Movie Review - The Orphanage

My first movie review of the new year and it's a doozy. The Orphanage is a spanish language horror film presented by Guillermo del Toro who last year directed Pan's Labyrinth and this year is directing Hell Boy 2. He didn't direct this film, but almost anything with his name on it is golden in my book.

The Orphanage, or El Orfanato if you will, is a good old fashioned ghost story. Here's a quick plot outline: A woman and her husband buy an orphanage that the woman was raised in. They intend to re-open the home for several special needs children. The couple have an adopted, cute-as-a-button son who is ill. The son has several imaginary friends and these friends have a few secrets about the orphanage that they seem to be trying to relay through the boy.
Each scene is a nail biter, winding it's way through a maze of thrills and chills. The story weaves in and out of scenes, each leaving clues about what's really going on. It's a treasure hunt of sorts that National Treasure could only aspire to be.
As with any good story you'll need to be sure not to let anyone ruin what's coming up. The movie is in the same vain as The Sixth Sense (although not quite in its league) crossed with The Others and maybe the two good parts of Hide and Seek thrown in for good measure. I literally leaped out of my seat once and squirmed several others. Don't let the subtitles scare you away from a movie that will honestly scare you.

I'm trying to give more well rounded reviews this year so here is what I'm going to be doing: There are 9 things that I am going to grade each movie on, each of those will be worth up to 1o points a piece except the final category which will be worth 20 total points. Those things:

Plot (The Story): 10
Script (The Dialog): 8
Directing: 9
FX / Sound: 10
Casting: 9
Acting: 9
Pacing: 9
Conclusion: 10
Overall Entertainment: 19

TOTAL: 93
MOVIE GRADE: A


For the record here are the grade ranges:
100 - 97 = A+
96 - 93 = A
92 - 90 = A-
89 - 87 = B+
86 - 83 = B
82 - 80 = B-
You Get The Point
70's = Cs
60's = D's
59 and below is F


We'll see how this grading scale goes and see if it really reflects my feelings on the movies I see. If it doesn't, then I'll go back to a simplified scale.

OUT