script to life with the help of Faura's haunting imagery and Valazquez's atmospheric score. But what makes THE ORPHANAGE an even greater achievement is its insistence on being more than just a superficial scare-fest. Bayona and Sanchez are more interested in deeper themes of memory, loss, and grief, establishing Laura as a mother who feels guilt over not being able to protect her child from outside forces. The result is a film that is both unsettling and moving.

Customer Reviews

Brilliant, bittersweet, satisfying film - not for horror lovers though
This is a brilliant film, up there with his "Pan's Labyrinth" and even better than "Devil's Backbone" which it in some ways resembles - a ghost story involving a children's home. A film about the fierce love between parent and child, which transcends death. I loved the bittersweet ending. It is not a horror film, so if you like horror movies, choose something else.

Eerie
The Orphanage is a psychological ghost story with a classic set-up involving nervy woman, empty old house, creepy kids; it is especially reminiscent of The Others but also of many other films like Don't Look Now and The Haunting and Henry James' classic novella The Turn of the Screw, which seems to have given rise to this whole subgenre of films. The Orphanage is far superior to the Others, in my opinion; Belen Rueda gives a far better performance than Kidman, not least because her face has retained the power to register emotion, which Kidman's has not. There are many exceptionally creepy moments, and a brilliantly-maintained eerie atmosphere as well as a very effective use of music and sound. In short, I found this to be one of the most effective horror films of the last few years, a ghost story in the classic style, very well-made on every level.

Good but not terrifying
This is a good watch once horror. The first time i watched it it was at night which only added to the horror. The film is jumpy and has the elements of a good ghost story which i always find scary.


Like Rec. the last film i reviewed this film is in a foreign language - in this case Spanish which some people might find a turn off but it didnt bother me.

The ending is very good and has a certain grace that other horror films so often lack. Unfortunately i would say that it is this very ending that makes this film unsuitable for multiple viewing but it will not be a waste of shelf space.