Review of The Orphanage (2007) by Ed Fucking H — 11 Mar 2011

I've never been a huge fan of supernatural horrors but I'm really digging what the Spanish have been doing with the genre over the past few years. For me there are two main things that can make or break a supernatural horror.

The first is atmosphere. This film defiently succeeds in creating a creepy atmosphere, that relly get's under your skin. The second is inventiveness. Supernatural horrors tend to be painfully unimaginative and samey and it takes a lot for one to really stick out and stay with you for longer than a week after viewing it.

This one definently succeeds on that front as well. There are many times when it feels more like a drama than a horror, a trick probably learned from certain Guilermo Del Toro films, namely Cronos and The Devils Backbone.

Aside from those two key factors the acting is superb, the script and pacing are top notch, the cinematography is class and so on. My only complaint with this one is that it does have it's feet planted firmly in traditionalism of the supernatural genre, and the inventiveness I mentioned above was in the backdrop.

While I don't think that that's necassarily a bad thing, I did prefer a film like the Devils Backbone, where the horror elements were there almost as an afterthought and the real story was elsewhere.

Fans of this type of horror movie shouldn't have any problem with this however. I have always prefered realism in my horror, but can easily enjoy a film of this ilk if is done well. This one was. Recommended.