IMDb plot summary: A woman brings her family back to her childhood home, which used to be an orphanage. Before long, her son starts to communicate with an invisible new friend.
Directed by J.A. Bayona. Starring Belén Rueda, Fernando Cayo, Roger Príncep, and Mabel Rivera.
This was produced by Guillermo Del Toro, and I get BIG Del Toro vibes from it, coming in strong with both the scares and the emotionally powerful ending. On the surface it's a pretty standard story, but the scary moments are low on jump scares and heavy on ominous atmosphere, and it's all structured impeccably - at one point I turned to my husband and said, "I don't think I can watch this part, it's too creepy!" But the overarching narrative of the orphanage's history and how our protagonist fits into it is what hit me hardest - I was in tears by the end of the movie, and it's been a little while since a movie hit me quite that hard emotionally. It reminded me a bit of both The Innocents and The Conjuring, two other horrors from this October, but this is scarier and more powerful than either of them. If you liked Pan's Labyrinth or The Devil's Backbone, this film is a great next choice.
How it entered my Flickchart:
The Orphanage > After the Wedding
The Orphanage > Chronicle
The Orphanage > Mission Impossible - Rogue Nation
The Orphanage < Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
The Orphanage > The Florida Project
The Orphanage > Blue Jasmine
The Orphanage > Parasite
The Orphanage > Submarine
The Orphanage < This Is Spinal Tap
The Orphanage > In the Bedroom
The Orphanage > Take the Money and Run
The Orphanage > Kes
Final spot: #209 out of 3239, or 94%.
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