Happy-Go-Lucky

Flash of Genius

Eagle Eye

Ghost Town

The Duchess

Hounddog

Burn After Reading

Hamlet 2

The House Bunny

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Elegy

Bottle Shock

Pan's Labyrinth director Guillermo del Toro presents this suspenseful ghost story about the mysterious goings-on in a secluded Spanish manse. With her doctor husband (Fernando Cayo) and adopted seven-year-old son Simón, Laura Rivera (Belén Rueda) moves into a secluded cliffside home on the Bay of Biscay, a conch's throw from a burned-out lighthouse that looms over treacherous sea caves. Thirty years ago, the now-dilapidated manor was the Good Shepherd Orphanage where Laura spent her fond, playful childhood, and now the Riveras are refurbishing it to provide a loving home to a new generation of special needs children. As the family unpacks, little Simón (Roger Princep) makes some imaginary friends who engage him in treasure hunts and the like; the parents shrug it off as a lonely child amusing himself. But when the boy goes missing, Laura is confronted with paranormal possibilities, and learns to what lengths she'll go to be reunited with her son, with or without the help of her husband.

First-time director J.A. Bayona and writer Sergio Sánchez have invented a new kind of horror movie with The Orphanage, an artful, dramatic mystery that you could take your mom to. Early in the movie, with the yard populated by Down's syndrome children wearing spooky masks and eating cake, the Rivera's open-house gathering resembles a chilling Diane Arbus photo op, establishing the film's simultaneously nurturing and gently haunting mood. It's a macabre, gorgeously filmed nail-biter that wrings great suspense from dark corners, empty hallways, cramped spaces, creaks and things that go bump in the night. Rueda -- a former model, now an award-winning Spanish actress -- is captivating as the fiercely maternal protagonist who becomes increasingly unraveled and desperate as she turns over the estate for clues. And Geraldine Chaplin drops in for a haunting cameo as an intense medium who tries to make contact with Simón's ghastly playmates.

It doesn't give anything away to say The Orphanage would be perfect on a double bill with the 2001 Nicole Kidman ghost story The Others. But this is its own unique tale that surprises, not by virtue of plot twists, rather revelations that are there in plain sight, if you know what you're looking for. Suffice it to say, once the mystery is revealed, you'll want to see The Orphanage again to determine whether it really holds up. And it does.

by Rob. Walton

photos: ©2007 Picturehouse