Simple & Sophisticated

Rating: 7/10 (7 January 2017)

Sometimes the best thing a horror film can do is simplify itself. The Orphanage benefits from having a strong and grounded performance from Belén Rueda, without overwhelming it's plot with supernatural clichés and jump scares.
One thing is for certain, J.A. Bayona is phenomenal director. I've heard great things about his upcoming 'A Monster Calls', 'The Impossible' is one of the most heart-wrenching films of all time, and The Orphanage kicked off his directing with a bang. But there's one thing all of those films have in common, they deal with a mother's relationship to her son. I've obviously never met Bayona, but he had to have a strong connection to his mother. And among other things, that was the most satisfying element to The Orphanage. Guillermo del Toro produced this, and as much as I love a lot of his films, sometimes his films are more about spectacle than they are about real human emotion. Luckily, Bayona gave plenty of that to The Orphanage.
Movies about disappearances or deaths of children are always very difficult to watch. Especially the films that take a horror approach, like The Orphanage. Kids are always creepy in horror-thrillers, there's just no two ways about it. But as long as Belén Rueda keeps her performance grounded, this movie stays afloat.
This movie certainly delves into some things that we have seen in horror films before, mostly having to do with supernatural ideas or dream-like people returning from the dead, but I never found myself all that invested in those scenes. I'm far more interested in seeing how a mother reacts to her child go missing. The film doesn't necessarily have as many layers as other horror-thrillers, but as a first time director, I couldn't have asked for more from Bayona. Hopefully 'A Monster Calls' and The Jurassic World sequel continue the string of great work from him.
+Mother-son relationship
+Stays relatively grounded
+Simple story
-Could have had a little bit more depth
7.7/10