James R | On 31, Oct 2013

Director: Juan Antonio Bayona
Cast: Belén Rueda, Fernando Cayo, Roger Príncep
Certificate: 15

“Un, dos, tres, toca la pared…”

Does anything really scare us anymore? The Orphanage is resounding proof that cinema still can, particularly when one looks beyond the realms of gory slashers and uninventive remakes of Hollywood to welcome chills from around the world. Resurrecting themes of The Innocents and Pan’s Labyrinth, newcomer Juan Antonio Bayona directs this haunting tale of parental loss. Laura (Rueda) and Carlos (Cayo) have an adopted son, Simon (Princep). Unaware of his illness and parental origin, Simon is a happy little chappy with several close friends. The problem is that they’re all apparently invisible.

Moving back into her old orphanage, Laura persuades her husband to join her in setting up a new children’s home. As the prospective kiddiewinks arrive, though, Simon disappears. And things go horribly wrong. Clinging to the creaky building of her childhood, the mother finds herself haunted by Tomás, a disturbing, sack-wearing soul, who invites Laura to play his game and win back her stolen son.

Stripping away the surface wallpaper with persistently subtle swipes, Bayona reveals the past with an uncanny eye for the unnerving; doors closing, bed covers moving, everything twitches in the peripheries of vision, sending shivers down your unsettled spine. Even when a medium enters the scene – a moment a more derivative horror film could have butchered with careless attempts at big frights – the explicit is shirked for a brilliantly underplayed tension.

Rueda excels as the mother cut off from her child, believably upset to the point of hysteria. Teetering over the chasm to see what lies on the other side, she soon finds herself donning a nurse’s garb and playing a warped version of grandmother’s footsteps; believe her or not, the suspense is so high that every time she turns around, it’s a blow to the gut. But such jump-scares are few and far between; this slow-paced, character-driven drama is all the better for it. One of the best horror movies of recent memory, see it before it gets remade.

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