Das Waisenhaus (2007)

Das Waisenhaus: Directed by J.A. Bayona. With Belén Rueda, Fernando Cayo, Roger Príncep, Mabel Rivera. A woman brings her family back to her childhood home, which used to be an orphanage for handicapped children. Before long, her son starts to communicate with an invisible new friend.

“Laura returns with her family to the orphanage she grew up in as a child, she reopens it for handicapped children and all is going to plan until her son starts communicating with an invisible friend…u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eDirected by Juan Antonio Bayona u0026amp; produced by Guillermo del Toro, this Spanish picture is a delightful antidote to the ream of gore for gore sake movies flooding the market on a seemingly daily basis. This is not a horror movie as such, this is one of those pictures that oozes old fashioned values as regards telling a grand old ghost story with mysterious undertones. The setting is perfect, the orphanage of the piece is a ghostly monolithic structure that has all those perfectly shadowy rooms that are hiding secrets, expansive gardens perfectly framed in aura by Bayonau0026#39;s willingness to let the setting be an integral part of the story. The story is a creepy one, and there is always an added air of unease when children are the focal point of the piece in question, and sure enough this central concept of troubled children and troubled childhoods gets the maximum amount of emotion from the viewing public.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eItu0026#39;s hard to write anymore than I have without delving deeper into the story and itu0026#39;s significant turn of events, suffice to say I feel this is a wonderful creepy, and at times beautiful, film that prospective viewers would be better off going into devoid of any prior knowledge. Belén Rueda plays Laura and itu0026#39;s a marvellous performance from her, full of emotion and guts, she carries the film with skillful ease. Bayona directs carefully, and itu0026#39;s evident that he is benefiting from the guiding hands of his gifted producer, but his marker is here and Iu0026#39;ll be keeping an eye out for future efforts from the young Spaniard.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eA smashingly engaging film that is in the vein of Robert Wiseu0026#39;s The Haunting u0026amp; Alejandro Amenábaru0026#39;s The Others, so if you like real well told ghost stories that unhinge rather than shock you, get in the queue because El Orfanato is a real pleasure. 9/10”