... Then I shoved them to the side and buggered off into town to pick up some Halloween stuff.
One Mad Scientist costume complete (which I have rated 15, the same as the movie) , I arrived back to my empty flat (my flat mate was at work) and decided "what the hell" . I grabbed "The Orphanage" ... Read review
Laura spent the happiest years of her childhood growing up in an orphanage by the seaside, ... more
cared for by the staff and fellow orphans whom she loved as brothers and sisters. Now, thirty years later, she returns with her husband Carlos and Simon, their 7-year-old son, with a dream of restoring and reopening the long- abandoned orphanage as a home for disabled children. The new home and mysterious surroundings awaken Simon?s imagination and the boy starts to spin a web of fantastic tales and not-so-innocent games... As the opening day draws near, tension builds within the family. Carlos remains skeptical, believing that Simon is making everything up in a desperate bid for attention. But Laura slowly becomes convinced that something long-hidden and terrible is lurking in the old house, something waiting to emerge and inflict appalling damage on her family.
Many years ago, Laura left the orphanage where she had spent her childhood. Now, thirty ... more
years later, she returns with her husband Carlos and her young son Simon, with a dream of restoring and reopening the long-abandoned orphanage as a home for disabled children. But the mysterious surroundings awaken Simon's imagination and the boy starts to spin a web of fantastic tales and not-so innocent games...As events take a sinister turn, Laura slowly becomes convinced that something long-hidden and terrible is lurking in the old house, something waiting to emerge and inflict appalling damage on her family.
Many years ago, Laura left the orphanage where she had spent her childhood. Now, thirty ... more
years later, she returns with her husband Carlos and her young son Simon, with a dream of restoring and reopening the long-abandoned orphanage as a home for disabled children. But the mysterious surroundings awaken Simon's imagination and the boy starts to spin a web of fantastic tales on not-so innocent games...As events take a sinister turn, Laura slowly becomes convinced that something long-hidden and terrible is lurking in the old house, something waiting to emerge and inflict appalling damage on her family.
A haunting and heartbreaking plot full of unimaginable scares and creeping undefined ... more
dread; Juan Antonio Bayona's astounding debut The Orphanage stands as one of the most beautiful and moving horror movies in recent history. Adopting seven-year-old sweet natured and imaginative Simon (Roger Princep) has awoken complex feelings in happily married Laura (Belen Rueda). Having been adopted herself and feeling a need for closure Laura persuades her husband Carlos (Fernando Cayo) to buy the dilapidated institute where she spent the earliest happiest years of her life and reopen the orphanage as a facility for disabled children. As they move in to the silent stately manor where something ominous haunts the darkened hallways Simon's behaviour becomes increasingly reserved and malevolent. Carlos pins Simon's actions as a desperate bid to get more attention from his distracted parents but Laura isn't convinced and embarks on a desperate quest to unearth the terrible secret that lurks in the old house. Taking inspiration from everything from Peter Pan to Henry James' The Turn of the Screw director Juan Antonio Bayona and producer Guillermo del Toro (The Devil's Backbone) have produced a highly imaginative and well made film that induces fear throughout. With a musical score that elicits shudders from the outset and a heart-wrenching plot that filters unimaginable horror through a fairytale frame The Orphanage is a unique intelligent spine-tingling yet heartfelt horror that is as unsettling as Guillermo del Toro's Pans Labyrinth.
Postage & Packaging:£0.00 Availability:3-5 working days
Laura has returned with her husband Carlos and adopted child Simon to the large manor ... more
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.
Advantages: Creepy, brilliant story, amazing performances Disadvantages: none unless you don't like subtitles
...not listen to a song the whole way through. If you were to ask my neighbour what the last line of any song on the planet was, she would NOT be able to tell you as she gets bored after about a minute and flicks to another song. Why is this of any consequence? Well, it is because of her flicking habits (ahem) coupled with her very bad taste in music (it would not be out of place in an elevator in a museum) that I was forced out of my bed on this particular…morning. ... ...
Upon peeling back the curtains, shrinking away from the sun and stumbling out into my hall, I noticed I had a rather large delivery of DVD's I had ordered from Play.com (Note to self, must review play.com). Each package was lovingly opened, each DVD inspected. Lingering over the film I was most excited about, the imagery on the covers (which is dominated by a few eerie images and a LOT of stars from various newspapers and the like) and the ... more
Just Flick It
My neighbour is a flicker. I hate flickers. A flicker, for those of you not up on your Ryan speak, is someone who cannot or will not listen to a song the whole way through. If you were to ask my neighbour what the last line of any song on the planet was, she would NOT be able to tell you as she gets bored after about a minute and flicks to another song. Why is this of any consequence? Well, it is because of her flicking habits (ahem) coupled with her very bad taste in music (it would not be out of place in an elevator in a museum) that I was forced out of my bed on this particular…morning. That word makes me shudder. I believe she melted to a small pile of ash and goo when I blared a song in its entirety back at her. I love people.
Upon peeling back the curtains, shrinking away from the sun and stumbling out into my hall, I noticed I had a rather large delivery of DVD's I had ordered from Play.com (Note to self, must review play.com). Each package was lovingly opened, each DVD inspected. Lingering over the film I was most excited about, the imagery on the covers (which is dominated by a few eerie images and a LOT of stars from various newspapers and the like) and the discs (all two of them) were devoured by my picture hungry eyes. Then I shoved them to the side and buggered off into town to pick up some Halloween stuff.
One Mad Scientist costume complete (which I have rated 15, the same as the movie) , I arrived back to my empty flat (my flat mate was at work) and decided "what the hell" . I grabbed "The Orphanage" (aka El Orfonato) and stared lovingly at it for a few minutes, turning it over in my hands. Then I put it down and forgot all about it for a good few weeks till I had moved house.
So now I'm sitting with …er…most…of my belongings unpacked (which, for the record, does not mean they are put away neatly) and no internet to keep my mind occupied. I figure I'll finally get round to watching the movie that I've been creaming over ever since I heard the mind behind Pan's Labyrinth (and hell boy….and blade) had let out another little Spanish treat. That sounds filthy.
First things first… I suppose I better go put it in my computer. I'll be right back…
Movies, movies everywhere
The first and possibly the oddest thing I will be commenting on is the adverts for other movies at the beginning of this film. Normally I skip right past them but this time I noticed that I had only heard of one (Pans Labyrinth) and the other two or three all looked like movies I will at one point have to watch and fall in love with. So good choices in the advertising!! I know, I'm crazy.
Menu wise it looks like a fairy simple one. A nice little tune is playing in the background while some rather creepy shadows move slowly across the screen in the background. All the extras are on the other disc so this one gets to keep its menu to a minimal with only the Play Film, Scene Selection and Setup. Easy!
Speekensey Spanisho?
Ok, ok, I'm finally getting round to pushing PLAY, so now to see what the story is actually about!
We begin with the sound of a breezy spring day with some children playing around in what I'm going to assume is an orphanage. Either that or a very fertile family. One of the children, Laura, is about to be carted off to a new home. Cue some very creepy opening credits and then bam, we are in the future. Laura is being awoken by her son. She stumbles over some half unpacked boxes (something I'm doing every morning) to comfort her son, Simon, who is apparently finding Laura's big creepy ex orphanage they have just moved into a tad…well…creepy?
Laura and her family have moved to the dilapidated orphanage to refurbish and reopen it. While they are waiting on the children to arrive, Simon starts making some new friends. All of them imaginary and a little bit twisted. They start playing games with him, hiding things he treasures and leaving clues to help him find them. They also start telling him secrets about himself and his family. Simon confronts his parents in the only way a child knows how, by throwing a bit of a hissy fit and blurting out everything he knows.
A few days later when the real children arrive at the mansion, Simon disappears. After the police searches turn up nothing, Laura takes a head long dive into madness, constantly searching for her child and blaming his imaginary friends for his disappearance.
As the year passes, Laura and her husband are constantly strained by Laura's insistence that her son is alive. She goes to greater and greater lengths to try and find him and eventually, she starts playing games with Simons friends.
The whole film keeps you in suspense. There are a tonne of moments where I was expecting something to jump out at me and scare the living bejesus out of me but they didn't come. Instead they left behind a layer of fear which builds and builds throughout the film in the same way bellybutton fluff builds throughout the day. You just can't stop it!
The acting is, as far as I can tell, brilliant. Since it's all in Spanish, I couldn't tell you if it sounds lifeless, out of place or the rest of it, however, the facial expressions and physicality of the acting is spot on. It all helps towards making you believe what you are watching and drags you into the story that little bit more.
Round the Twist
Talking of the story, I was quite impressed. Essentially it is your run of the mill ghost story. When you go past the bare bones of it though, Del Toro has constructed a brilliantly rich plot which really hooks you in. The emotion in this film is overwhelming at points and the twists and turns will leave your head spinning from the impact.
Since this is a horror movie (or at least what I would class as horror) I was expecting some gore. And gore I got. Not much mind you. Overall, this is a pretty goreless movie, but Del Toro knows how to hit where it hurts. There are only two particularly gory instances in the whole film which add up to less than a few seconds of on screen gore time. Those few seconds are precious, giving you more than enough to scream in agony at while being short enough to not allow you to over analyse it.
All your base are belong to us
The subtitles are something I need to comment on also. I have found in the past that some subtitles can detract from the viewability of a movie. Some translations aren't that great, leaving the viewer either trying to figure out what was just said or thinking how unbelievable the scripts were. Others are simply slapped over the top of a far too wordy film, making it hard to concentrate on the action that is actually going on screen wise.
Thankfully, whoever done the subtitles got it on the head. One thing I particularly liked was a certain scene where Laura was searching for Simon, calling "Simon" and "Darling" constantly. Some films I've seen would give you subtitles to match. This film didn't, providing the subtitles for only the first shouts and assuming the viewer is smart enough to have picked up what she was shouting. Why did I like this? First of all, the subtitle people assumed I was smart. How wrong they were. Secondly it was much easier to focus on the sheer terror and dread the character was in the middle of without having to flick my eyes to the bottom of the screen every time she opened her mouth. Fabby!
But wait!! There's more!!
So now that you've seen how ace the film is, you might want to delve into it a little further. Well, aren't you a curious little cookie! The kind people at Optimum Releases have provided us with a whole other disc of extra stuff! And what a full disc it is, offering up a rather ominous 13 whole extras for you to devour. I suppose I'll start from the start!
Q & A with Juan Antonio Bayona
The above mentioned Mr is the director. As you may imagine from the title, this is a question and answer session with Mr JAB (his new name) and the surprisingly quiet sound designer Oriol Tarrago. The person doing the questioning is the famous film critic type person who also shares his name with my mothers side of the family, Mark Kermode. Joining them is a rather eccentric looking interpreter just in case there are any difficulties (of which there are only a few).
I quite enjoyed this extra as the two Spanish dudes are, quite frankly, stunning. Throw in the fact that Mr JAB and Kermode have a good sense of humour, it becomes quite comical at parts. Being that it is Kermode who is asking the questions, there are some brilliant, insightful conversations that follow.
After Kermode is done berating dumb American audiences, he passes the floor to the slightly more intelligent British audience takes over and gets some more responses from Mr JAB. Yay for them!
I'd say a big thumbs up for this extra which lasts for about 40 minutes.
Making of the orphanage
This 12 minute extra explores the making of the film. The director is looking a bit uglier in this extra so my poor heart is breaking. This extra is all in Spanish with subtitles over the action. The down side of this is that the extra moves a lot faster than the film with a lot of speaking over the visuals so I found it a bit more difficult to take it all in. That being said, it's still a good little extra. I will probably watch this again so I can get a better look at the visual side of it.
The set of the Orphanage
3 minutes worth of looking at the set of the film which was pretty much built from scratch in a studio, using the actual house when they needed outside shots. This gives you a great insight into the meticulous attention to detail that spawned this fabulously authentic set. Another good extra, though I would think it could be either a little longer or incorporated into one of the others.
The sound of the orphanage
Firstly I would like to point out that whoever done the subtitles for this one cannot tell the difference between "hear" and "here". That annoyed me. So much attention to detail in everything else only to be cocked up by quite an obvious mistake in the subtitles. Silly. Utterly silly!
As for the extra itself, it's 7 minutes of "ok". It focuses on one scene in the film, firstly playing it with just the sounds recorded on filming, then adding in all the effects, with the quiet sound guy from the Q & A extra telling you what they are doing. It wasn't the most interesting extra in the world, mainly because I don't really see much difference between the two versions. Shrug.
Interview with Guillermo del Toro and J.A Bayona
"We're here in Budapest, Porn capital of Europe" advises Del Toro with a rather hung over (but suitably hot again) Mr JAB next to him. The 8 minutes that follow give away another few interesting tid bits about the film, for example that they changed the sky in the outdoor shots with their nifty little computers to look a tad more foreboding. It makes me appreciate the film a little bit more because had I not been told, I would never have known. Usually I can spot CG a mile away. Hmf. Either way, another return to the thumbs up side of things for this extra.
Lighting the Darkness
Five minutes about lighting the set. You would think it would be a dull five minutes, but it's actually quite interesting, showing the different lighting effects and challenges that were met head on by the lighting dude who looks a bit like Jesus. My thumb is in the upward position.
Roger Princep - the casting
We are at the halfway point in the extras. This is the point where I realise there are a tonne of extras. Not a bad thing. But if you do want to watch them all back to back, this could be problematic. For example, instead of watching and blethering on about this one and the rest of them, I'm going to go to bed first!
Now that I have an ice cold blue wkd in my hand and am suitably awake after what I can only describe as a slightly paranoid sleep (thank you scary movies before bed and a drunken boyfriend coming over at 4 in the morning)(Yep, I said boyfriend!!) I shall continue.
This 9 minute extra rather creepily begins with Roger (the child who plays Simon) telling us the story behind the film…as if he was Simon. It's just wrong. Thankfully he then becomes himself again. This extra focuses on Roger (as you may have imagined) and gives you some brilliant behind the scenes footage of him and how they got such a young kid to deliver what they wanted for their film. I'd give this another giant thumbs up. It's sickening but the kid is actually really cute and will make even the coldest of people (say, myself) raise a smile. God damn him. It must be my period.
Deleted Scenes
I nearly cried when I opened this extra. This extra takes you into a whole new menu with no less than Nine deleted scenes adding up to 20 more minutes of extra, including alternative endings and beginnings and numerous other randomocities (a word that I hereby invent) for you to delve into. Brilliant for killing time, but a bit of a pain when you think your halfway through the extras then stumble upon another trove of treasures.
None the less, these extra scenes are certainly fun to watch but could have been better if you had the option to turn off the endless nattering of Mr JAB and his friends. No point in watching a scene you haven't seen if you can't hear what is being said! Half thumbs for this extra due to the endless distracting nattering.
Story boards
This extra again opens a brand new menu, this time a little shorter with only 3 scenes in storyboard format. This extra plays 7 minutes worth of footage from the film in a small frame at the bottom of the screen while it shows the storyboard drawings alongside it. It would seem the father was supposed to be a bit hunkier than he actually turned out to be. Yep, I just called a pencil drawing hunky.
An interesting extra, though I wouldn't really say it added anything to my viewing experience. Nearly a full thumbing from me. But not quite.
Shooting the credits
Another short extra, just a quick look at the filming of the credits which is basically a bunch of children's hands pulling away wallpaper to reveal text behind it. Interesting, but again a three minute feature that could have easily have been included into something else. I'll give this half a thumb.
Animatics
Back to a decent length nine minute piece, showing some of the cartoon drawings used to help the makers see how they would film the movie, it's quite interesting to see the scenes reduced to basic pencil drawings. Mr JAB also explains over the top of them why they are rather helpful for solving problems before you come to filming the scene. As much as this is an interesting piece, I'm back to wondering why this extra wasn't included in the storyboard section.
Theatrical trailer
This is a tiny 2 minute extra but one that made me most happy. See, size doesn't always matter! I had never actually seen a trailer for this movie till now. That's what extras are all about I tell you!! The trailer was magnificent. It's about as creepy as the film and doesn't show all the best bits before you've seen the movie. It also does a rather good job at skirting around the fact the movie is Spanish by only using scenes where names are being frantically screamed or the almost universal "NOOOO" type moments. Other than that and that American dude with the incredibly low swinging…voice…ahem… telling us about the film, no one speaks. Possibly to trick idiots who would otherwise disown the film into coming to see it before they can judge. I sincerely hope that is why they done it. Probably it has more to do with the fact that subtitles in a trailer would just be weird. Thumbs and fingers for this one!
Projections
…er… what?? This is a rather odd extra. This is basically a reel of "old film" of the children playing in the orphanage with some rather creepy music behind it. It's like an old home movie and is basically a much extended version of the tiny clips you see of the old film reel in the movie itself. I'm not entirely sure why we needed 4 minutes of it. No thumbs for this one. Just slight confusion. Though that may be the blue wkd kicking in.
No More Extras
And that is it. Two hours and nine minutes of extra viewing pleasure equating to 7 and ¾ thumbs and a few fingers. Well that cant be all that bad can it? Unless of course you own that short thumb…hmm.
And this brings me to the end of the review. Just to recap, the film is brilliant, the acting is brilliant, the extras aren't entirely awful. Overall a great DVD experience and you can pretend you are posh for owning something with subtitles. Score! I can't recommend this DVD enough. It will only set you back £6.99 so get it. Or, if you are cheap, go stick it on your Christmas list!
Advantages: An absolutely brilliant psychological horror, excellent in every sense. Disadvantages: The film is subtitled, this may be off-putting for some.
'The Orphanage' is the first full length feature film from the director Juan Antonio Bayona. It is filmed in the Spanish language and is also set in Spain. Strictly speaking the title for this film is actually 'El Orfanato', but the title has been kindly translated and is therefore given the name of 'The Orphanage' for those of us that speak the English language. The film works largely on a cerebral level, it does however contain a certain degree ... ...most of the scares here are on a psychological level. Some of my favourite horror films of all time work on a psychological basis though, so I was greatly enthused about viewing this film and I've got to say that 'The Orphanage' certainly didn't disappoint. Right from the offset the film has an extremely creepy feel about it. As the credits roll children's hands are shown tearing off bits of wallpaper to reveal the names of those involved with the ...
RazzaLazza 22.03.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Orphanage (DVD)
Advantages: Excellent story, great cast, fantastic music. Disadvantages: If you really don't like any suspense then perhaps it's not for you.
...have your eyes fixed to the screen. Released in 2007, The Orphanage, or El Orfanato in its original language - Spanish - was an immediate hit at the cinema and now in late 2008 has hit the DVD shelves. I don't tend to watch 'horror' films out of lack of interest and boredom. As a teenager I wasn't scared of anything and certainly never got the spooks from the silver screen. But now, in my twenties, I've (somewhat pathetically) become scared of just ... ...a combination of not watching the genre for so long and not having a telly with which to come across these sorts of things. The Orphanage had me on the edge of my seat (in actual fact 'hiding behind my fiancé and watching through my fingers' is a bit more like it) for the whole duration of the film. Right from the titles, which are revealed through children's hands ripping away wallpaper to show who's done what on the production, there's an air of ...
Ottavia 01.10.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Orphanage (DVD)
Advantages: Great sound effects - thoroughly entertaining. Disadvantages: None
...years in an orphanage, purchases the orphanage with her husband, and together they decide to renovate the property and set it up as a home for disabled children. Laura and Carlos's son, Simon, was adopted at birth - Simon is unaware that he was adopted, or that he has AIDS. Although he knows he is ill because he must take medication on a daily basis, he is unaware that his life is destined to be a very short one.
Laura and Carlos are doting parents, ... ...need to invent friends once the disabled children arrive, Laura and Carlos focus on renovating the old orphanage and allow Simon his childish fantasies.
During a day out at the beach, Laura shows Simon a cave she and the children at the orphanage had discovered, and it's there that Simon meets yet another invisible friend… however, this one isn't the result of an overactive imagination.
When an elderly woman arrives at the orphanage, claiming to ...
GoFigure 27.08.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Orphanage (DVD)
Advantages: Atmospheric, spooky and heart breaking Disadvantages: None
The Orphanage
What a brilliantly haunting film. I recently watched this thinking it would be an easy, jumpy run of the mill horror film, but I was wrong. The slow building tension in this brings it to a shocking and disturbing end. Laura (Belen Rueda) and her husband Carlos (Fernando Cayo), with their adopted son Simone (Roger Princep), decided to buy the old orphanage where Laura grew up. The idea was to move in, do it up and have a small care ... ...is typical of horror films. The floor boards creaked, the doors groaned and it just screamed haunted house. It was wonderfully atmospheric especially the shots of the slowly turning playground ride and the long shots of the bathroom door. I was spooked out from the very beginning. The film was slow to build up but kept the creepy feel throughout. It was much more in depth than a blood and gore horror, it took it’s time to build a background and to ...
fuggamoose 21.09.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Orphanage (DVD)
Advantages: Involving, immersive, great juxtaposition of themes. Thrilling Disadvantages: Ending is a bit frustrating
...and read (subtitles of course!), the movie. We were soon drawn into the lore of the orphanage, the tragedy, and the heart felt emotions of all the characters involved. It really was a blast the watch, much like asian horrors, the focus is on prolonged scenes of tension, so for those of a impatient disposition, this may not be the film for them. Our western-horros are very focused on cheap thrills, cliched horror techniques; although the Orphanage ... ...and interesting position of which the the main character is transported back to her child hood. The juxtaposition between the childhood and adulthood works well, and references to well known fantasy are used to explain the mindset and psychology of the characters.
Without ruining the story, Laura moves back to the orphanages with her husband and adopted son simeon. However, Simeon, very ill, finds himself with imaginary friends who start to play ...
feralspecies 18.01.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Orphanage (DVD)
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The orphanage
Whilst sat there gritting your teeth, be prepared to be sucked in. This horror/thriller will have you craving more and more. Juan Antonio the director of The Orphanage has directed numerous nail biting thrillers such as The Others. As for blood and guts this film has few however it has numerous eye opening moments.
Plot
Laura(Belen Rueda) retreats back to her old orphanage with her son Simon(Roger Princep) and her husband Carlos(Fernado Cayo) to restore it for a home for children with special needs. Simon has imaginary ghost friends. Early in the film Simon goes missing. Laura has unusual clues to find her son and ends in a sickening and disturbing image that will stay in your mind for life!!
All the actors in this film act really well. If I saw Belen Rueda in the street, I wouldn?t say hello Belen, I would most ...
Advantages: An atmospheric film well played by the actors. Disadvantages: The writing isn't as strong as it could be.
Laura buys the orphanage she was brought up in with the hopes of turning it into a home for children with special needs. The house awakens the imagination of her adopted son Simon, but his games with his invisible friends quickly turn darker. Then Simon disappears, leaving Laura and her husband Carlos bereft and wondering if the strange goings-on in the house are somehow connected. As her world unravels, Laura turns to a group of parapsychologists to untangle the mystery that is turning her dream home into a nightmare.
Relative newcomer Juan Antonio Bayona repays mentor Guillermo Del Toro's faith in him with this atmospheric supernatural thriller. Essentially it's a throwback to the things-that-go-bump-in-the-night haunted house movies. But it's a nice change from the current fad for torture porn horror. It's about the mental anguish ...
As a child, Laura spent some time in an orphanage, and has some happy memories of that time. When she adopts a little boy, Simon, with her husband Carlos, they decide to buy the now disused orphanage and start up a school for disadvantaged children. All seems to be going well, until an old lady, claiming to be a social worker, turns up, asking questions about Simon. And Simon's behaviour becomes strange; he has a group of imaginary friends who seem to have a great deal of power over him. At an opening party, Simon suddenly goes missing, and is never found. Laura finds it hard to accept this and turns to psychics to help find out what happened, believing that Simon's imaginary friends have something to do with his disappearance. Will they help her to find her son, or at the very least, his body? Or is she heading for disappointment ...
Contains strong psychological horror and disturbing injury detail
Video Category
World Cinema Feature Film
Country Of Origin
Mexico
Plot
Laura has returned with her husband Carlos and adopted child Simon 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.
Release details
DVD Region
DVD
Studio(s)
OPTIMUM HOME ENTERTAINMENT; ELEVATION SALES; TECHNICOLOR DISTRIBUTION SERVICES
Languages
Main Language
Spanish
Subtitle Language
English
Technical information
Special Features
Making of Featurette (12 mins), Deleted scenes, Interview with Bayona and Del Toro in Budapest, UK Exclusive Q and A with Bayona at Curzon Mayfair, Casting and Rehearsals, Designs and Sounds and Lighting and Storyboards & more
Aspect Ratio
16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Sound
Dolby Digital
Professional reviews
Review
Now here is an excellent example of why it is more frightening to await something than to experience it. THE ORPHANAGE has every opportunity to descend into routine shock and horror, or even into the pits with the slasher pictures, but it only pulls the trigger a couple of times. The rest is all waiting, anticipating, dreading. We need the genuine jolt that comes about midway, to let us see what the movie is capable of. The rest is fear. (Roger Ebert, 01/02/2008)
DVD Description
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.
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