The fear of loss or death tends to run deep!

Rating: 10/10 (2 January 2008)

If you're looking for an excellently crafted and engaging psychologically suspenseful thriller or chiller that consistently tests your emotional senses, this is an amazingly clever, artistically horrifying and spooky flick to see. For me, this film does bring back the haunting memories of films like The Devil's Backbone, The Haunting, The Sixth Sense, The Others, Pan's Labyrinth, and Tideland. Stylistically detailed in the film-making art, from the beginning to its end, this film does keep the audience's imagination running wild almost as if they have put themselves in the shoes of Belén Rueda's Laura.
The themes of motherhood, fear, memories, fantasy, loss and death, jotting from frame to frame, are the film's vital elements that subject the audience to their interactions with all the characters, and to consistently sink them into fuzzy and unsettling imagination as well as profound panic. Indeed, this film has a very creative and unique way of dealing with fear, loss and death. Every piece of setting, background, and location is captivating and does keep the themes alive, playing and tugging at the viewers' emotions. Is this film a ghost story or is it about a mother's unwillingness to face up to reality? It's the sort of film that has no straight answers. Fortunately, this is not a film that applies cheesy shock-inducing tactics for the testing of the audience's reflex actions.
Great script, great art direction, fabulously interesting and unique characters, and phenomenal performances! The characters do command the audience's compassion and attention throughout the film, And the audience will feel continuously trapped by forms of mysterious forces that are taking them on an unpredictable and creepy roller coaster ride in their attempt to distinguish between what's real or what's fantasy. And the music score? Masterfully accompanying the scenes to bring out suspense. Oh yes, this film does spooks and Laura's plight is so visually emotional to follow. The stunningly creepy scenes do persistently plague and play tricks to one's imagination. There are abundance of cool twists and turns and when the film ends, it would leave the audience eager for discussions.
I was very surprised to learn that this wonderful masterpiece is the debut film of Director Bayona and Screenwriter Sanchez They absolutely bring so many brain-prodding and unforgettable moments to the story. An absolutely engaging and unforgettable film and my favorite foreign-language film of 2007!