El Orfanato/The Orphanage

[loonaka]

I'm not sure if there's already a thread for this film, but I looked and searched for it and I couldn't find any so I thought I make one.

A tale of love. A story of horror

Plot:
The former orphan Laura raises her adopted son Simón with her husband Carlos in an old house and former orphanage where she was raised. Simón is HIV positive and tells Laura that he has five invisible friends, and she believes they are fruit of his imagination. Laura decides to reopen an orphanage for handicapped children in the location and during the opening party, Simón calls her to show the little cabin of his friend Tomás. The busy Laura does not gives much attention to her son; then she sees a mysterious masked boy and Simón vanishes. Laura feels the presence of other persons in the house and months later, the desperate Laura invites a team of parapsychologists to try to unravel the mystery. Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
imdb.com

 

[dazed&confused]

Sounds interesting..I saw the trailer for this and it seemed quite scary

 

[helmut.newton]

I saw this. It was a really good film. Except it did scare me in 1 or 2 scenes.

Overall its a GOOD suspense film. If you like THE OTHERS with Nicole Kidman - you'll like this.

 

[loonaka]

I actuall didn't like it much, I think the film in it self was pretty entertaining, but the story was too weak for me

 

[daddybuymeapony]

I saw it last year. It's more about suspense than horror yeah. I don't usually see this type of film, but even so I thought it was too 'by the book' in terms of plot twists and turns. I did like the magical feel.

 

[snowqueen]

would you say its worth watching ?? ive wanted to see this film for ages now

 

[daddybuymeapony]

Worth watching, but in no way a must see.

 

[Chaky]

Worth watching, but in no way a must see.

I disagree, I thought it was excellent. It's an old-fashioned chiller with a few good jump scares but there's so much depth to it. It's actually got a strong emotional core that raises it far above the bog-standard suspense/horrors that routinely fill the cinema. It was produced by Guillermo del Toro after he did Pan's Labyrinth so take that as a mark of quality.

 

[loonaka]

I disagree, I thought it was excellent. It's an old-fashioned chiller with a few good jump scares but there's so much depth to it. It's actually got a strong emotional core that raises it far above the bog-standard suspense/horrors that routinely fill the cinema. It was produced by Guillermo del Toro after he did Pan's Labyrinth so take that as a mark of quality.

I actually didn't like pan's labyrinth either, and the reason is that IMO both the films lack depth to their story, there are just too many loose ends..

 

[helmut.newton]

^^^ Pan's Labyrinth lacks depth

I thought it was rich with subtext. The whole Spanish Civil War, the thematic issues of youth, the challenges of responsibility, the importance and self destructiveness of fantasy - all of this was so FULL of depth.

I thought this film was really good. It had a strong storyline but that wasnt was the film was about. It was really brilliant the way it used thriller/horror undertones to express its messages.

 

[adorefaith]

i didn't see this film because i don't really like horror films...i can't take them seriously...but i LOVE belén rueda.. i would see it for her alone...

 

[kmccormi]

adorefaith, I wouldn't say it's a horror film at all. It's a classic ghost story; however, there are few shocks/scares and little to no gore. It's really a moving story in the end, and if you love Belen, I would definitely see it. She was phenomenal in this film.

I thought it was wonderful. I loved how it was a bit vague and you could interpret so many things in one of two ways: either spiritually (the ghosts really were there) or rationally (she was grieving and tortured and it all was in her head).

 

[loonaka]

I kinda like when you have to think for your self to kinda find out what the story really is about, but as I said before it's just too many loose ends in the story for me, and yeah i think the story behind the film is very important..