This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Sometimes the best thing a horror film can do is simplify itself. The Orphanage benefits from having a strong and grounded performance from Belén Rueda, without overwhelming it's plot with supernatural clichés and jump scares.One thing is for certain, J.A. Bayona is phenomenal director. I've heard great things about his upcoming 'A Monster Calls', 'The Impossible' is one of the most heart-wrenching films of all time, and The Orphanage kicked off his directing with a bang. But there's one thing all of those films have in common, they deal with a mother's relationship to her son. I've obviously never met Bayona, but he had to have a strong connection to his mother. And among other things, that was the most satisfying element to The Orphanage. Guillermo del Toro produced this, and as much as I love a lot of his films, sometimes his films are more about spectacle than they are about real human emotion. Luckily, Bayona gave plenty of that to The Orphanage.Movies about disappearances or deaths of children are always very difficult to watch. Especially the films that take a horror approach, like The Orphanage. Kids are always creepy in horror-thrillers, there's just no two ways about it. But as long as Belén Rueda keeps her performance grounded, this movie stays afloat. This movie certainly delves into some things that we have seen in horror films before, mostly having to do with supernatural ideas or dream-like people returning from the dead, but I never found myself all that invested in those scenes. I'm far more interested in seeing how a mother reacts to her child go missing. The film doesn't necessarily have as many layers as other horror-thrillers, but as a first time director, I couldn't have asked for more from Bayona. Hopefully 'A Monster Calls' and The Jurassic World sequel continue the string of great work from him.+Mother-son relationship+Stays relatively grounded+Simple story…-…Could have had a little bit more depth7.7/10

Free of cheap scares and senseless gore – The Orphanage relies on setting, story, and artful camera work.Consider such scenarios that are common in many haunted house films: children with sensitivities toward paranormal phenomena; a house haunted by ghostly children. These can be genuinely creepy scenarios so long as the film is done right. To capture the creepiness factor, the lines between reality and a child's fantasy must be ever so subtly blurred. There must be layers of terror lurking underneath the shield of innocence, with each successive layer becoming more and more disturbing. The Orphanage gets it right. It successfully builds a bridge between innocence and terror and we the viewers walk this bridge in exhilarating trepidation.To read more, visit my blog - the link is on my profile page

I liked this movie. Not so scary which is fine by me as I think what you can't see is scarier then a horrible looking ghost. The house has a gritty feeling about it which is well portrayed here, reflecting the more and more disturbing anomalies that begin to happen. Been Rueda is a good actress and very relatable as a mother whose child is missing. she is also o good looking women even thou she really shows her age. At the time of the movie she was 42 and showing her age but in the movie they made her 36 which is really not believable. why not say what you can see. overall a nice movie not to scary so you can watch it alone on a Friday night.

This is my first review in over 10 years of IMDb usage. My fault, but I mostly find existing reviews sufficient enough, some close to truth, some a little further. Some a bit too angry, some a little too lustrous.But this time. I just couldn't resist. This movie is absolutely stunning with almost no drawbacks. I have seen a lot of horrors, gore, fantasy, and this is such a perfect mixture of drama, thriller and suspenseful horror that you simply mustn't miss it. Go for it. Have no doubt. It is worth it from the first second till the very last tune in the titles.