Sack Mask Kid

Finally got round to seeing the Orphanage last night following it's release on DVD (having children it's difficult to get to see films at the cinema).  Billed as a horror/thriller it does indeed cause the hairs on the back of your neck to stand up and your spine chilled by some invisible force.  This is far removed from the Eli Roth new wave horror currently saturating the horror market and more akin to 'The Others' and 'The Sixth Sense' although I felt this was superior to both of those.

This is one of those 'gets under your skin' type horrors: not so much blood and gore but psychological terror running most of the way through the film.

A decent horror for me is when it's finished and your senses are heightened by what you've just seen, therefore you don't want to hang around in the dark room downstairs you just want to climb inside the sack and dream of 'nice things' like fairy cakes, posh salad and, erm, the chuckle brothers.

Directed by first timer Juan Antonio Bayona, this is an intelligent stab at the scare movie genre.  It's no surprise that Guillermo del Toro was involved in this movie (Executive producing) as the style is similar to his Pans Labyrinthine film.  The Japanese have made great strides in horror cinema of late but the Spanish are coming up with gems like this (and the aforementioned Pans...).  

Without giving too much of the plot away, the film revolves round an old Orphanage revisited (after the opening scenes) a few decades later when one of the children returns as a grown women to live there (and take in disadvantaged children).  Shortly afterwards her own child (who 'plays' with imaginary/dead children) goes missing, whilst the mother is being terrorised by a child wearing  frankly disturbing mask wear.

It's a good enough film to stay with you long after it has finished: part of the reason for me was a  parent I now tend to pick up on the relationship aspects more than I used to (I felt a similar, sickly unease with the Japanese film 'Dark Water').  Best watched in an old Victorian school/orphanage/hospital for maximum effect.

Certainly recommended but I'll also be keeping an eye out for future films from  Juan Antonio Bayona and of course  Guillermo del Toro (soon to be working on the two Hobbit films).