The Orphanage

If the above trailer is to be believed The Orphanage is a fright a minute scarefest in which nobody talks, they just scream. A canny piece of marketing to get folks here and in the States to go and see it I'm sure as telling them it's actually a slow burning Spanish horror with, shock, subtitles will put them off instantly. Well if it does they're going to miss out on a cracking wee gem of a picture.

See nowadays the art of the good story is sorely neglected in cinema. It's always about the visuals or the set pieces and story seems to be the last thing on many film makers minds. That's not a rant against blockbusters as many "indie" flicks suffer from this as well. What is so refreshing about The Orphanage is that it has a fantastic aesthetic to it and some great set pieces as well but the story comes first. It's one of those methodically paced stories, full of little twists that are revealed as it goes on. To tell you any would be to ruin the film but essentially the setup is as follows; Laura, her husband Carlos and their prerequisite creepy kid son have moved into a big house in the middle of nowhere that used to be an Orphanage. Laura grew up here before being adopted and has now come back to reopen it. Carlos has some imaginary friends but like any modern kid trying to get in with the local cliques they soon get dumped for the new ones he's met at the house, and in particular a wee boy from the caves nearby called Tomas. So far, so The Shining. Oh and did I mention that there's also a spooky, disused lighthouse nearby? Soon there's bumps and bangs and then the kid with the sack over his head appears.

As you can tell this is an old-fashioned tale. The set-up is nothing original, but The Orphanage isn't looking to be a Cloverfield. It's intent is to tell it's story, and that just so happens to be a traditional ghost story that's occasionally punctured by the modern world, such as in the incredibly tense scene involving the medium. She puts herself in a trance and wanders the house while everyone else gathers in a room to watch her through infrared cameras.

The tension is the key here. Rather on rely on cheap jumps like the cat pouncing out while a character is investigating a noise the film has an overall uneasiness. A sense of dread prevails throughout thanks to the sound design which never underestimates the power of misplaced bumps and scrapes and a habit for director Juan Antonio Bayona to place his camera in strange positions. It's amazing what placing it in these positions and slowly zooming in on a scene does for the paranoia. Throughout you ask "why is it there?" and "what does it suggest?". It's a masterful move from the director, showing an understanding as to how to get under a viewers skin simply by using simple filmic techniques.

The Orphanage won't be for everyone. It'll bore some, especially those sucked in by the advert above. But an acceptance of the fact that a few well placed jumps aside this is a good old-fashioned horror, focusing on story rather than shocks will allow The Orphanage to bury itself deep into your mind and stay there. It's what all the best ghost stories do.