5/5 C.R.A.Z.Y.
  by Christopher J. Olson (Flagstaff, Arizona)
I heard good things from another person about this movie so I had to see it for myself and I am glad I did. It is not so much a scary movie more like, mentally scary. This orphan girl plays the part great and is psychopath at least. Really great twists in the movie especially about the dwarfism. The orphan girl is very cunning and human emotion means nothing to her. The only thing I did not like is when the Dad died at the end.

5/5 Movie Lover
  by OKAT
One of the best ghost stories made. The actors (especially the children) were so good. The mother's pain so realistic. Love love love this movie!!! Guillermo Del Toro is awesome!!!

4/5 Ghost Story and Mother's Love
  by Tsuyoshi (Kyoto, Japan)
Those who like such films as "The Sixth Sense" and "The Others" (or Jack Clayton's "The Innocent" and Robert Wise's "The Haunting") should not miss "The Orphanage" ("El orfanato") directed by Barcelona-born Juan Antonio Bayona. The Spanish film is a rather remarkable effort in that, like a classic ghost story, the film, which cleverly uses some of the familiar elements from horror genre, favors atmosphere over logic, and it works.

The following paragraphs contain a mild spoiler.

[STORY] Laura (Belén Rueda) comes back to the abandoned orphanage by the sea 30 years after she left the place. This is where she was raised when she was a little girl, and Laura is going to open a new orphanage here for the handicapped children with her husband and adapted son Simón. When everything is going well, however, some strange things start to happen. And finally during the party Simón disappears suddenly, as if spirited away.

Some say "The Orphanage" is a ghost story, some a supernatural thriller. Whatever the film is, it owes its success to Belén Rueda as Laura. The Spanish star literally becomes the character she plays, a tormented mother whose beloved son is long missing. Her acting is so strong and her character's sadness sometimes so painful to see that "The Orphanage" ultimately becomes an intense mother-and-son drama, even though the son is not always there.

True, most of the narrative devices in the Spanish film "The Orphanage" are not particularly new - a little boy "speaking" with his "imaginary friend" or the "secrets" of an old house have been dealt with so many times before. But there is something very unique about The Orphanage," that is, something unnerving that curiously stays in your mind long after watching the film itself. It is hard for me to describe the nature of it. Maybe it is the shocking "truths" about the orphanage and the missing case. Or maybe it is some of the film's very spooky scenes or the ending that defies our expectations. All I can say is see for yourself.

The film is co-produced by Guillermo del Toro, of "Pan's Labyrinth."

3/5 Movie of Nothing
  by Michael Kerjman (The Earth)
As any film on unexplained or horror, a story of former orphan's plan to renovate her former closed orphanage building into a family-run seaside hotel, is lacking of any practical logic and far remote from reality as everything else occurred during run of plot rather psycho-delusive than worth being created at all.

There are much worse movies of such gender and if some wasted time and money to watch, it is good for producers anyway.


3/5 Moody but light on scares
  by whitsbrain (Minneapolis, MN United States)
I've heard quite a few raves for "The Orphanage". I really liked the great set and wonderful less-is-more atmosphere presented in this film. I always appreciate the ability to tell a scary story without excessive gore. But after watching this twice, it doesn't stand up to other recent spooky treats like "The Others" or "The Sixth Sense" or even other Guillermo Del Toro related projects like "The Devil's Backbone". Perhaps I needed more involvement from Carlos (the father) or maybe a better child actor than the boy who played Simon.

The movie was certainly slow-moving but that is normally something that I have plenty of patience for. I can recommend "The Orphanage" for it's cinematography but not really on its characters or storytelling.