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The Orphanage Details

2007 Certificate 15
  • 70
  • from 39,837 members

A haunting and heartbreaking plot full of unimaginable scares and creeping, undefined dread; Juan Antonio Bayona's astounding debut The Orphanage stands as one of the most beautiful and moving horror movies in recent history. Adopting seven-year-old, sweet natured, and imaginative Simon (Roger Princep) has awoken complex .. Read more

Starring Belen Rueda, Fernando Cayo, Roger Princep, Mabel Rivera
Director Juan Antonio Bayona
Genres Horror, World Cinema

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The Orphanage

A haunting and heartbreaking plot full of unimaginable scares and creeping, undefined dread; Juan Antonio Bayona's astounding debut The Orphanage stands as one of the most beautiful and moving horror movies in recent history.

Adopting seven-year-old, sweet natured, and imaginative Simon (Roger Princep) has awoken complex feelings in happily married Laura (Belen Rueda). Having been adopted herself and feeling a need for closure, Laura persuades her husband Carlos (Fernando Cayo) to buy the dilapidated institute where she spent the earliest, happiest, years of her life and reopen the orphanage as a facility for disabled children. As they move in to the silent, stately manor where something ominous haunts the darkened hallways, Simon's behaviour becomes increasingly reserved and malevolent. Carlos pins Simon's actions as a desperate bid to get more attention from his distracted parents but Laura isn't convinced and embarks on a desperate quest to unearth the terrible secret that lurks in the old house.

Starring Belen Rueda, Fernando Cayo, Roger Princep, Mabel Rivera, Montserrat Carulla, Edgar Vivar
Director Juan Antonio Bayona
Studio OPTIMUM HOME ENTERTAINMENT
Run time DVD: 1 hr 50 mins
Blu-ray: 1 hr 50 mins
Certificate Certificate 15
Collections 100 Hot Hits
Genres Horror, World Cinema
Language DVD: Spanish
Blu-ray: Spanish
Released DVD: 21 Jul 2008
Blu-ray: 21 Jul 2008
Production year: 2007
  • Critics' reviews of The Orphanage

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  • 5 stars out of

    An extraordinary performance by Belén Rueda (The Sea Inside) is the beating heart and tortured soul of The... read more on Time Out

    • Nigel Floyd, 
    • Time Out
  • Most helpful member's review of The Orphanage

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  • 226 out of 238 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 5 stars

    amazing

    *****

    5 stars

    *****

    this film was amazing, i went to see it with some friends and i was overall extremely satisfied, its one of... more

  • Most recent members' review of The Orphanage

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  • 1 out of 1 person found this review helpful

    Rated - 4 stars

    Fantastic

    It makes me sad when peolple can't be bothered to watch films with subtitles; is it because they assume the film will be no good or can they just not read... more

      • Jimbot from Ashford
  • News and features

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    The Orphanage

    The Orphanage

    • 14 Mar 2008

    Some things never change, like the scary properties of an old dark house and things that go bump in the night. American horror seems transfixed by graphic sadism right now, but the acclaimed Spanish chiller "El Orfanato" harks back to an older tradition of psychological scares epitomized by classics like The Innocents, The Haunting, and Cat People. First-time director Juan Antonio Bayona and screenwriter Sergio G Sanchez make it as a point of honor to take classic horror movie talismans - dark Read more

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Rating breakdown

39,837 Member ratings
  • 100
4,992
  • 90
3,647
  • 80
10,946
  • 70
7,236
  • 60
5,635
  • 50
2,357
  • 40
1,916
  • 30
747
  • 20
1,390
  • 10
971

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    • The Orphanage
    • Blu-Ray: £9.93
      Free Delivery
    • RRP £24.49 (you save: 59%)
    • A woman brings her family back to her childhood home, where she opens an orphanage for handicapped children. Before long, her son starts to communicate with an invisible new friend....

    • The Orphanage
    • DVD: £7.93
      Free Delivery
    • RRP £19.79 (you save: 60%)
    • A haunting and heartbreaking plot full of unimaginable scares and creeping, undefined dread; Juan Antonio Bayona's astounding debut The Orphanage stands as one of the most beautiful and moving horror ...