El Orfanato (The Orphanage)

Well it is a little more than scary or better not scary but very tense. Starts slowly introducing the characters and eventually I thought it was going to be a serious Ghostbusters, but no, after the medium it gets really tense. Think I was tense since the very beginning as starts with a screen that reads: �Guillermo del Toro presents�, gee they shouldn�t do that to you. By the way he�s the producer.

But this Juan Antonio Bayona is a very good movie for the horror, drama, mystery and thriller that the imdb describes belongs to all these labels and for the first time I do totally agree. There is little horror, a lot of drama, much mystery and most of all a thriller that will tense you and will make you jump a few times. All these done with not even one special effect, everything is �real� in this movie.

I�m not crazy about movies like this but after seeing it I do not regret it at all. The movie tagline is �A tale of love. A Story of Horror.� And yes it tells about the love of a mother for her son. Bel�n Rueda does a very good job playing Laura, the mother; but the creepiest scenes belong to Geraldine Chaplin that plays Aurora. Worth mentioning is a scene with Benigna (Montessart Carulla) that makes everyone JUMP, including me.

While watching the movie there was a moment were I could think that this movie remind me one I also liked in this genre �The Others� as both movies work more with suggestion than with actually showing violence and gore.

I stopped to read a little about the movie and think that absolutely agree with the critics, this is exceptionally good even when I find it totally different to Pan�s Labyrinth which they probable establish a relation because Del Toro name involved. Another interesting fact is that when it opened in Spain in four days surpassed the US$8 million mark, a box office that is 168% larger than Pan�s Labyrinth, hope they release the original in English speaking markets and do not decide to do a remake, it would be a shame.

Interesting is to realize that this is Barnoya�s first feature film and the debut of screenwriter Sergio Sanchez, director of photography Oscar Faura, film editor Elena Ruiz and composer Fernando Vel�zquez. What a great opera prima all these filmmakers did, so good that is hard to believe that is their first time.

The film premiered in the Critics� Week at the 2007 Cannes, is the Spain official submission to the Oscar�s, has 14 nominations in the 2008 Goya Awards and has already win 7 awards in Spain Awards and more international nominations.

I strongly suggest that you do NOT see this movie alone you need someone's hand to grab almost the whole movie! This is truly a movie for all audiences and one not to miss even if you�re not fan of the genre.

Enjoy!!

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