Movies

The Orphanage is a film produced by Guillermo del Toro along side a first time director, Juan Anotonio Bayona is a ghost film shot in the beautiful coastal areas of Spain. The film focuses on the character of Laura, played by Beln Rueda who once was an orphan herself. Laura together with her husband, Carlos, portrayed by Fernando Cayo, and their son Simon, played by the cute little boy, Roger Prncep stayed in a big, towering colonial mansion which was the orphanage in which Laura was part of before.

Laura and Carlos intend to turn their mansion into a home for children with special needs. This was most probably because of their only son being lonely and was getting too involved with his imaginary friends named Watson and Pepe. At some point in the film, Laura went for a stroll with her son, Simon to the beach, Laura brought her son to the cave she once knew and let him wander inside for awhile. When she went inside to check up on him, she was surprised to see that Simon was talking to a new invisible friend named Tomas. Simon even asked her mother if they could take Tomas home in which she had no reply. During their walk back to their home, Simon was dropping shells along the way in which he said was for his friend Tomas to follow. Things started to get weird and creepy from then on.

Simon started finding out information about him dying soon because of the HIV virus and that he was an adopted child. According to Simon, this was told to him by his 5 invisible friends. Things were getting from bad to worse, when Simon disappeared during the opening of the home for children with special needs. This was also the time when the ghost of Tomas first appeared. The ghost was wearing a mask made out of an old brown sack and an orphanage uniform in which Laura too wore back in the days when she was still in the orphanage. The character of Tomas was quite creepy.

Simons disappearance was made known throughout the region with pictures of the little boy posted on almost every street post. Search turned out empty for days, then months. But creepy sounds were never absent from their houses during these time.

Frustration is kicking Laura that she had to turn to spiritual mediums to find out whether her son was still alive. During the visit of the mediums in her house, they heard the kids from the orphanage before and their tragic story started to unfold. The five kids who were also Simons invisible friends were murdered by a character named Benigna, who was the keeper in the orphanage and also the mother of Tomas. She poisoned the five kids during one of the meals, which was the result of their deaths. This was done a week after the departure of Laura from the said orphanage. Tomas on the other hand was accidentally killed by the five kids by luring him into the cave near the beach using seashells as a follow path. Inside the cave, the kids removed his mask, revealing his deformed face. The kids ran upon seeing the face, Tomas was left in shame for what happened. He was caught up with the rising tides where he drowned and died. The police and inspectors decided that this was no murder for it was only childs play that caused the death of Tomas. This was the reason why she did the murder of the kids. The five kids whom were poisoned were buried inside the coal storage outside the house.

The medium explains that she is near death that is why she is able to communicate with the dead, the same thing was happening for Simon before his disappearance. He was near death due to his illness, making him able to interact with the dead. This was not believed by Carlos and the inspector who was invited by Carlos himself. They thought that the mediums were just fakes and are only after their money. Laura on the other hand believed and when Carlos decided to move out of the house and just move on with their lives, Laura asked for two days to be alone in the house for her to completely finish what she need to do.

When she was finally alone, she started turning the mansion back to its old look and started calling out the ghosts of the children by a game. When the ghosts started appearing, they lead her to a door that leads to a basement. It was quite hidden and was therefore difficult to find. There she finds the body of Simon with a sack mask on his face, and the puzzle was starting to materialize when she realized that she played a role in the death of her adopted son. She accidentally blocked the door with metal poles when trying to look for Simon during the opening party of the home for children with special needs. She also realized that all the noise she heard at night after Simon went missing were Simon trying to get out of the room.

Realizing her fault, she started taking in all of Simons medication where she overdosed and died with the companionship of the kids and her son, Simon in her arms. He wished her to stay and to take care of the orphans which she willingly obliged. The next scene was the tombstones of Laura, Simon and the kids in which Carlos was dropping a flower onto. After that, the scene takes us back to the house where Carlos finds a pendant or medallion of St. Anthony which he gave to Laura on the floor. The wind blows and the door of the room were the orphans stayed opened. Carlos just smiled.

Overall, the film was quite ok, not your typical ghost films, it has a few surprise scenes it also has a simple yet good twists. The storyline was quite confusing at first but its understandable. What made this film interesting is that thriller scenes are not exaggerated. The movie earns it scares, never faking us out with quick cuts or sudden noises, but settling into our bones and chilling us in a way weve forgotten was possible (Rich, K. 2008).  It gave the viewers the natural thrill of the scenes and its simplicity, even the props used.

There are many haunted house movies that made viewers scream. This movie was able to deliver the messages of haunted house movies gloomy, creepy, and mysterious. The Orphanage is a creepy haunted house movie that places Spain on the map as the new masters of horror and suspense (Pejkovic, M.R. 2008). The gloomy effect from the beginning was forgotten when the ending with Carlos, smiling and relieved made it a feel good atmosphere. This film shows the devotion of a mother towards her son whether it be your own or adopted. A good film all in all.