Powerful ending

Rating: 8/10 (17 November 2016)

A wife returns with her husband and child to live at the old orphanage from which she was adopted, but the secrets of the past return to haunt her family ...
A tragic tale that delivers not just on ghostly menace but on pathos and humanity too. A slow build up is punctuated with a few effective jump scares, but the story changes gear during an imaginative treasure hunt and comes to its climax with near perfection.
The plot is a little underdeveloped, leaving the odd hole, and some of the dialogue is misjudged - especially in a Q&A scene at about 40 mins - but all that is forgiven as the director brings it home on a wave of emotion.
The performances are good, and the lead actress is outstanding: not just fascinating in close-up but a treat for the eyes as well.
Music was sometimes too playful - in a horror that can be a sign of the director losing his nerve, but it didn't spoil the tone. Photography was good, with beautiful locations and a stylish circling pan of the actress in a crucial scene towards the end.
Overall: a little shaky, but a pleasure for even seasoned horrorists.