Review: The Orphanage

In a time where the American horror film industry seems to be overrun by formulaic gore-fests (Saws and Final Destinations, we’re looking at you) it is comforting to be surprised by an anonymous European entry every once in a while. The worthy candidate in this case is The Orphanage, original title El Orfanato, helmed by Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona.

It is the story of Laura (an excellent Belén Rueda), a once homeless child who travels back to the orphanage she grew up in, with the intent of putting it back into business. Except as soon as she settles in with her family, her son Simòn begins speaking of mischievous invisible friends, particularly Tomàs, who has a penchant for unsettling masks. The question on Laura’s mind is the same as the viewer’s throughout the film: is Simòn just imagining things or is the house really haunted by the ghosts of past orphans?

Bayona is a disciple of the Guillermo Del Toro school of shocks and shivers and therefore knows that the sound of a creaking floorboard can be ten times more unsettling than the sight of spilled organs. In fact The Orphanage’s key strength is suspense and atmosphere, two elements lacking greatly in anything offered recently by Eli Roth or Rob Zombie. Shots of dark, desolated corridors combined with heavy, unidentified footsteps are more than enough to affect your pulse. Sure, one could argue that what we are being offered has already been done countless times in the past, but at least Bayona is smart enough to draw inspiration from the right directors (Del Toro, Kubrick, Carpenter) and the right films (from old classics such as Don’t Look Now and The Haunting to the more recent Ringu and Batman Begins).

Nevertheless, he never overindulges in referencing his peers and does bring something of his own to the table, and with great results: a sequence displaying fine acting, a chilling soundtrack and shot entirely in night-vision proves to be the film’s stand-out moment. The Orphanage also benefits from a good script which focuses on effective themes, in particular the difficulties of parenting. Laura is no teenager whose superficiality justifies her terrifying experience, but a mother who is willing to go to unimaginable lengths in order to save her son’s life from supernatural forces. As a consequence she is a character you genuinely root for throughout the plot.

The overall result is nothing short of scary and unnerving, yet also somehow manages to move and engage the audience.

4/5