Juan Antonio Bayona's The Orphanage is a scary film about a family moving into a former orphanage and being haunted by its former charges. The film is driven by Belen Rueda's Laura as a caring mother desperately seeking her child.
The film has many elements. It is a ghost story in the vein of The Changeling. It incorporates both shadows and ghosts as humans as good as any J-Horror. It also has the best scene with a psychic medium since Poltergeist.
The cast is filled with standout performances. Roger Princep is Simon, Laura's son, and is unaware that his imaginary friends are more than that. Fernando Cayo is Carlos, Laura's husband, who fights tooth and nail to come up with logical explanations for everything. Montserrat Caralla is Benigna, the spooky former worker at the orphanage who knows too many secrets. All make an ensemble cast that brings realism and fear to this story.
Bayona has a beautiful style from location to lighting that enhances the story and performance. Del Toro's influence can be seen in lighting hazy sunshine similar to The Devil's Backbone. CGI is used sparingly. The best scares are truly bump in the nights. The isolated house on a seaside cliff surrounded by trees and a beach is foreboding. The one fault is some more editing was needed near the end.
The Orphanage is a horror film from the old school. It is spooky and scary and makes you look at every corner to see if there is something there. Perfection is hard to find in horror. This is practically it.