The Orphanage
Picturehouse Entertainment | Release Date: December 28, 2007 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
74
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews
Positive:
29
Mixed:
4
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
Delivers more goose bumps than anything Hollywood has served up in years – which I hope does not mean that Bayona, a first-time feature director and music video whiz, will be enlisted to direct "Saw V." Read full review
91
Portland OregonianMarc Mohan
Reaches truly terrifying heights as it becomes clear how possible the worst outcome can be. Like "Pan's Labyrinth," this is a movie about children made very much for adults. Read full review
90
NewsweekDavid Ansen
A great horror movie is like a good shrink--and a lot cheaper, too. It purges us through petrification. That horror movie, thankfully, has arrived. It's called The Orphanage," and it is seriously scary. Read full review
90
VarietyJustin Chang
A fastidiously grim ghost story that rattles the bones of the haunted-house genre and finds plenty of fresh (but not too bloody) meat. Read full review
90
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Lures us in with extraordinary subtlety. Keeping sound effects and incidental music to a relative minimum, it builds its suspense almost subliminally. So when something scary or shocking does occur -- deprived of those Hollywood-style cues -- we are truly startled. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Deliberately aimed at viewers with developed attention spans. It lingers to create atmosphere, a sense of place, a sympathy with the characters, instead of rushing into cheap thrills. Read full review
88
New York PostLou Lumenick
The acting is uniformly superb, the camera work and set design are haunting, and The Orphanage delivers well-earned tears at its beautiful conclusion. Go see it already. Read full review
88
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
By the end, you'll be chilled and disturbed by what you've seen -- and, rare as this is in a horror movie, touched to the heart. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubNoel Murray
While some of the trappings and even some of the plot elements could easily be called unoriginal, Bayona and screenwriter Sergio G. Sánchez arrange them in a fresh way, crafting an emotionally resonant, nerve-jangling experience. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Despite a few bloodcurdling shocks, this handsome Spanish ghost story from producer Guillermo del Toro follows in the suggestive, richly romantic tradition of the old Val Lewton chillers. Read full review
80
The New YorkerAnthony Lane
You exit the cinema in a fever of melancholia, wondering how long it will take you to shed the sensation of alarm. The film is less of a shocker than an adventure in anxiety, testing and twisting some of the classic studies in infantile curiosity. Read full review
80
EmpireOlly Richards
A good old-fashioned horror in the best possible way, this is a beautifully told, terrifying ghost story that lingers with you long after the shivers have stopped. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
As in “Pan’s Labyrinth,” The Orphanage relies on a risky blend of clinically realistic horrors and poetic suggestions of an alternate world, one that can be visited, but at a price. Read full review
75
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
The filmmakers know the tropes of spooky movies: Glowering shadows, squeaking playground equipment, eerie storms and half-glimpsed forms, but the film rests on Rueda's subtle, intense performance, rooted in every half-articulated anxiety that ever gnawed at a parent's brain. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Though the movie has a handful of shots that are downright gross to witness, what makes The Orphanage scary is not what it threatens to show but what it suggests about life. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
You're either in the mood to go along with the puzzle pieces or you're not. I'm not usually a puzzle-piece fan myself, not when it's clear that the filmmaker rigs the moves. But I couldn't help but fall for the repurposed real estate, and cheer for the lady strong enough to break through walls when she senses a child is waiting. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
For those who enjoy ghost stories and are willing to be patient with a movie that gradually unveils its secrets rather than uncovering them all in an orgy of violence and terror, The Orphanage fills a need. The spell it casts early does not evaporate until the epilogue is finished. Read full review
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerBill White
In a genre that has been battered by the cheap grotesqueries of special effects, it is a pleasure to be unsettled by something as simple as an invasive beam of light in the shadows of a haunted house. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia Puig
In a season filled with dark-themed films, it stands out as an elegantly mounted, surprisingly humane but terrifying horror thriller well worth seeing. Read full review
75
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
As Laura, Rueda hits sublime notes of confusion, grief and wrath. She's sympathetic enough to make you root for her and complex enough to get you arguing afterward about whether Laura did anything to deserve all this. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy Burr
The Orphanage gets by on mood and a mournfulness that's not easily soothed. Sadness and loss, it says, are the threads connecting the spirit world and our own, and women, who bring life into the world, understand that far better than men ever will. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
What distinguishes The Orphanage are some spare but fiendishly well-placed shocks that give the film an extra sense of danger: You can't take comfort with this one assuming you know what lurks around each corner, because you don't. Trust me. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Bayona's moves are deft, the atmosphere oozes with anxiety and grief, but the big payoff - like the big payoff in The Sixth Sense, another film The Orphanage has more than a bit in common with - never comes. Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyMark Olsen
There’s not really a bogeyman in The Orphanage and not much blood; just insane intensity and a building sense of bad vibes. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesCarina Chocano
An unexpectedly poignant ghost story. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterRichard James Havis
This Spanish supernatural thriller begins interestingly and finishes intriguingly. But what lies between drags because the film lacks a driving story line. Read full review
70
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
The Orphanage, a diverting, overwrought ghost story from Spain, relies on basic and durable horror movie techniques. Read full review
70
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
The Orphanage is a careful, elegant work that looks a little rough around the edges; it was shot largely with natural light and employs minimal special effects. Read full review
63
PremiereAaron Hillis
The Orphanage's joys come from the experiential: Bayona's cultured technical skills, including some phenomenal sound design, and sustained anxiety. It's about as healthy as junk food gets. Read full review
60
Film ThreatPete Vonder Haar
It's worth a look, even taking into consideration the lack of zombies. Read full review
60
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
You may see The Orphanage for what it is, an enjoyable contraption, without believing a bit of it. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
A combination ghost and shaggy dog story that is so well-made and acted you can nearly overlook its murky, unsatisfying ending. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Ultimately the composition comes off as both overplayed and underdone. Read full review
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