Review of The Orphanage (2007) by Fungusgnat — 11 May 2016

Bayona and Sánchez frost their psychic chiller with some psychology, and if the result is not the most original film of this genre, there is plenty to like in it—a sterling lead adult performance, a beautiful score (in the old “American style,” per the filmmakers), intriguing references to the Peter Pan story, a suspenseful puzzle for the grown-up to solve, and things that go “bump” in the night, though treatment of the paranormal is sensitive and restrained—things could’ve bumped harder, but that’s a matter of taste.

(Newsweek’s Ansen said of his screening-room audience, “We were alone with our fears, but we quivered as one.”) (Triggers: Not a gross-out movie, but not for the squeamish, either.) (DVD: The “making of” material is better than average.