Move over, Asia. Europe is back!

Rating: 10/10 (11 April 2008)

From it's impressive title sequence, in which children's' hands tear away layers of wallpaper to reveal the credits, to the amazingly haunting finalé which manages to be sad, happy, and thoroughly disturbing all at the same time, The Orphanage is another brilliant film that, along with recent unmissable efforts such as The Descent and À l'intérieur, suggests that Europe is finally attempting to reclaim its title as the reigning continent for original horror.
Busty Belén Rueda plays Laura, a woman who brings her family (husband Carlos and adopted son Simón) to live in her childhood home, 'The Orphanage' of the title, where they hope to set up a refuge for handicapped and needy orphaned children.
After a visit to a cave system at a nearby cove, Simón begins to communicate with a group of imaginary friends: six children who just might be the ghosts of Laura's old childhood playmates. When Simón mysteriously disappears, and a weird old woman comes calling at the house, Laura is plunged into a supernatural nightmare that forces her to consider the impossible as possible, and pushes her to the limits of her sanity.
Loaded with bags of atmosphere, and tons of good old fashioned 'scares' (but very little gorealthough there is one standout 'yuck!' moment!), The Orphanage is a classic ghostly yarn which, thanks to excellent direction from Juan Antonio Bayona and a great central performance from Rueda, manages to be a breath of fresh air in a genre that, lately, seems to have been rather clogged up with remakes and 'torture porn'.
And then there is the ending: so unexpected, so tragic, so effing brilliant, that it'll have you thinking about the film for days, poring over plot details and constantly re-evaluating what you have seen.
There are those who believe that The Orphanage is not a ghost story at all, with the seemingly supernatural events being a figment of Laura's imagination; then there are those who, like me, take the film at face value. Whatever your interpretation of the events portrayed, I can guarantee that The Orphanage will scare, shock, and surprise you like no other film has done for quite a while.
Now how long will it be before the inevitable Hollywood remake?