El Orfanato (The Orphanage) (2007, R)
Director: Juan Antonio Bayona
Starring: Belen Rueda, Fernando Cayo, Roger Princep, Geraldine Chaplin
Genre: Foreign Thrillers, Spain, Spanish Language
It has been a very long time since a movie made me pull the blankets up to my nose and grab my man. This Spanish-language thriller, I am happy to report, scared the $#!+ out of me.
Laura and Carlos, along with their young son Simon, move into the house that was once the orphanage in which Laura grew up. Her fond memory of the house leads her to the decision to open a facility for children with special needs in the house. Soon, Simon begins to make friends that no one else can see and on the facility's opening day, disappears. Laura searches for Simon for several months, but it is scavenger game set up by Simon's "friends" that helps her unravel the mystery of her missing son.
Belen Rueda's portrayal of an inconsolable, tortured mother is completely heart-wrenching, and had I not been so terrified of the events the house was displaying, I would have reached through the screen and hugged her. Geraldine Chaplin plays the medium whom Laura calls on to help figure out what happened in the house after she was adopted, and I must say her Spanish is impeccable. She is able to tell them what happened to the other children, but does not see where Simon is. She admonishes Laura to have faith and she will find the answer.
Sadly, Simon's disappearance is not supernatural at all and when Laura discovers the truth, she has no one to blame but herself. Sad, tragic, scary as hell, this movie was a thriller from start to finish. If you want to get some adrenaline pumping, I recommend watching this with all the lights off. Thumbs up!
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