When I decided to go and see The Orphanage I was unsure of what to expect. Considering the title and the setting, I was expecting a redux of the French film House of Voices. There are distinct similarities between the two, mainly in their similar setting and the central character experiencing strange goings on within the creepy confines.
However, there are some pretty big differences as well. The biggest difference is that The Orphanage comes complete with a high level of positive buzz swirling around it, something House of Voices did not have as it was unceremoniously dumped to DVD. Then there are the rest of the differences that can be summed up by simply stating that The Orphanage is just a better film from start to satisfying conclusion.
The film opens at some point in the past. A young girl, Laura, is in front of a large and creepy looking building and playing a variation on "Red Light, Green Light" with a group of youngsters. As the game goes on, we learn that the girl has just been adopted. Jump ahead some thirty years. Laura (Belen Rueda) is returning to the long shut down orphanage with her husband and young son, Simon. She has plans to turn the empty building into a home for special needs children. Laura wants to give back to the community based on what she received as a youngster.
Before long, strange things begin to happen. Simon develops friendships with invisible friends, things begin to go bump in the night, a strange woman roams the grounds, and Laura's sanity begins to crumble bit by bit. Everything culminates with the disappearance of Simon. Was he kidnapped? Did he run away? No one seems to know, and he left no trace.
Director Juan Antonio Bayona has taken this simple premise and turned it into a first rate thriller that will have you guessing until the very end. It is a stylish exercise in chills and suspense. With nice visual flair, you will detect touches of Pan's Labyrinth and The Others all while a genuinely unsettling atmosphere develops.
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