Chilling Whispers and Heartfelt Scares: The Orphanage Unveiled

The Orphanage is a horror movie directed by Juan Antonio Bayona and released on Dec 28, 2007. The movie tells the story of a woman who returns back to an orphanage that was once her home with an intension of reopening it for special children. This Spanish horror movie is nearly flawless,creepy and beautifully constructed ghost story which delivers great suspense. Laura (Belen Rueda) is a woman who is married to Carlos (Fernando Cayo) and they have an adopted child, Simon (Roger Princep).

Laura decides to reopen the orphanage for the disabled children. Once, Laura and Carlos start noticing that Simon is behaving strangely because he is communicating with his new imaginative friends. The day Laura’s new orphans arrive in the orphanage, Simon disappears and after a useless police search, Laura and Carlos ask a parapsychologist called Aurora (Geraldine Chaplin) for help. Who finds unhappy spirits of children in the house.

Meanwhile Laura faces a painful truth; if she wants to get Simon back, she has to play their games and follow their rules.

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The Orphanage is so impressive, It means all the cliches are there; The slamming door, the ghosts, the wind, you know, everything is there but it is done very well. Rueda is a really strong actor as well and is great in her role. You feel her loss, her worries especially in the scenes when she is doing all her best to find her beloved son.

Another nice aspect of the movie is astounding sound effects. The movie goes quieter and quieter, suddenly a loud slamming noise freaks you out and provoking your suspense.

Forexample the shots when Laura is trying to solve the thrill of seeking for her lost son. The only weakness of the orphanage is the overuse of visual effects. The movie is exaggerating in using them. On one hand these extra visual effects just add more torture scenes to the movie, on the other hand they are too much to be believed.

The orphanage is a kind of movie which is suspensive enough to keep you staring at the TV without blinking. In spite of being known as a horror movie, the distressing scenes make the orphanage a sad heartbreaking movie. Teenagers will get a sense of suspense and curiosity and they will be excited and kind of upset by watching this horror and sad movie. The central idea of the film is that if you believe in yourself and your strengths you can achieve your goals whatever they are, as Laura does.