My day off today found me at the cinema to see ‘The Orphanage’ pure and simply because it seemed the best option of what I hadn’t seen currently on release. The film is brought to us by producer Guillermo Del Toro (who is putting movement behind an English language version as I write), and the film embodies the gloriously rich yet often twisted film making channeled through a fairy tale world, associated with Pan’s Labyrinth and and much likely also the style of this years Hell Boy 2, both directed by Del Toro. Calling this a horror movie or even placing it on the same shelf as what passes for horror these days is an insult to the film. The film is certainly an execution of thrills and jump out of your skin moments, and brilliantly done at that but so much more is achieved by having the story take centre stage and the scare tactics litter the unravelling of plot.

There is no revolution in story telling to behold here, it is the detail and masterly delivery of what makes a film thrill that impresses most. A story of past indiscretions and present day secrets is matched pace by pace with unrelenting unease, never a moment of light. Long corridors, creaking doors and any other number of haunted house conventions are employed in telling the story of a family attempting to re-open an orphanage once attended by the mother of the family. A sequence in which a psychic rambles the halls of the orphanage, viewed by the family on TV monitors is a perfect example of what the film achieves - pure raw nerve shredding without a drop of blood being spilt and overall a standout sequence in this genre of film making if not any other.

At the centre of the story is the mother of the family, with Spanish actress Belen Rueda, expertly concealing a muted breakdown behind a veil of determination in a performance that is the movies trump card. The performance only adds to the authenticity of class on show throughout the film. All the players do fine work. Just as important is the gloriously created world they inhabit - somehow the rich rustic imagery and decor and windswept romance novel beach locales are invoked to create extra characters. It is a beautiful film to look at - my litmus test for beauty in a horror film is always ‘Sleepy Hollow’ - ‘The Orphanage’ more than manages to reach that zenith of style.

The ending cannot but be mentioned, it is ultimately the most human and heartbreaking of endings considering what has gone before and it is a perfect ending to serve justice to the accomplishment of the film as a whole.

A truly enjoyable film, somehow romanticising a horror story through the meshing of story, performance and expertly drawn together aesthetics. Recommended.

Official ‘The Orphanage’ website/ IMDB Page/ Rotten Tomatoes Reviews