Here at long last is the relief that horror movie fans have been waiting for. After months of workman-like scare cliches and thrillers that just didn't thrill, The Orphanage is exactly what I needed after sitting through One Missed Call last weekend. For some viewers, the scariest part of the film will be that it is a foreign film, and therefore is subtitled. The two women sitting in front of me certainly couldn't get over the fact, and were constantly whispering back and forth that they couldn't believe the movie wasn't in English. Those who can deal with some words at the bottom of the screen are certain to find a genuinely effective and very intelligent haunted house thriller that falls on a lot of "things that go bump in the night" cliches, but somehow manages to make them scary once again. All I can say is if this movie winds up being outgrossed by One Missed Call at the box office, it will be a sad day for humanity.

The set up centers itself on a woman named Laura (Belen Rueda), who along with her husband Carlos (Fernando Caya) and adopted son Simon (Roger Princep), have moved into an old abandoned orphanage in the hopes of re-opening it as a home for children with special needs. Laura has fond memories of the building, as she grew up here as a child before she herself was adopted. However, the house may have some sinister secrets that are trying to get in touch with the new occupants. Little Simon, a withdrawn boy suffering from HIV, begins talking constantly about "imaginary friends" who live within the house and the old cave on the beach nearby. After Laura lashes out at her son for talking about invisible children, Simon mysteriously disappears, and that's when Laura herself starts to see mysterious apparitions walking the halls, and loud banging coming from the walls late at night. When a lengthy police investigation turns up no leads, Laura begins to fear that whatever is haunting their home has her child, and slowly becomes obsessed with exploring the realm of the supernatural and the unexplained. Her husband Carlos tries his best to support her, but even he is beginning to question her sanity when she starts seriously digging into the paranormal.

The Orphanage has all the usual trappings of many inferior haunted house films. There's the abandoned old house with the past. There's a spooky old cave and an empty lighthouse nearby. There's lots of doors slamming, windows shattering, and the ghostly laughter and whispers of children on the soundtrack. There's even a creepy old woman (Montserrat Carulla), who was seen snooping around the property shortly before Simon went missing, and may know more about the building's past than she lets on. What sets this movie apart is that the screenplay by Sergio G. Sanchez does not rely heavily on these cliches, nor does he constantly fall back on ghostly special effects or jump scares. The movie does have a few jump scares, but they are successful this time, because they are spaced far apart enough from each other and are actually quite jolting, compared to the rather somber and quiet mood of the rest of the film. Although it is being advertised as a horror film (and it certainly fits that description at times), The Orphanage is more a drama that asks a lot of tough questions about death, a parent's responsibility, and a woman who finds herself slowly drawn from everything she knows into another world right inside her home that she knows nothing about. There is a growing sense of mystery and dread that the movie successfully builds, but there is also a sense of wonder. We're right there along with Laura, wanting to discover the secrets the house holds. It's not so much the scares that enrapture us, but the journey and discoveries along the way.

The movie sets itself from the norm by letting the story slowly unravel, rather than throwing us right into the ghostly goings on. There are small hints early on that something's just a little bit off, such as the boy wandering off into the cave and having conversations with someone his parents cannot see, but the early moments are spent developing the characters and setting up the story. This truly allows us to sympathize with the characters once the hauntings start to get stronger. And these are not the paper-thin victims that populate so many horror films as of late. Laura is a woman with a lot on her mind. She's trying to deal with getting this new business running. She's trying to help her son deal with his personal and emotional problems, as well as figuring out how she and her husband are supposed to deal with them at the same time. When Simon does disappear seemingly without a trace, we can actually sympathize with her, as the movie has spent enough time with the family that we can understand their relationship. It's actually even more complicated than that, as the movie weaves multiple plot threads running both in the past and the present. And yet, the story never becomes bogged down, nor is there any glaring unfinished business. Some details are left up to discussion with the audience, but if you are paying attention, you should be able to fill in the blanks quite easily.

In the lead role of Laura, Spanish TV actress Belen Rueda has the difficult role of not only carrying almost the entire movie by herself and creating a sympathetic heroine, but she must also convincingly give up on all rational logic as she is drawn into the other world that seems to exist within the orphanage, while at the same time not come across as being crazy to the audience. She is constantly believable in her performance and her reactions to everything going on around her, so we feel like we are going along with her, rather than sitting in the audience watching her go through these things. She is driven by the love for her son, and the decisions she makes may seem hard, especially near the end, but her performance manages to completely convince us of the feelings behind her actions. None of the supporting cast is quite as compelling as her, but all of the actors do the best with what they've been given. More than the wonderful lead performance, it is the tension the movie creates that draws us in. The tension is slow to build at first, but it shoots up soon enough, and director Juan Antonio Bayona is wise to spread these sequences out enough so that they never wear out their welcome, but not so far apart that the story loses its speed. Two scenes in particular (Laura's first encounter with a ghostly child who constantly wears a mask over his head, and an extended sequence in the middle of the film where paranormal experts are called in to do an investigation on the house) stand out as some of the eeriest in any recent horror film.
The Orphanage is that rare blend of successful thrills and dramatic character building that allows the people inhabiting the story to endear themselves to us. The conclusion it reaches is certain to create some debate amongst audience members as to just what exactly happened, but as I mentioned earlier, if you're paying attention and think carefully back on everything that came before it, you should have a slightly clearer picture. Most of all, The Orphanage is more than just mere escapism able to cause a couple quick thrills. It's a genuine thought-provoking story that is sure to stick with you long after it's done. This movie may not reinvent the haunted house genre, but it does show that with the right approach, it can still entertain and capture our attention.

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