Scary and creepy story over comes a couple lapses of internal logic to be a winning film

Rating: 8/10 (18 October 2008)

Guillermo del Torro presents The Orphanage. he had nothing really to do with the film, but its appropriate considering that many have tagged this as a sibling to his Pan's Labyrinth (which I think for plot points rather than it being an updated fairy tale- I don't see Peter Pan as a fairy tale) The story has Laura, her son and husband returning to the orphanage where she grew up in order to turn it into a home for special needs kids. Her son has two invisible friends, a number that increases once they move in. It rapidly unfolds that they are not alone in the house and that strange things are going on.
There is much more to the story, which pretty much everyone has been closed mouth about so I will do the same as well. Actually I won't do it out of deference to the lack of discussion, rather because this is a film that is best discovered on its own. The plot turns, which often resemble other films, do propel the film in its own way.(Its like comparing cars they all have similar things but that doesn't mean they are the same car). At times the film is rather deliberately constructed, hitting certain plot points as if on a check list (at least for Spanish or Euro-horror), however there are other times when the film bends what you think is going to happen into something else (the medium's walk through the house is chilling). Actually the film gets better as it goes on with a moment about half way into the film when you suddenly realize that the film has really cranked you up.
I really liked the film a great deal. Its so nice to have many people tell me I need to see a movie and then have it turn around and have them be right. Friends and reviewers were right to say that this is a solid little horror film. Its nice to have a film hold you and keep you interested from start to finish. Its even nicer to have a horror film crank up the tension is such away that you never saw it coming, and then keep it tight until the very end.
If there are any real problems with the film its that there are a couple of times when the film struggles to have you believe its own internal logic. A couple of things happened that made me wonder why no one noticed them before, or if people (husband) behaved a certain way to keep the plot moving. The film wins out in the end but its the difference between a mostly satisfying film and a completely satisfying film.
Highly recommended. about 8 out of 10.