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The Orphanage | 
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| Actors: Geraldine Chaplin, Carmen Lopez, Andres Gertrudix, Fernando Cayo, Belén Rueda
Studio: New Line Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.98
Buy Used: $3.81
You Save: $16.17 (81%)
New (54) Used (37) from $3.81
Rating:  135 reviews
Sales Rank: 1559
Format: Color, Dolby, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: Spanish (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 105 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: TRNDN38293D
UPC: 794043120718
EAN: 0794043120718
ASIN: B0015ET3YO
Theatrical Release Date: 2007
Release Date: April 22, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Complete with original case, artwork, and disc. In stock and ships right now.
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Product Description
A woman brings her family back to her childhood home where she opens an orphanage for handicapped children. Before long her son starts to communicate with an invisible new friend. Studio: New Line Home Video Release Date: 09/30/2008 Run time: 105 minutes Rating: R Director: Juan Antonio Bayona
Amazon.com
It's only his first film, but Spain's Juan Antonio Bayona has already figured out the secret to a successful supernatural thriller: emphasize character over special effects. Like Walter Salles's Dark Water and Alejandro Amenábar's The Others, The Orphanage pivots on a pretty woman and an unusual child. When her old orphanage goes on the market, Laura (Belén Rueda, Amenábar's The Sea Inside) and Carlos (Fernando Cayo) settle in with their son, Simón (Roger Príncep). Once acclimated to the remote seaside surroundings, they plan to re-open it as a home for special-needs children. Meanwhile, their seven-year-old doesn't know he's adopted or that he has a life-threatening illness. He does, however, have a lot of imaginary playmates. When Simón disappears without a trace, his parents contact the police, but to no avail. Because Laura has been hearing odd noises and having strange visions, they proceed to consult a medium. Aurora (Geraldine Chaplin, speaking perfect Spanish) is convinced they aren't alone. Carlos has his doubts, but Laura makes like a detective and revisits her childhood--through photographs, home movies, and exploration of the spooky stone manor--to determine who or what abducted her son. Produced and presented by Guillermo Del Toro, The Orphanage is less fanciful than his works, though it does bear a vague resemblance to the ghostly Devil's Backbone. There are a few gory make-up effects, but Bayona mostly preys on our fear of the unknown to craft a first-rate fright fest. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
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| Customer Reviews: Read 130 more reviews...
 NOT NEARLY AS SCARY AS THE TRAILER! January 1, 2009
! MR. KNOW IT ALL ;-b (TRI STATE AREA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Surprisingly restrained considering the trailer had so many threatening and spooky images. I will say that 'The Orphanage' does get an A for atmosphere, but reading subtitles during this film distracts from the experience.
I usually pass on reading subtitles, but this film seemed too good to pass up. It's pretty easy to follow, even though this was played up to be a very spooky film. I did enjoy the story, but this isn't very scary at all. The DVD transfer looks very good.
Tear jerker December 30, 2008
movie babe (NYC)
I first saw this film in the theater, opening night. I was so exicted to watch this since I love most of the director's movies. My bf was with me and we just watched rambo right before. So yes this movie is slower paced, and there arent guts flying everywhere so he fell right asleep within 15 minutes.. lol As for me I really enjoyed it, great acting, good storyline, emotional ending. For those who claim this rips off the poltergeist, then how many other movies have ripped off of it? The others too?? Just because there's a creepy old lady who is a medium doesn't mean its ripping off of anything.. Almost every ghost story who has a medium, you can be sure its going to be a very creepy old woman.. That's just a fact. lol This movie didnt scare me, but it was a great suspense movie. And yes, I did cry at the end.. To me, instead of trying to knock a door down, I would be screaming my head off..
Dark and Hopeful December 23, 2008
Pat Shand (Freeport, NY USA)
As "The Orphanage" came on the heels of Pan's Labyrinth and is produced by Pan's director Guillermo del Toro, it is inevitable that comparisons will be drawn between the two movies. "The Orphanage," however, is more straight forward horror, and has a bit of a conventional premise... until the mystery begins to unravel. It starts as what seems to be a simple "ghosts captured my kid" story but evolves into something deeper and quite a bit darker.
I'm not sure that the writer and director of this film get the credit they really deserve. Screenwriter Sergio G. Sanchez cooked up an intelligent horror film that delves into both dark territory and true emotion, bordering on but never crossing the line into sentimentality. First time director Juan Antonio Bayona didn't do much to deviate from del Toro's established style and techniques, but it's probably best considering this was his first major film. Either way, the del Toro/Bayona collaboration has made this film dark, brooding, and scary in a way that makes you scared to look in mirrors, but hopeful in a way that won't make the terror resonate with you TOO long after the film. It could have used with losing a few minutes here and there, particularly in the scenes with and leading up to the medium, which--until a rather large revelation--sort of took attention away from the main plot.
In the end, "The Orphanage" is a horror film the same way that "Pan's Labyrinth" is a dark fantasy film. It breaks convention, both by being darker than you usually see and by letting the viewer see a bit of ironic hope at the end of the tunnel.
8/10
 A ghost story/family story/mystery that builds and builds to a finale of astonishing beauty December 10, 2008
Mir (North Miami Beach, FL USA)
I decided to buy this based on the good reviews and the fact that Guillermo del Toro--one of my very fave directors, and the director of my fave ghost story--The Devil's Backbone--produced this.
Well, no disappointment here. Not in any part. The acting, the direction, the scenery, the set design, the script, the music, the ending--it all worked together, all paid off.
This starts off slowly, gently. But from the first images of children playing a game in the yard fronting a large, mansion-style orphanage--the shadows, the direction, the way the action of an innocent game is set up--perfectly sets the tone of the film. It's nostalgic, but it's also slightly creepy. It foreshadows a lot. Pay attention.
Zoom years later. One of those children who'd been playing in the yard, the girl Laura, is now grown with a son. We find out the main characters--mother Laura, father, son Simon--have purchased the former orphanage and plan to set up a residence to care for special needs children. Simon, himself, is a special needs child: He has HIV.
Soon, the game of "invisible friends" takes on an ominous reality. And every scene builds tension, builds, builds, until we really are at the edge of our seat as this mother is thrown into the greatest nightmare of parents.
The film then asks the question--of the lead and of the viewer--how far will a mother, this mother, go to find her missing son?
While the conclusion felt inevitable and was pretty obvious quite early on (the clues are all there, and the script does not cheat), it's the HOW of getting to it that makes this all work. Almost all is fairly foreshadowed, but the small actions and words that lead us along to those conclusions can be easily missed if we focus on something that seems more emotional.
I cannot describe how beautiful the finale--the climactic moment-- is. Tragedy, sorrow, redemption and beauty all coalesce. It is a miraculous cooperation of acting/direction/storytelling/setting/lighting and music that brings us to this moment of bittersweet magic.
The denouement is lovely, too, leaving us with a feeling of what we lose as human beings, mortal beings, and what we can gain if there is more than mere matter.
Tragedy redeemed--that's what I thought as I went to bed after seeing this.
Yes, this is a ghost story that disturbs mightily, and the scares are surely present, but it is not a gore-show. It is a more human and artistic ghost story, and is in fact MORE than a ghost story. It's a story of family and friendship, and of a mother who will not give up, because the deepest love outlives the grave, even defeats the grave.
You really need to see this film. Magnificent. (And pay very close attention to EVERYTHING, for all the strings come together in the end.)
Mir
straightforward review December 6, 2008
Mike (NY, NY United States)
I am not going to give you an overview of what the plot of the movie is.
All you need to know is this: It is a good ghost story with an underlying deep heartfelt story.
The fact that the writer/director were able to accomplish this is a credit to them.
If you want a good scary story without gore/violence, cursing, nudity, and idoicy...then this is a movie for you.
Mike
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