I think the last time I saw an American film that scared that shit out of me was way way way back in 2005 with the awesome remake of the classic Texas Chainsaw Massacre. After that, dissapointment after dissapointment followed with horror films that didn’t seem to get the point. Luckily, my personal let-down lead me to look overseas for a good scare. Japanese movies seemed to be exactly what I was looking for, non-gore psychological mysticism that preyed on the viewers beliefs of the supernatural rather than preferences of blood-saturated violence. Then came Korea, France, and then Spain.
In 2008 the “horror” movie to watch comes from Spain. First-time-feature director Juan Antonio Bayona’s El Orfanato (The Orphanage) delivers everything that we, or perhaps I, look for in a solid horror film, a very realistic story with actual human beings at the center of it, tight direction, a chilling supportive score, and GHOSTS! I don’t know, perhaps it’s my Latin American Catholic upbringing but El Orfanato scared the holy ghost out of me, Amen. In a world where evil has been manifested in immeasurable ways, from senseless war massacres to unchecked destructive political power, who is to say that in the other realm evil doesn’t exist. And if there is such an event as evil in the other realm, then there’s got to be someone doing it. And by “someone”, well, I mean GHOSTS!
As a seriously good film, El Orfanato balances elements of direction, cinematography, mood, music and rhythm to create a moviegoing experience that can be rarely matched. As a film in the ghost genre, El Orfanato far surpasses anything that we may have viewed in the last few years. I think it works because it doesn’t force any idea on you, rather it gives you the space, creepy creepy space, for you to decide if what you and the leading character are feeling, seeing, hearing is real. Thus the movie asks you to experience it not as a voyeuristic bystander but as a player in the story.
When Laura returns to the orphanage where she grew up in efforts to transform the home into a place for less fortunate kids, her son develops a relationship with some “invisible friends” or so Laura thinks. Suddenly, Simon dissapears and Laura and her husband are prompted to find answers to their questions, leading to a disturbing world of events that leave you questioning every image on the screen.
If a foreign film manages to make the audience forget that they are having to read subtitles, it is proof of its power and universality. I am convinced that El Orfanato will attract all those seeking a real damn good chiller whether you speak the language or not, because, like any great movie, it is the images, the visual moments, that carry the story through. In El Orfanato, you will never want to blink because you will not want to miss a single moment.
El Orfanato (The Orphanage)
Mexico/Spain, 2007
Dir. Juan Antonio Bayona
Produced by Guillermo del Toro
With Belen Rueda, Roger Princep, Fernando Callo and Geraldine Chaplin
At Area Theatres
I walked out of the movie with great unease.
January 11, 2008 at 9:56 amThey’re coming to play with you, too, Cesar and Carri. Oh, yes, they’re coming to play with you, too.
January 11, 2008 at 10:32 amthanks for the review. this film looks kooky. i’m not good with scary movies.
what ironic just said will probably even give me a nightmare.
I liked it as a scary ghost film. As such it is doing a wonderful job and has a lot of depthness to it. But I shriek everytime someone compares it in any way to Pan’s labyrinth. These are two completly different films and I didn’t like that it was sold in the previews as Pan’s labyrinth of 2008. Mainly because I bought into it and developed a different expectation. Big mistake.
January 11, 2008 at 11:35 amnihilistic - i totally agree. well, i think there are certainly similarities in the way the two films were shot and the general style (hence the reason del toro backed it so vehemently).
but, yeah, i don’t think they should be compared. i just found myself doing it. in a way, it is kind of hard not to.
January 11, 2008 at 12:13 pmif it sounds like anything to me it sounds like “The Devil’s Backbone”.
Or (dare I use english speaking movies as examples in Cesar’s presence):
Others and Turn of the Shrew.
So looking forward to seeing this, it is not even funny.
January 11, 2008 at 12:18 pmOh no, Svetlana PLEASE DARE YOU. The Others was directed by Amenabar who directed the creepy Abre los Ojos, the better version of Vanilla Sky. That style is certainly comparable. Turn of the Screw IS creepy. It’s in English, but is it American? I don’t remember.
January 11, 2008 at 12:21 pmwell, it is based on Henry James’ book so…
And I am talking about the 1950s Ingrid Bergman version and not that misuided 92 dead starring Patsy Kensit, which was still kinda sorta entertaining.
Oh, another good creepy italian movie (nothing paranormal in this, but tortured boys abound)…i can’t remember the name. The little boy, in a hole, another little boy finds him….
can’t remember.
anyway, still reaaaallllllyyyyy want to see this
January 11, 2008 at 12:28 pmDidn’t you think the ending was super, super cheesy? That ruined it for me, especially the weepy, overwrought score. I would’ve liked it much better if the last five minutes or so were cut out — there’s the aha!, and then she does what she does, and that’s it. No smiles and happiness and love. I want my horror movie endings to be bleak and desolate, or at the very least, ambiguous. You know?
Also, I agree that Korean horror movies = so great.
January 11, 2008 at 1:32 pmSure, the final scene was a bit soft. But I suppose I’d rather get people to the theatre’s to enjoy it than keeping them away because of the final scene. Ever seen R-Point? My kind of horror film. Terrifying!
January 11, 2008 at 2:37 pmThe ads for this thing alone give me the creeps. I don’t scare easily but this looks like I should pack an extra set of undies. Nice review!!!
January 11, 2008 at 5:10 pmI used to know a girl who got horned up crazy like during (and more importantly after) horror movies. I wish I still knew her.
January 11, 2008 at 6:26 pmwell done, cesar.
i saw this last night. sorry to be so basic here but: how disturbing, sad and heartbreaking - and dude, my ovaries totally twitched. dang, i didn’t think i wanted kids! doubling up the birth control dose now before i start my own home for unloved children, don a st. anthony medal and then LOSE MY SHIT.
January 14, 2008 at 10:01 am
thank you so much for reviewing this. i needed it. i made the grave, grave (no pun intended) mistake of seeing this movie alone last saturday. i was literally shaken, and shocked i made it up the theater steps without falling down and breaking every bone. i, as quickly as my legs would move, then headed to the nearest bar to help settle my nerves…good beer is the solution to all life’s problems, right?
i’m not sure at the end of the day if this was a mistake or not, but i kept finding myself comparing the story to pan’s labyrinth. what made pan’s so fantastic is you as the viewer were so easily able to lose yourself in the story and suspend all disbelief because everything was through the eyes of a child’s imagination. that made, in my mind, viewing the film a really fantastic experience. i believed. well, i believed at least that she believed.
the orphanage made that process a little more difficult because you are experiencing it more through the eyes of the mother - but, i guess mothers are certainly prone to believing things that we would deem unbelievable when their child’s safety is in question. (okay, i think i just worked it all out in my head….see, THIS is why you go to movies with other movie lovers….cesar, move to new york asap.)
having said all that, i thought the film was gorgeously shot, and absolutely terrifying - and certainly not in the typical american horror film kind of way….
a must see….with someone else.
January 11, 2008 at 9:40 am