Marvelous, beautiful - but the ending is illogical

Rating: 8/10 (22 May 2008)

This is a superb piece of cinema that transcends genre but it just doesn't make sense to me that no one would have know about the "secret room" in the basement.
The "psychic investigators" had floor plans, wouldn't the police have had access to them as well? Wouldn't the remodeling contractors have known? If it was being reopened as a school, wouldn't the building inspectors have known? It is not a "quibble" since so much of the film's conclusion relies on Laura's discovery in the basement. This "minor detail" and the sentimentality of the ending keep The Orphanage from contending with the original "The Haunting" as being the best all-time haunted house film.