THE ORPHANAGE (2007 – MYSTERY / THRILLER / DRAMA / HORROR) ****1/2 out of *****
(Should’ve stayed in Madrid, sweetie…)
CAST: Belen Rueda, Fernando Cayo, Roger Princep, Montserrat Carrulo, Mabel Rivera, Geraldine Chaplin.
DIRECTOR: Juan Antonio Bayona
WARNING: Some SPOILERS and some damn good reasons to stay the fuck out of old creepy houses deep in the Spanish countryside – straight ahead…
IT’S LIKE THIS: You know that saying “You can never really go home again”? Well, it’s never more true than in horror movies. Look what happened to Christine Morgan (Sally Field) in the 1972 proto-slasher flick HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS (not the goofy comedy of the same title by Jodie Foster from the early 90’s, although it’s pretty fucking scary in its own way, too). Chris and her sisters went back to their ancestral abode to spend time with their dying Pops (Walter Brennan) around the Christmas tree, only to end up being knocked off, one-by-one, by a killer in a hooded raincoat. Merry Christmas, my ass.
Or look at what happened to Elizabeth Solley (Maggie Grace) in that piss-poor remake of THE FOG from 2005 (review # ). She left glamorous, dazzling New York City to return home to damp, soggy Antonio Island, Oregon to figure why the fuck she was having recurring dreams of sailors with their faces peeling off, only to wind up being dragged away by their ghosts at the end. Was the trip really worth it, sweetie? Was New York so boring that you had to go looking for trouble in the rainy Northwest? You got what you asked for, bitch.
Then there was Chris Higgins (Dana Kimmell) from FRIDAY THE 13th PART 3, who rounded up her friends and whisked them away to her childhood country home, ostensibly for a weekend of drinking, partying, and no-strings-attached fucking. Turns out, though, that Chris was attacked by one Mr. Jason Voorhees (he of the Hockey Mask fame) at the house when she was younger, and she is now using the trip as a way to – ahem – “exorcise her demons and move on.” Right. Try explaining that to your friends, Chris, since they’re about to be sliced and diced like a bunch of veggies in a Cuisinart by Bad Boy Jason just because you have some “issues.” Couldn’t you have “exorcised your demons and move on” by – oh, I don’t know – going to Maui and fucking a divemaster / lifeguard like I did? Did you really have to go back to the place where you were attacked? Girl, we need to talk. I can give you some pointers. If you survive this time, that is…
And now we have the lovely, lovely heroine of our next review, the fabulous Spanish horror flick THE ORPHANAGE. She is the, um, lovely, lovely Laura (Belen Rueda). Like the “homecoming heroines” of the movies we just discussed, Laura is returning to the house she grew up on the isolated (really isolated – I’ve been there) Northern coast of Spain. Unlike those other ladies, though, Laura’s home isn’t your average home. It was actually an orphanage. A-fucking-hem. Yup, seems Laura was raised in the orphanage, and was adopted at the age of 10. She then moved to the city of Madrid, and now that she is all grown up, she has bought the orphanage (which closed down years ago) and plans to re-open it as a home for “special needs” children. Bad idea. Very, very bad idea. I shall explain why shortly.
Accompanying Laura is her faithful and sort-of-cute hubby Carlos (Fernando Cayo), who is a doctor. They also have their adopted son, Simon (Roger Princep). Simon, like Laura, is also an orphan. Unfortunately, he was also an HIV baby, and requires special medical attention every day. Are you starting to see why Laura decided to come back and re-open the orphanage? Yup, our lovely, lovely lady wants to do right by helping others just like her adopted son. Too bad she picked the wrong house to do it in. As they say, the road to hell is paved by… well, you know the rest. Sure enough, not long after arriving, strange things start to happen: Simon starts talking to an invisible friend, Laura begins hearing footsteps in empty corridors, and the whole house starts looking like something out of a really fucked-up Scooby Doo episode. It doesn’t help that Laura gets a surprise visit from a creepy (really creepy) chick named Benigna Escobedo (Montserrat Carrulo), who claims to be a social worker checking on Simon’s condition – but actually seems a lot more like Morticia Addams’ shorter, homelier sister. It doesn’t come as a surprise that Laura pretty much throws the spooky bitch out on her shriveled ass. Of course, that doesn’t stop Benigna from coming back that night and ransacking the storage shed behind the orphanage – prompting Laura to toss her out yet one more time. Benigna sure is persistent for someone who looks at least a hundred years older than dirt, eh? What is she after?
Then, on the grand re-opening day of the orphanage, Simon disappears. The assumption is that Benigna kidnapped him. But if so, why didn’t anyone at the opening party see anything? And what role does the nearby seaside cave that Simon used to visit all the time have in his disappearance? For that matter, what role does Benigna have in the whole mystery? Is it more – or less – than what it appears to be? And what happened in the orphanage years ago after Laura was adopted and left? What happened to the other orphans who stayed behind? Why did they just disappear all of a sudden? What will Laura find out when she digs into the dark history of the orphanage? Will she find a vital clue to Simon’s disappearance? Or will she uncover another sinister mystery? Is everything connected?
Like I said: A-fucking-Hem, people…
BUT, SERIOUSLY: I hesitate to use the term “horror film” to characterize THE ORPHANAGE because it seems to be too simple and cheap a label. THE ORPHANAGE, quite simply, is a deeply intelligent, moving, layered, and beautifully realized supernatural mystery/thriller with strong dramatic overtones. It even manages to weave some child-like Peter Pan-flavored themes into its striking tapestry. If the heartbreaking finale doesn’t jerk some tears out of you, you may not be capable of feeling anything. In past reviews, I’ve stated that THE FOG 1980 is my favorite horror film. Tying for second are INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS 1978, THE STEPFORD WIVES 1972, and THE ORPHANAGE. All four films share one striking characteristic: the ability to transcend a potentially tired horror premise to make a larger statement about humanity in general.
THE FOG 1980 took the theme of vengeance and atonement and gave it a hauntingly poetic and graceful tone. INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS 1978 and THE STEPFORD WIVES 1972 took the themes of alien invasion and sinister conspiracy and rooted in a rising fear of losing our humanity and individuality. Finally, THE ORPHANAGE takes the standard “haunted house” formulas and gives it a devastating emotional resonance that makes it the best haunted house flick we’ve ever seen – even better than THE CHANGELING.
As with any good film – horror or otherwise – THE ORPHANAGE has a very strong script. Director Juan Antonio Bayuda takes his time in delineating the personalities and idiosyncrasies of his main players. He doesn’t make the mistake of telegraphing plot points or revealing his cards too soon, instead preferring to dole information out in a masterfully graceful and hypnotic way. By the time we get the full story on Laura, Carlos, and Simon’s past, as well as the secrets of the orphanage, we are emotionally invested in them as a family – and in the movie’s darkly compelling plot.
Just as Adrienne Barbeau held THE FOG 1980 together with her riveting portrayal of a ballsy but vulnerable radio deejay who is the first to become aware of the growing threat just off the coast of her town, so too does Belen Rueda carry THE ORPHANAGE on her shoulders with her performance as Laura, a woman whose well-intentioned act of re-opening the orphanage leads to some very nasty secrets from the past coming to light. Rueda has a very nice way of being extremely expressive, speaking volumes with a hidden look, a small smile, and even just a casual turn of the head. This is one talented woman, and she holds the screen and our attention effortlessly. Laura is never less than believable in her hands, because everything she does is rooted in the primal instinct of a mother fighting to find and protect her son – and anyone with children in their lives will empathize greatly with her plight. Rueda’s portrayal is award-caliber, and Laura is one of the best heroines in the Horror Genre.
Rueda is aided by a strong supporting cast. Fernando Cayo portrays Carlos with careful modulations of reason, caution, and growing anxiety as he and Laura realize that the reasons behind Simon’s disappearance may not be of this world. Mabel Rivera portrays Pilar, the police psychologist who is deeply skeptical of the “ghost-hunters” that Carlos and Laura call in to try to help find Simon. Screen legend Geraldine Chaplin makes a vivid cameo as the leader of the investigative team who dig into the orphanage’s past. The sequence wherein she conducts a séance in the house now rivals a similar sequence in THE CHANGELING as one of the most terrifying scenes in Horror Movie history. Then there’s Montserrat Carrulo as the mysterious Benigna, who knows more about the orphanage’s past – and Simon’s disappearance – than she is telling. Benigna is the closest thing THE ORPHANAGE has to a villain, and Carrulo makes her a deeply unsettling one.
The film’s emotional center, however, is Simon. His disappearance is at the heart of THE ORPHANAGE – and Laura’s increasingly desperate and frantic efforts to find him are the motor that powers this movie. As such, Simon needed to be played by the right child actor. The problem with some young performers, ironically, is their inability to play believable children onscreen. Too often, they come across as too precocious to the point of being artificial. Roger Princep, however, delivers a performance that both looks and feels real – in short, he registers a full-blooded kid. In Princep’s hands, Simon is an authentic mix of willful feistiness and appropriate immaturity. He matches Rueda’s intensely emotional performance as Laura – just as he should.
Ultimately, THE ORPHANAGE manages to be more than just a horror movie – it also becomes as deeply moving character study of the great lengths a mother will go to save her son. And it has one of the most beautifully bittersweet endings of any film out there today. And how many horror films have you seen that made you tear up at the end with its emotional power? Not many, I’m sure…
