The Orphanage

When was the last time you were really, truly scared? I'm talking about that sensation when you don't just get a slight tingle in the back of your neck, but you can actually feel your muscles tense up. As someone who has seen thousands of movies, it's amazing that it can still happen to me, but I haven't been as truly terrified as I was during Juan Antonio Bayona's brilliant The Orphanage in almost a decade. But The Orphanage is a lot more than just an effective ghost story. It's a brilliant character study about loss and destiny that combines so many of the best parts of other stories that you'll almost feel like you've entered a dream state when you watch it. With elements of The Shining, Peter Pan, and even some of the best of Steven Spielberg's work, The Orphanage is a masterly crafted ghost story that might not even feature any ghosts. It's the kind of mind trick that recognizes that the most truly dangerous thing in the world isn't external, it's the fear that we create from deep within ourselves. As much as Pan's Labyrinth was a masterpiece of fantasy last year, the Guillermo Del Toro-produced The Orphanage is a masterpiece of horror.

The Best Films of 2007 by Brian Tallerico

Film Movement - Award Winning Movie Club