Something Scary (and no, i’m not talking about Britney Spears)

January 17, 2008

Yesterday I saw the movie, The Orphanage (El Orfanato) with my friend Kelli and her brother, Steve.  As my four readers know, i’m a big horror/scary movie fan and am always searching for a good scary movie (though as Ted says, i’ll see just about anything–except I didn’t see the recent “One Missed Call” remake because I didn’t really like the Japanese version anyway).

So… The Orphanage was really really good! Scared the bejeebus out of me in a few spots but also just kept me on the edge of my seat throughout. The horror/scariness builds up slowly– there are no real cheap shocks. And the ending is a doozy (just when you thought that there couldn’t be another inventive twist, ala “The Sixth Sense”).

It has a fairytale-like quality as well, similar to Pan’s Labyrinthe, and excellent performances, namely Belen Rueda’s as the heartbroken/haunted mother, and the always mesmerizing Geraldine Chaplin (yes– Charlie Chaplin’s daughter!) as the Medium, Aurora. Who knew that Geraldine Chaplin could speak flawless Spanish? (well, it might not have been flawless, but it sounded pretty good to me).

It was such a beautifully shot, thoughtfully rendered haunted house/ghost story. I loved it. Go see it! And tell me what you thought.