One of the better thriller's I have seen in awhile

Rating: 7/10 (27 January 2008)

When I saw the poster for "El Orfanato" I was instantly intrigued. I really enjoyed Guillermo del Toro's previous release "Pan's Labyrinth." It's refreshing seeing good foreign films, instead of just the usual crap that Hollywood has been showing down our throats for the last couple of years. Although not "Pan's Labyrinth," "El Orfanato" is a decent thriller. Plus it shares Pan's amazing cinematography and mysterious air.
The film is about a mother (Laura) who moves into an abandoned house, that used to be the orphanage she grew up in, with her son and husband. The son, like most young kids, brings his imaginary friends with him. The son begins to accumulate new "imaginary" friends once they settle in and starts playing treasure hunt games. One day her son goes missing and Laura spends the rest of the movie searching for him. Let's just say that this is a good ghost story with a twist.
Unfortunately I walked into this thinking it was a horror movie, but it is more a thriller than anything else. The movie has very few "jump" moments, but instead offers a creepiness that pervades the entire film. The only qualms I have with the movie are that the story is a bit slow moving at the beginning and it leans a bit more toward the fantastic than I would have liked.
This is an enjoyable movie if you liked "Pan's Labyrinth" and "The Others" or other similar suspense thriller movies. The twist at the end is one of the best payoffs I have seen in a thriller in awhile. And yes the movie is in Spanish, but don't let that stop you from viewing an entertaining film.