Horror is one of my favorite genres. This was not true a few years back, when I was still a kid and was easily scared by anything. I was afraid of clowns, living dolls, monsters, dogs, you name it. Spirited Away (2001), my favorite animated film of all time, was responsible for my irrational fear of seeing my parents turn into pigs.
Obviously, this film became more loved by me while I was growing up, learning how foolish I was. When people tell me that they didn’t like certain horror films because they weren’t “scared enough”, I always ask them: “What does horror mean to you?” Generally, I get the typical answer “horror films should be scary”, something I would’ve agreed on in 2007.
Then again, horror is more than being scared. With time I have learned that this genre has a bigger spectrum than I realized. And that it could go from something so obvious as a jump-scare to something so simple, but effective, as a pool of blood.
The Orphanage, directed by a young Juan Antonio Bayona (of The Impossible fame), is a psychological horror film about an abandoned orphanage that’s being restored by one of the orphans that used to live there. Laura (Belén Rueda) returns to her childhood home to transform it in a place that’ll take care of children with special needs.
Read More From 2007: Listen to the Alternative 2007 Movies Podcast
Her husband Carlos (Fernando Cayo) and her son Simón (Roger Príncep) support her in all this. But Simón is having trouble adapting since he has discovered that the house is not as abandoned as it seems. Simón seems to make friends day in and day out. Something that troubles his mother to a point where everything turns for the worse.
It’s almost inevitable watching this film without thinking of another film also made by a Spanish director. The Others (2001) by Alejandro Amenábar. Same setting (big house, with lots of rooms), same environment (eerie and cold, especially at night), and the same feelings of doubt of what’s real and what’s not.
Both films are also carried by a wonderful female performance. Rueda is outstanding as Laura and it’s the main reason this film shines. You can feel the anger, the fear, the hopelessness, and the despair of a mother who doesn’t know what else she can do to help her son. Her husband thinks she’s crazy, but who is he to tell a mother not to do anything to save their son?
Without entering in many details, I can say that The Orphanage’s story is simple and effective. Depending more on the interactions between characters than the usual tropes associated with a ghost story. There can be a case made where this film is considered more a drama with horror aspects rather than only a horror film.
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I still think it is a horror film because the story uses some elements that play with the mind of the audience. For me real horror is more horrifying than any monsters out there. The feeling you have when you get out of the car and don’t find your keys. Or when you’re five minutes into a presentation and can’t find the USB drive that has all the info you need. That’s horror.
Imagine that, but on a much bigger level. When your kid goes out of sight in a tight-packed mall. Or when you get home and find that the door is ajar. When you receive a call from the hospital… There are some of those feelings in this script. And that to me is what classifies this movie as a horror one.
Bayona also did a great job in the director’s seat. For being a debut feature film, it doesn’t look like it. Well, maybe it helps that mastermind, horror lover, and filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro produces the film.
Seriously though, not counting some minor hiccups here and there, The Orphanage looks like it was made by an experienced filmmaker. There is a scene near the end of the film that is a perfect example of a director in absolute command of his craft. This scene is a recreation of an earlier shot from the film. We see a character playing a game. A game that only makes sense if it’s played with more than one person. We know this, which is weird when the character plays it in the first place. Until we realize what the character’s planning.
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When it happens, we know. And the horror gasps and screams will be the order of the day for those who aren’t prepared. For me, it’s a perfect scene because it uses quick panoramic movements of the camera, combined with perfect editing, to make it look continuous. And an eerily almost silent score that gives me the chills every time I watch it. This is Bayona directing the hell out of a scene.
2007 was a great year for film. Particularly for horror, in a decade that lots of experts consider weak for the genre. It’s a shame that in the mix of No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood, Zodiac, Juno, Atonement, and other great films from that year, The Orphanage always gets forgotten. It’s not the only film that this happens to. But considering it is one of the best horror films of the 2000s, it deserves at least more respect.
My words can’t do enough justice to the greatness of this film. Just like the ending, one of the most beautiful in any horror movie, or film in general. Go seek it out The Orphanage and let’s talk later. Hopefully in the future, when people talk about 2007, they will remember Belén Rueda’s amazing performance and the film where it came from.