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Sustained suspense makes Spanish film The Orphanage a must see, writes Ervell E. Menezes TALK about real scary films they are almost out of circulation today. The stuff on offer these days are more funny than weird or creepy or you are subjected to all kinds of monsters and villains, all FX-generated. Of course in the 1970s we had The Exorcist and The Omen, which were in a league of their own and later Friday the 13th but these can be counted on the fingers of one hand.
The Spanish film The Orphanage, however, is a rare exception. An old mansion is the scary location, shades of Psycho. Laura (Belen Reuda), who has spent her childhood in this orphanage returns to it after 30 years with her husband Carlos (Fernando Cayo) and son Simon (Roger Princep). It has been her dream of restoring and reopening this long-abandoned orphanage as a home for disabled children. So she sets about it. But the precocious son Simon is deep into his own imagination. He has "hidden friends" he says and he goes on discovering the hidden recesses of this huge mansion, cellars et al. Soon he is a step ahead of his mother who begins to have doubts of the authenticity of his games. But his dad puts it down to an overactive imagination. The surrounding areas too give great promise of adventure. There are caves and a lighthouse and some lonely spots that Laura is in a habit of taking Simon for walks. The opening day of the school for disabled (some spastics add to the horror) children is beset with drama. Simon is confronted with a figure that makes him vanish much to the horror of his mother. That a game of masks is being played adds to the tension. A few days before this a nosy old woman Benigna (Monserrat Carulla) visits the house and wants to know particulars of Simon’s past much to the chagrin of Laura who drives her away. But she returns one night to further taunt the family. Who is she? The disappearance of Simon imbues the story with psychological overtones. Psychoanalyst Carl Jung is mentioned and Aurora (Geraldine Chaplin) is a psychiatrist called in to investigate. Meanwhile, Laura is in a state of torment. When asked to leave the place for a while she refuses to do so and stays on alone to pursue Simon’s path. Director Guilermo del Torro’s establishing shots are powerful. Gradually he spreads his net to the subsidiary characters. Aided by an imaginative script by Sergio Sanchez, horror is used judiciously, not staccato like and expectation runs high. Most of the action takes place at night and light plays a major role. Here cinematographer Oscar Farera virtually goes to town with the images. Shades of the 1961 film The Innocents in which Deborah Kerr played the spinster governess whose charges are possessed by demons, the element of supernatural is always palpable. It is sustained suspense with flashes of horror. How will it end, is the question uppermost in the viewer’s mind and he is not let down with a dramatic twist that clinically ties up all the lose ends, a composite story that is both frightening and moving. Belen Rueda is very convincing as the terrorised mother and young Roger Princep gives evidence of his talent but Fernando Cayo has precious little to do apart from comforting his wife. Geraldine Chaplin is purely academic in this gripping, horror drama. Not to be missed.
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