Year: 2007.
Sub-Genre: Haunted House, Creepy Kids.
This Gothic Haunted House film attains something that many modern day movies of its kind aim for, but tend to fall short of; it scares the hell out of us with subtlety, nuance, and atmosphere, and uses film technique instead of jump scares and CGI, to do so. In short, it does it right.
Director J.A. Bayona and writer Sergio G. Sanchez managed to craft a near-perfect Ghost Story with The Orphanage. The story of a woman who is haunted (both by her past, and creepy little ghost kids) amidst the search for her missing son is as intense as it is heartbreaking, and it truly is both on a powerful level. Though he did produce it, The Orphanage is the best Guillermo del Toro movie that he never made.That's about as high of a compliment as we can give.
This is a beautiful, classy film that should be on any Horror lovers Must See list. Just make sure that you're prepared for the emotional impact.
See you tomorrow with #17!
Mild Spoiler (but not really)
ReplyDeleteNotice the extra kid at the end? I took the to be GDT's reference to "Peter Pan". Lovely touch for a beautiful movie.