The Orphanage

faceman

Went to see this yesterday and really enjoyed it. It was nice to see a film that knew how to apply "less is more" to create atmos and tension.

The only downer is that there is only so much you can do with a haunted house movie.

Deffo worth a look, performances were great and... mmm yummy mummy!


There was one point during the film where the whole cinema jumped, me included. Scene where Laura is in the cupboard under the stairs. Its the first time in a long time i jumped like that!

Anyone ever have one of those genuine jumpy, heart skips a beat moments?

johnny_ultimate

Saw it during the film festival and thought it was a little disapointing. It is a very well made film, and the story did come into its own by the end. Didn't think it was particularly scary though (barring one or two somewhat freaky scenes, such as the

knocking on the wall game

) and overall was a bit too traditional and unremarkable. As a good ghost story I was impressed, as a horror not so much.

faceman

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Saw it during the film festival and thought it was a little disapointing. It is a very well made film, and the story did come into its own by the end. Didn't think it was particularly scary though (barring one or two somewhat freaky scenes, such as the

knocking on the wall game

) and overall was a bit too traditional and unremarkable. As a good ghost story I was impressed, as a horror not so much.

yeah its not really a horror as such but is filled with suspense etc.

That scene you mentioned in your spoiler was excellent.

Sanjuro

REALLY looking forward to seeing The Orphanage. Heard nothing but good things about it so far!

RAIN

Saw it the other night , Great movie with some brilliant horror set pieces. I jumped at least twice !

monkeyfudge

A very well made film. But it didn't do anything new.

I've already seen it all before elsewhere.

senordingdong

Fantastic film.

Great to see the return of tension and atmosphere as tools of a horror film.

Eirebear

A proper old fashioned ghost story, i loved it.
As has been said before theres not much new you can do with this kind of tale, but you can try to do it well...and the orphanage managed it for me.

One plot hole bothers me though

How did Simon get into Tomaz's room in the first place? when the mother went into the room at the end of the film she had to rip all the wallpaper to get through...

faceman

Eirebear wrote: »

One plot hole bothers me though

How did Simon get into Tomaz's room in the first place? when the mother went into the room at the end of the film she had to rip all the wallpaper to get through...

hmmm good point.

Another thing i was wondering on further discussion:

did the mother have HIV too? Didnt she take medication herself at intervals during the film?

Eirebear

faceman wrote: »

hmmm good point.

Another thing i was wondering on further discussion:

did the mother have HIV too? Didnt she take medication herself at intervals during the film?

Im not sure, but i think as it entered the final scenes

she was intentionally trying to give herself an overdose, but gradually so as to be "closer to death" and have more chance of seeing the kids...i think thats why you saw her taking pills more often towards the end.

Necronomicon

Saw it last night, thought it was very good.

Some wonderfully creepy parts, such as

the knocking on the wall game near the end, the scene where Laura gets locked into the closet and the whole scene with the psychic medium.

I was happy with the ending as well.

I thought because she had a wish owing to her that Simòn would be brought back to life, which would have been a cop-out

I'm looking forward to 3993 now, another del Toro ghost story. The man loves his ghosts :pac:

Eirebear

Necromomicon wrote: »

I was happy with the ending as well.

I thought because she had a wish owing to her that Simòn would be brought back to life, which would have been a cop-out

I dont think that would have worked as i said earlier

She had to be "close to death" in order to actually see the kids in the first place, so she was basically only finishing off the overdose at the end. I do like the peter pan tie in though

L31mr0d

good movie, not great.

It was enjoyable but for me it is neither a horror movie or a thriller. There isn't enough of anything to really class it as either. There was some cheap jump moments but any 2 bit director can slam a door or suddenly make a loud screeching noise.

It is a movie however that gets you in the last act.

I liked how it is somewhat left open whether or not she imagined the children or was dillusional, as the noises in the house are explained as just creaking from the wind, the child banging on the door in the basement or the old woman sneaking around the house. We also know that it was her son that pushed her into the bath (why?) Is it ever explained also why Laura takes pills and why she was in this orphanage for special children in the first place?

faceman

L31mr0d wrote: »

We also know that it was her son that pushed her into the bath (why?) Is it ever explained also why Laura takes pills and why she was in this orphanage for special children in the first place?

How do we know

it was her son who pushed her?

its not explained why she takes pills, perhaps she had HIV too

Necronomicon

Hmmm, I never actually thought about

who pushed her.

But would I be right in saying that

Simòn at that point had already run off and went downstairs?

Eirebear

Necromomicon wrote: »

Hmmm, I never actually thought about

who pushed her.

But would I be right in saying that

Simòn at that point had already run off and went downstairs?

I just figured that

he had went down stairs and found "Tomaz's little house" got dressed up in his stuff and went back upstairs to scare his mother seeing as he was pissed off with her anyway?

Necronomicon

Eirebear wrote: »

I just figured that

he had went down stairs and found "Tomaz's little house" got dressed up in his stuff and went back upstairs to scare his mother seeing as he was pissed off with her anyway?

But

he died as soon as he found "Tomaz's little house" didn't he? Unless maybe he fell when going there a second time.

Eirebear

Necromomicon wrote: »

But

he died as soon as he found "Tomaz's little house" didn't he? Unless maybe he fell when going there a second time.

I thought

it was the second time, because he was wearing the sack mask when he was found

Necronomicon

Oh yeah, totally forgot about that little detail

That reminds me that Laura spots the masked child in the garden as well before she goes upstairs. Simòn must've attacked her, then ran downstairs.

ixoy

Saw it there tonight - quite a decent flick, reminding me most of "The Others".

I take it that Simon was dressed up at the end as Tomas. Remember he had found Tomas and befriended the ghost. He then discovers where his "little house" is, gets the clothes and goes up to give Mum a good scare after he had his fight.
Then he runs down and hides, as kids do, and they go searching for him. In the search she accidentally locks him in causing him to eventually die (opps!).

Oh and guess what - there's rumours of a remake

Fysh

Posted a review of this the other night after I saw it; it's well-crafted and enjoyable, but like monkeyfudge said it didn't really do anything new. Still, there are far worse ways to fail. Unfortunately for me I saw it while sitting in front of some twit who kept screaming really loudly every time anything adventurous happened (like a door opening)...

I can't believe the discussion going on about

whether it was Simon in the sack-cloth mask at the end, considering the short series of flashbacks where the mother works out what must have happened

...

Also thought that the best set piece was

the part where they find the old lady, she gets hit by the truck/bus/whatever it was and then wakes up again, jaw hanging off horribly, to grab at the mother's arm

.

big_show

looking forward to this now, mark kermode gave it great praise for the last two weeks on radio five.

monkeyfudge

Fysh wrote: »

Also thought that the best set piece was

the part where they find the old lady, she gets hit by the truck/bus/whatever it was and then wakes up again, jaw hanging off horribly, to grab at the mother's arm

.

Although I've lost track now of how many times I've seen someone killed by the old

stealth bus

ixoy

I did jump when

the old Orphanage lady grabbed the arm, but it was tempered by the fact that it was by monkeyfudge's stealth bus. I'm sick of seeing that in shows.

Tension wise, there were two highlights for me:

The bit with the medium moving through the house, everyone else watching on the screens.
The other being when she's playing the game in the house with the kids creeping up on her each time.

So basically the same scenes as everyone else. Maybe in a remake, the Hollywood kids can add a rock soundtrack to those moments and sell the album online.

Eirebear

Fysh wrote: »

I can't believe the discussion going on about

whether it was Simon in the sack-cloth mask at the end, considering the short series of flashbacks where the mother works out what must have happened

...

That is not what the discussion was really about theough, the discussion was about how the

Hell he actually got in there in the first place, when his mother had to take down all the wallpaper to get through the door, unless Thomasz, was some sort of ghostly DIY fanatic?!

monkeyfudge

ixoy wrote: »

So basically the same scenes as everyone else. Maybe in a remake, the Hollywood kids can add a rock soundtrack to those moments and sell the album online.

Paris Hilton and Ashton Kutcher could play the parents.

L31mr0d

I think it is a inconsistancy that the kid was able to get into the basement without tearing the wallpaper, but I wonder if this has something to do with the opening credits featuring the kids hands tearing the wallpaper. Also, maybe there was another entrance into the basement from the cave, but since the tide had come in he couldn't go out that way and had to try and leave via the basement door. We know the masked kid was Simon because when Laura found him dead he was wearing his mask, also when laura heard the "thump" in the night, it was explained that this was Simon falling through the banisters as he was trying to bang on the door that Laura had accidentally blocked with the support poles

Das Kitty

The door down to the little house was covered with wallpaper, but the paper was cut around the edge so she could have opened it without the tearing, there was also a little hole for the handle in the paper. I think she just ripped off the paper to make sure you knew it was a door. If you look at the door to the main house it's the same deal, wallpapered on the inside.

Another thing, if it was indeed all in her head, who set up the game to find Simon? If it was him, how did he take the handle out if he was inside, if it was her, then she knew where he was all along and that doesn't go with her actions at all. Who broke the window leading her to the first clue.

We used to play that knocking game as kids, my heart was thumping like it was back then, it's a scary-ass game to play.

I definitely liked it much more than Pan's Labyrinth.

faceman

how come...

there was footprints all the way into the cave early on in the film when simon was yapping away to his imaginary friend?

Das Kitty

faceman wrote: »

how come...

there was footprints all the way into the cave early on in the film when simon was yapping away to his imaginary friend?

See I just think Del Toro just likes to mess with you so you never know what the truth is, or he doesn't have a definitive answer. It annoys me a little, there should be one explanation that explains everything but he never does that.

faceman

I blame all ye boardsies for causing all this unnecessary over analysis!

johnny_ultimate

monkeyfudge wrote: »

Although I've lost track now of how many times I've seen someone killed by the old

stealth bus

This has come to my attention recently and it is really, really starting to annoy me,

although it is sometimes cars instead of buses

. I was watching the Six Feet Under pilot there a few days ago and there it was. No Country for Old Men also had one, along with Final Destination and its ilk. There was also some film I was watching recently that had one - some dark night with two people stopped at a corner and bang. I forget what it was, but still. No more

'shock' crashes

, please studios.

Eirebear

Das Kitty wrote: »

See I just think Del Toro just likes to mess with you so you never know what the truth is, or he doesn't have a definitive answer. It annoys me a little, there should be one explanation that explains everything but he never does that.

Thats a cop out.
Plus its not really Del Toro's film, he didnt have anything to do with the script...did he?

faceman wrote: »

I blame all ye boardsies for causing all this unnecessary over analysis!

I know, dont you just hate them?

monkeyfudge

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

This has come to my attention recently and it is really, really starting to annoy me,

although it is sometimes cars instead of buses

. I was watching the Six Feet Under pilot there a few days ago and there it was. No Country for Old Men also had one, along with Final Destination and its ilk. There was also some film I was watching recently that had one - some dark night with two people stopped at a corner and bang. I forget what it was, but still. No more

'shock' crashes

, please studios.

I think Meet Joe Black was about the earliest I can remember.... again it was a series of cars as opposed to a bus... but the principle was the same as the one we've gotten to know and grow bored of.

Eirebear

monkeyfudge wrote: »

I think Meet Joe Black was about the earliest I can remember.... again it was a series of cars as opposed to a bus... but the principle was the same as the one we've gotten to know and grow bored of.

Thats still up there on my list of funniest death scenes to be honest!

monkeyfudge

Eirebear wrote: »

Thats still up there on my list of funniest death scenes to be honest!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BzIsQW32_E

Eirebear

Giggle!

TerrorFirmer

Great film. Whilst I never held anything against them until now, I do in the aftermath of this film have issues with the modern crop of horror films....I've become so conditioned to this 'BLEUGHHH' out of nowhere nonsense that I was expecting it throughout the whole movie. It's fantastic to see a movie that relies solely on tension and a genuinely instilled sense of fear, for a change.

Anyway, great movie overall, though not as frightening as I thought it would be. Liked the ending, as has been said there's only so many directions you can take with such a limited formula but I didn't feel cheated on this one.

Snake Plisken

Good movie very open ended on the interpretation of what really happened

Simon set the trail for his mother, he kept the door propped open but when the mother opened the door to the cupboard she knocked the secret door closed thus trapping Simon, as mentioned above the door wasn't wallpapered shut, the design made it hard to see the edges. The footprints in the cave were the old woman's who's son died in the cave. Laura Overdosed on probably sleeping tablets, not Simons tablets. The big question where the ghosts real or all in Laura's head, very open ended and I suppose I'd look at the positive outcome that they did exist and Laura was re-united with Simon, rather then the depressing reality of a mother going crazy due to the lose of her son due to a freak accident, who commits suicide:(

Anyway an excellent movie I have to say and really enjoyable.

Otis Driftwood

Saw it last night and I must say I loved it.Its one of the only movies Ive seen to genuinely make me jump on more than 1 occasion and there were some real tension filled scenes.

Ya,the premise isnt exactly inventive but when its done with such style then who cares?

As for it being remade,,no surprise really.
Off topic,saw the trailer for the eye remake.

What a load of tosh.Imagine how badly its going to suck when the trailer is that crap.

:-/

sunzz

I CANT BELIEVE YOU ALL MISSED. If you think about it. they didn't take simon, he hid down there after he scared his mother, I think thomas was in fact trying to help her, she just didn't believe or wouldn't see it. The doll was left underneath the pillow the night he disSapeared, if only she took the time to play/find her son then he most likely could have been saved.

I don't see how you people are seeing inaccuracies in the plot line, it's rather simple from where im standing.

The ghosts are 100% real. How did the kid know about thomas prior to going to the cave? We also see footprints leading away inside the cave, thomas also died in the cave. Simon left a trail of shells leading to the door in order to lead thomas back to the house, then thomas befriended simon.

Simon finds thomas's secret house, downstairs. No offence but i just dont think the kid was that quick to go rooting around in a closet with a VERY hard to see door, thomas had to show him the way.

WE KNOW that the mother is using the pills in the last 2 days to be close to death as she is physically drained at even picking berries/doing some washing.
It's as a result of the pills taking effect.

The kids are all real as we hear from the medium.

PS. Loved it it didn't help i was watching it on my pc, then someone barged into my room during the medium scene, scared ****e of me

Snake Plisken

@sunzz I advise you read the interview on Ain't it cool news as it will show you that they left the

ending open to interpretation

read it here http://www.aintitcool.com/node/34414

Otacon

Wouldn't that be his (and my) interpretation then?

Snake Plisken

I'm just pointing out that you can interpret the events in two very different way's and thats the way the filmmakers wanted it to be!

L31mr0d

Snake Plisken wrote: »

@sunzz I advise you read the interview on Ain't it cool news as it will show you that they left the

ending open to interpretation

I think Thomas was

E.T.'s spanish cousin

sunzz

^^ I Lold.

senordingdong

The thing I hated about this movie was the audience.

The screen was full of 'headtheballs', most of whome left at the first sign of a foreign film but not just that, afterwards, leaving the screen, I must have heard four people turn to their dates and ask, 'so was she dead or what?'

Jack B. Badd

senordingdong wrote: »

The thing I hated about this movie was the audience.

The screen was full of 'headtheballs', most of whome left at the first sign of a foreign film but not just that, afterwards, leaving the screen, I must have heard four people turn to their dates and ask, 'so was she dead or what?'

The stupid people are everywhere :rolleyes:

Das Kitty

senordingdong wrote: »

The thing I hated about this movie was the audience.

The screen was full of 'headtheballs', most of whome left at the first sign of a foreign film but not just that, afterwards, leaving the screen, I must have heard four people turn to their dates and ask, 'so was she dead or what?'

Well this is the fault of the promoters over here. There were a good few trailers going around that had English Voice-overs and no mention that this was a foreign language movie.

I call this Sweeney Todd syndrome, none of the early trailers for this even hinted that it might be a musical. Hence lots of people walking out saying "Whats with the ****in' singin'!"

Fysh

Das Kitty wrote: »

Well this is the fault of the promoters over here. There were a good few trailers going around that had English Voice-overs and no mention that this was a foreign language movie.

To be fair, if you don't find out enough about a film before going to see it that your complaint amounts to "I didn't expect this, and I wanted to see a movie that was comfortably familiar", then that's your problem, not the film's. I don't think the film industry owes anything to the kind of audience that complains when something goes against their expectations, but will also refuse to do any research about the films they watch.

Otis Driftwood

Id wager a shiny new donkey that the people that bitched about the Orphanage were the same ones that bitched about no country for old men.

Yet put them infront of ps i love you or meet the spartans they lap it up.