The Orphanage

6.7

92,119

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Original title: El orfanato
Year: 2007
Running time: 100 min.
Country: Spain
Director: J.A. Bayona
Screenwriter: Sergio G. Sánchez
Music: Fernando Velázquez
Cinematography: Óscar Faura
Cast: Belén Rueda, Fernando Cayo, Roger Príncep, Geraldine Chaplin, Mabel Rivera, Montserrat Carulla, Andrés Gertrudix, Edgar Vivar, Óscar Casas
Producer: Rodar y Rodar. Producer: Guillermo del Toro
Genre: Horror. Mystery. Fantasy | Supernatural. Haunted Houses
Synopsis / Plot: Laura spent the happiest years of her childhood growing up in an orphanage. Now, thirty years later, she returns with her husband and Simon, their son, with a dream of restoring and reopening the long abandoned orphanage as a home for disabled children. As the opening day draws near, tension builds within the family. Laura slowly becomes convinced that something long-hidden and terrible is lurking in the old house, something waiting to emerge and inflict appalling damage on her family.

Awards: 2007: 7 Goya Awards: including Best Director novel and Best Screenplay. 14 Nominations

2007: Sitges Film Festival: Official Selection

2007: Nominated for Critics' Choice Awards: Best Foreign Language Film

2007: Chicago Film Critics Awards: Nominated for Best Foreign Language Film

2008: European Film Awards: 5 Nominations including Best European Film

Critics' reviews

"An excellent example of why it is more frightening to await something than to experience it (...) Rating: ★★★½ (out of 4)"

Roger Ebert: Chicago Sun-Times
"I am not easily frightened by movies, but 'The Orphanage' (...) thoroughly got to me both times I saw it (...) The year’s scariest movie."

Lou Lumenick: New York Post
"Even though 'The Orphanage' is Juan Antonio Bayona’s first feature film, there is no doubting his skill."

A. O. Scott: The New York Times
"It seems that only someone with the flimsiest knowledge of horror’s rich cinematic history could praise the director’s shallow, plagiaristic pastiche (...) Rating: ★½ (out of 4)"

Ed Gonzalez: Slant
"For those who enjoy ghost stories and are willing to be patient with a movie that gradually unveils its secrets rather than uncovering them all in an orgy of violence and terror, 'The Orphanage' fills a need (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"

James Berardinelli: ReelViews
"While some of the trappings and even some of the plot elements could easily be called unoriginal, Bayona and screenwriter Sergio G. Sánchez arrange them in a fresh way, crafting an emotionally resonant, nerve-jangling experience."

Noel Murray: AV Club
"The action ramps up and the film transcends its genre (...) A powerful, full-scale exploration of motherly obsession with her offspring"

Peter Brunette: Screendaily
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Ranking Lists Position

13 My Top 10 Movies from 2007 (330)
23 My Favorite Horror Movies (455)
26 My Favorite Movies from Spain (154)
34 Best Movies I've Seen in Theaters Lately (37)
49 Overrated Movies (129)

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