THE ORPHANAGE

HEADLINE: ** Rehashed Pagan Horror. . . In Spanish **
TITLE: THE ORPHANAGE
Quality: * * * Acceptability: -4
SUBTITLES: -- In Spanish with English subtitles
WARNING CODES:
Language: L
Violence: VV
Sex: None
Nudity: None

RATING: R
RELEASE: January 11, 2008
TIME: 105 minutes
STARRING: Belen Rueda, Fernando Cavo, Roger Princep, Mabel Rivera, and Montserrat Carulla
DIRECTOR: J.A. Bayona
PRODUCERS: Alvaro Augustin, Joaquin Padro, Mar Targarona & Guillermo del Toro
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: None listed
WRITER: Sergio G. Sanchez
DISTRIBUTOR: Picturehouse Entertainment

CONTENT: (PaPaPa, OO, Ab, H, C, B, L, VV, DD, MM,) Very strong pagan worldview takes place in haunted house with vengeful ghosts, poltergeist spirits and strong occult elements as couple brings psychic team in to contact spirits through regression ritual, psychic woman communicates with the dead, pagan view of the afterlife, humanist elements as Jung's psychoanalytical studies are quoted, some Christian and biblical elements as prayer is depicted in two scenes, some Catholic elements as man gives a St. Anthony medallion to his wife for protection and a crucifix is seen in the background in one scene; three obscenities and no profanities; strong violence and disturbing imagery includes woman gets pushed by ghost, her fingers get smashed in a doorway, woman slaps her son, woman falls and breaks her leg, another woman is hit by car and killed, a deformed child is seen, ghosts are heard screaming, woman finds skeletons in bags, and, ghosts slam doors, move objects, etc.; no sex; no nudity but female cleavage shown; no alcohol; woman overdoses on pills; and, woman trespasses, some deceit, woman commits suicide, and woman chooses her relationship with her son over her relationship with her husband.

GENRE: Horror
INTENDED AUDIENCE: Adults

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SUMMARY: THE ORPHANAGE is a Spanish language horror movie about a woman whose son is threatened by the ghosts of her childhood playmates, who were brutally murdered after she left the orphanage where they grew up together. Though it has plenty of tension and nail-biting moments, THE ORPHANAGE uses too many tired conventions and contains a very strong pagan worldview with strong occult elements.

IN BRIEF:

THE ORPHANAGE is a Spanish language horror movie about a woman, Laura, who moves her family back to the orphanage home where she was raised. When her adopted son, Simón, begins to talk with new invisible friends, Laura becomes concerned. Then, when a vengeful spirit takes her son, Laura and her husband bring in a team of psychics. She realizes that the orphan friends she grew up with may have never left the house alive. Now, Laura must play all of the ghosts' games if she wants to see her son again.

THE ORPHANAGE uses some rehashed, retread, and worn-down horror movie devices. Although it uses these devices well and there is plenty of nail-biting moments, this movie is still nothing original. It's almost as if the writer and director sat down with a checklist to make sure that they used all the ghost story clichés they could remember. THE ORPHANAGE also has a very strong pagan worldview with strong occult content. Thus, a woman psychic tries to communicate with the dead, which is forbidden by the Bible. THE ORPHANAGE also contains strong scary violence, but it's not very graphic.