The Orphanage

2007 ‘El orfanato’ Directed by J. A. Bayona

A tale of love. A story of horror.

A woman brings her family back to her childhood home, which used to be an orphanage, intent on reopening it. Before long, her son starts to communicate with a new invisible friend.

Belén Rueda Fernando Cayo Roger Príncep Mabel Rivera Montserrat Carulla Andrés Gertrúdix Édgar Vivar Óscar Casas Geraldine Chaplin Carmen López Óscar Lara

Alternative Title

灵异孤儿院

horror drama thriller

105 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Adam Cook ★★★★½ 17

After my eighth viewing I firmly believe this is the best horror film of the last 15 years. Admittedly competition in the last decade has hardly been stellar but that doesn’t stop this from not only being a fantastic horror film but a great film irrespective of genre. It isn't the scariest by any means but much like Rosemary's Baby it works on more than one level and takes you on a far greater emotional journey than most genre films do.
The Orphanage is, on the surface at least, a very old fashioned horror film. It exists in the same world as The Innocents: a world of large empty houses and fragile mental states. It relies on the suggested rather…
Review by Evan ★★★★½ 3

Wow. Easily one of the best horror films of the 21st century. What a film, I'm pretty speechless right now. So spooky and creepy. I seriously had shivers going up my spine several times throughout the movie because of how genuinely creeped out I was.
Review by Peaceful Stoner ★★★★★ 9

How often does a horror film provide hair rising scares along with a nail bitingly suspenseful and believable story? Even though I am a novice when it comes to the number of horror films watched, I can say with certain amount of confidence that such a brilliant combination of two of the most difficult genres to tackle is indeed a very rare breed. The orphanage is classic in its way of making, in its way of shocking and in its story line which paves the way for it to be deservedly called a modern horror masterpiece. This film is as perfect and as heady a mix of both these incredibly potent genres can ever get.
Every single shot in the…
Review by CinemaClown ★★★½

Ingeniously weighing the elements of supernatural & psychological horror, The Orphanage is an expertly crafted horror film from Cinema of Spain which with its welcome absence of cheap scares & more emphasis on its plot turns out to be one of the finest examples of its genre. Cleverly plotted, it dares to take its time to create the required atmosphere rather than prematurely rushing into scaring its audience like so many horror films do nowadays.
The story concerns Laura; a former orphan who returns with her husband & son back to her childhood home which used to be an orphanage for handicapped children, which she hopes to reopen again. Things are set in motion when her son Simon, who claims to have invisible…
Review by ScreeningNotes ★★★★ 3

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

I'm not sure I'd really call The Orphanage a horror film. It certainly has horror elements—haunted house, ghosts, brief scenes of gruesome gore—and its atmosphere is positively chilling, but the overall emotion that the film inspires isn't one of fear, but one of sadness. The Orphanage is a tragedy, and it's so thoroughly built upon a single utterly fascinating scene that I want to skip right past talking about how beautiful the cinematography is and how exceptional the central performances are and just unpack this one scene.
Laura, her husband Carlos, and their adopted son Simón move into the old orphanage where Laura was raised in order to turn it into a facility for disabled children. Simón makes a few…
Review by <Todd> ★★★★½

"Seeing is not believing. It's the other way around. Believe, and you will see." -Aurora,
-Hooptober 5.0 (Film 27 of 33): boxd.it/23f1e
A woman, raised in an orphanage, returns with her husband and adopted son to the orphanage of her childhood. Her goal is to reopen the orphanage but soon her son disappears after talking to "imaginary" friends. Panic and horror ensues.
This movie is pretty close to perfection and I would recommend it to anyone, including people that normally dislike horror. The story is well-told, the acting is exceptional, the tone is very creepy but occasionally gives you moments to breath and recommit. It's great. I think if the film had simply done a bit more to ground the relationship between the mother and Simon, before he disappears, I would've rated this 5 stars.

Recent reviews

Review by kafkalorenz ★★★★½

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

Ein grausames Drama. Schauderhaft traurig.
Review by theconman01 ★★½

This isn’t creepy it’s just annoying
Review by Evan Reynolds ★★★★★

The best scary folktale i have ever seen. Equal parts touching, spooky, and macabre, this film has earned its spot in my October rotation. The scares are earned. The story is touching in a way that I have only seen in The Woman in Black. Here’s to Saint Anthony, the Patron Saint of lost things!
Review by Chadman

A well crafted drama/thriller (emphasis on drama) that treads familiar ground for Guillermo Del Toro. Despite not being the director or writer of this piece, it has his stamp firmly placed on it. The elements of fantasy as an escape and its own reality are there, as in Pan's Labrynth, but, without the added subtext of Fascist Spain (unless I missed something), the jarring violence and the fantastic settings, this movie falls short of that one.
Not bad, at all, but don't expect it to set you on fire and do not expect a horror movie, no matter what the trailers are trying to show.
Recommended
Review by Jealous Craig ★★★½

Clever enough, but never challenging, scary or brilliant. Genuine emotional depth in the reveal, bookended by an unsatisfying story.
Review by 5ea5erpent ★★★★

I was expecting a horror in the style of The Ring or The Grudge, but it's really nothing like that at all. There are a couple of eerie bits, but nothing scary, it's more of a chiller than a horror really. But it's quite a beautiful little film, and really well made. Top marks.
Review by migh ★★★★

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

cool bit of creepy from Spain. you've got a great turn from Belén Rueda in the lead and a cool big ol' house setting where some nifty supernatural shenanigans are going on. it's an interesting story that has a fair few effectively creepy moments and it all pans out nicely towards the satisfying climax.... good stuff!
Review by Sakshat KC

wut
Review by drwar5ong ★★★½

Einer der besseren Haunted House Filme in meinen Augen. Schön, dass man Dramatik und Spannung auch erzählerisch und nicht nur mit von Geisterhand zuschlagenden Türen erzeugen kann.