The Orphanage film review

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THE ORPHANAGE

It's the name of Guillermo del Toro that dominates the advertising for The Orphanage, even though he had very little to do with the making of the film. Instead, del Toro - director of Hellboy and Pan's Labyrinth - is 'presenting' the film to the world on behalf of novice Spanish director JA Bayona. It's a good choice, as this retro-feeling Spanish horror is one of the spookiest films to come along for a while.

It's classically creepy stuff: a mother (Belen Rueda) returns to the isolated manor house where she herself was raised as an orphan. Along with her husband, she has now bought the property and intends to restore it, with a possible view to opening it up again to disadvantaged children. Her own adopted son is the house's third resident.

Soon the son begins to act strangely: seeing imaginary children and the like. The parents dismiss it as the stuff of kids, but when their child disappears one fateful day, his mother starts to believe that the house may actually be possessed.

Bayona's direction avoids cheap shock moments and instead builds the horror of Sergio Sanchez's intelligent script. There are plenty of moments that are likely to leave audiences chilled, and both director and writer know the power of children to terrify (particularly children in hoods).

It's reminiscent of classic haunted house horrors of the past and a refreshing change from the generic stuff that Hollywood currently seems to pass off as horror. It's not quite in the same league as Alejandro Amenabar's 2001 offering The Others, which it also resembles, but those looking for some serious scares will find it money well spent.

Paul Hurley