A ghost story for the mature.

Rating: 9/10 (26 June 2008)

Such sophistication in ghost stories is rarely heard of, but Guillermo Del Toro manages to pull it off time and time again, and somehow he even managed to inject his magic into this one, which he only produced - as this very much plays out like one of his own films. Not to discredit Mr. Bayona, though, for he has done a fine job. This is a dark, powerful, and moving masterpiece that both adheres to convention and brings some new, more artistic elements to the table in the direction and storytelling.
One thing I like about this one (and Del Toro's previous masterpiece The Devil's Backbone) is that it takes horror-esquire plot lines and twist them into something much, much greater than a simple ghost/horror story. This has style and class all the way through, and every bit of it is tailored to a polished sheen. There is an emotional impact to this that you wouldn't expect in movies of its kind - usually in a ghost story, the emotional layer is pretty thin, but here it runs as deep as blood. Well written character dialogue only adds to the reasons why this is so good.
People will call this a generic ghost story, but those people aren't watching hard enough. The Orphanage may not pack as many jumpy, jittery moments as movies like The Ring, but it's not supposed to - this is a ghost story for the mature.