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Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2007 12:11 am
by streetrw
I haven't put reviews and stuff onto the individual threads, as I don't want to repeat myself from the blogs. However, as the blogs are coming down in a few days I'll add to the forum fires in the next few days. For now, suffice to say that The Orphanage was phenomenal: easily the best film of the festival, and probably the best film the Fest have ever run. Wonderful film-making.

Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2007 12:45 am
by AndyJWS
Just astounding cinema, and a brilliant audience to watch it (especially once brought in line by Lupogirl! :lol:) Deserves to be seen widely, at least twice and will make a fantastic double-bill with The Devil's Backbone, truly a most fitting way to end a superb festival!

Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2007 2:25 pm
by Laymonite
I've only been posting comments on the films I liked this year, but I'll make an exception with this one as it seems everyone liked it. Well I didn't. It was boring, didn't make good use of the great setting, only had one scare that worked on me (the cupboard door being closed quickly, though I suppose Thomas looked creepy in his mask), and I didn't care about the characters. And I just generally don't really like ghostie films, though there are exceptions.

Pan's Labyrinth it certainly was not.

Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2007 7:09 pm
by scrobble
I loved, loved, loved this film. The setting was perfect, the acting great, the story engaging and ultimately very sad, rather than creepy.

The true horror of the story is when you realise after she goes down to the cellar that all the banging was nothing supernatural - just her son banging to be let out after she inadvertently traps him in the cellar.

Although the part where she first sees Tomas in his sackcloth mask, with his head twitching and making that weird clicking noise is also incredibly creepy.

I couldn't sleep for ages after watching it, because every time I closed my eyes, images from it popped into my head, particularly how Simon looks when his mother finds him and realises he is dead.

Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2007 8:34 pm
by jonbly
There were a couple of things about this one that bug jonbly.

Six months later? The mind boggles. By day two you'd be ripping that house and outbuilding apart...

The husband... your wife is showing definite signs of going crazy, and you let her spend two days alone in a house she believes is haunted?


Eh, but it didn't really matter. This film pulled off a powerful trick - it rose above the limitations of the haunted house clichés and really connected with its audience.

It moved people.

9.5/10

Posted: Fri Aug 31, 2007 11:18 am
by HeadOnAStick
Wonderful film. Spooky and tense in places with an ending that was both horrifying and warm at the same time. Even though I'm male my eyes became moist at the end.

Along with Spiral this was my favourite of the festival.

Posted: Fri Aug 31, 2007 11:12 pm
by imajica
There is nothing I can add to this thread but I can't let it go without saying how much I loved this film. Far and away my favourite of the festival, which I'd expected it to be based on the reactions from those that had already seen it.

Rawshark, shame on you :P

Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2007 12:06 am
by streetrw
My favourite as well. It's quite moving in places, particularly the ending; the shock moments are magnificently timed, the performances are all fine, and even little things like that sack mask are just plain scary. The script is great as well.

This isn't just the best of this year's Fest, but one of the best they've ever shown. I think it's actually even better than Pan's Labyrinth. Indeed, it may well be one of the best films of the last ten years, full stop.

Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2007 11:05 am
by The Soapmaker
After a FrightFest which had felt a little "average" - nothing truly appalling, but nothing overwhelmingly brilliant either - I was really hoping the boys had saved the best till last. And The Orphanage didn't disappoint.

There were some plot elements reminiscent of other films (Saint Ange and The Dark sprang to mind), but they were used much better here. It was the only film of the weekend, apart from Cold Prey, to really build tension and time the shock moments effectively. And it was fantastic to see scenes which were still scary, even when you knew exactly what was going to happen (the children advancing across the room as Laura tapped on the wall).

Great stuff, can't wait for the DVD.

Posted: Sat Sep 08, 2007 6:16 pm
by ghouldrool
New Line have optioned this for an english language remake!

Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2007 3:43 pm
by scrobble
ghouldrool wrote:New Line have optioned this for an english language remake!
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

:roll:

Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2007 5:31 pm
by imajica
Oh for f**** sake.

I've just caught up on the entire Halloween remake thread and to follow that with this just made me want to smash my laptop.

Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2007 7:25 pm
by AdeBrown
Is Rob Zombie directing the remake ?

As much as I don't see the point of these "American Language" remakes, there have been some better ones of late, and Hollywood is completely devoid of original ideas, so at least this way they can get something worthwhile out.

(And we can keep the original).

Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2007 8:56 pm
by STun
Is the Orphanage being released anytime soon?

Missed it at the festival and am still uber-gutted from the rave reviews I've been reading about....

Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2008 3:00 am
by ghouldrool
march 21st release for this.

late april R1 dvd release