The Orphanage (R-2007)

After seeing "Pan's Labyrinth", my mind was opened to foreign language films. Seeing Benicio Del Toro, the writer/director of "Pan's Labyrinth" attached to this film, it was a slam dunk I had to see it. This is the story of a woman (Belen Rudea) who was in an orphanage as a child and returns to re-open that orphanage as a home for special needs children. Not long after she arrives, her son (Roger Princep) begins to play with his new imaginary friends. Believing this is his normal childhood imagination, she is not concerned until the day he runs down the beach with his new "friend" and never comes back. She is determined to find him and is convinced he is still alive, even as all around her, including her husband, has given up. While it is a somewhat interesting story, it is very reminiscent of "Poltergeist", especially when she brings in a paranormal research team to "read" the house. Although the "creepy house of mystery" angle makes this a horror film, it is not really scary at all. It is a somewhat interesting story and very well done, the plot borrowed too heavily from "Poltergeist" and "1408" for me to give it a strong recommendation. Either of those films are actually a better pick. I was sort of hoping for a different, imaginative film and this did not quite hit the mark.

Grade: C-

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