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(1 - 44) of 44 OFCS Rating: 82% Fresh Page   1   4/5 "An astoundingly well-made debut - even if The Orphanage is ultimately as empty as it is haunted."   Channel 4 Film   Anton Bitel 4/5 "Bolstered by cinematic atmosphere so ripe you can practically pick it and eat it, The Orphanage is a deliriously delicious creep out."   PopMatters   Bill Gibron B "It's a ghoulish page ripped from del Toro's recognizable cinema handbook, and while highly effective at times, the film suffers from red light/green light pacing, which eventually robs this eerie picture of ultimate disturbance."   eFilmCritic.com   Brian Orndorf 3.5/5 "Will reduce a number of people in any audience to quivering jelly."   Filmcritic.com   Chris Barsanti B+ "Stylistically impeccable and organically suspenseful, "The Orphanage" is a fun horror movie with well-placed shocks that will unnerve even the least suggestible audiences."   ColeSmithey.com   Cole Smithey "At once mother and child, victim and antagonist, space and inhabitant, Laura is remarkable, but also traumatized and unnerving."   PopMatters   Cynthia Fuchs 3/4 "As an addition to the psychological thriller genre, The Orphanage is a solid, well-rehearsed entry."   rec.arts.movies.reviews   David N. Butterworth 2/4 "...ultimately undone by its egregiously deliberate pace and pervading vibe of familiarity."   Reel Film Reviews   David Nusair C "It never made me believe for a sec it was not nonsensical or had much to say that meant something."   Ozus' World Movie Reviews   Dennis Schwartz "Twisting too many specious screws too often, 'The Orphanage' is not innovative, though its atmospheric setting and the performance of Belen Rueda are impressive."   ReelTalk Movie Reviews   Donald J. Levit 3.5/4 "The Orphanage is first and foremost a weighty, at times heartbreaking, existential study of the frailty of life, the mysteries of death, and the knowledge of one's own mortality. It is also very, very scary."   TheMovieBoy.com   Dustin Putman 1.5/4 "Rips off horror classics as far back as The Innocents to as recent as The Devil's Backbone, stripping them of their vibrant emotional connotations."   Slant Magazine   Ed Gonzalez 3/5 "A pesar de las semejanzas con películas recientes del género (particularmente Los Otros), se trata de un relato eficaz, inquietante, sombrío, y finalmente triste."   Uruguay Total   Enrique Buchichio A- "As tingly and creepy a ghost story as you could wish for."   EricDSnider.com   Eric D. Snider 3.5/4 "Will definitely be a great companion piece to the likes of "The Devil's Backbone" and "Pan's Labyrinth"..."   Cinema Crazed   Felix Vasquez Jr. C+ "A tidy, if slow-moving ghost story that offers some modest chills, a couple of genuine shocks and an ending that will probably come as a letdown."   One Guy's Opinion   Frank Swietek B "The Orphanage, to its detriment, is tough to pin-down up until the very end, if at all."   Cinepinion   Henry Stewart 3/4 "An effective mixture of horror and fantasy, with the supernatural bleeding into dreams that teeter on the brink of reality."   ReelViews   James Berardinelli 3/4 "an often chilling story that never sags and ultimately supplies a surprisingly moving ending that marries life and death, past and present"   Q Network Film Desk   James Kendrick 4/4 "Saturated in anxiety and dripping with dread."   Palo Alto Weekly   Jeanne Aufmuth 7/10 "The Orphanage [is] durable and engrossing, traits that help overshadow its genre-bound features."   Window to the Movies   Jeffrey Chen 3/4 "Pleasantly spooky debut from director Juan Antonio Bayona proves that even the oldest horror movie clichés are still effective in the right hands."   Big Picture Big Sound   Joe Lozito 5/5 "The Orphanage is this year's Pan's Labyrinth. And that's the high praise indeed."   IGN Movies   Joe Utichi 8/10 "Not only is the story spooky...there are several good shocks along the way that will knock you out of your seat."   DVDTown.com   John J. Puccio "Absolutely terrifying and heartbreaking."   Planet Sick-Boy   Jon Popick "This is the worst sort of horror film, one that cloaks its shameless pulls at the heartstrings in overemphatic sound design, hyped-up visuals, and a tear-streaked lead performance by Belen Rueda."   UGO   Keith Uhlich 3.0/4.0 "Poltergeist meets The Others in a satisfying story about what you believe... You'll never watch children playing "Red Light, Green Light" the same way again."   MovieCrypt.com   Kevin A. Ranson B+ "[a] final lean towards the saccharine should have been cut with strychnine, but Bayona chooses sorrow and it works within his allegorical construct."   Reeling Reviews   Laura Clifford 3/4 "This elegant, psychologically rich ghost story compares favorably with the best of the genre, including The Haunting (1963) and, especially, The Innocents (1961)."   TV Guide's Movie Guide   Maitland McDonagh 2/3 "Hace mucho tiempo que no se veía una película española [...] tan pulcra, tanto técnicamente como en lo visual."   Off-Off-Critica   MalaBesta 3/4 "Creates some genuinely creepy moments and a sad tone of loss and remorse that elevates the tale beyond our expectations for the genre."   Mark Reviews Movies   Mark Dujsik 6/10 "The sort of edge-of-the-set supernatural thriller that is hypnotic."   rec.arts.movies.reviews   Mark R. Leeper 3.5/4 "The Orphanage gets it exactly right; it builds suspense by sending out a disquieting vibe, then letting it slowly permeate your psyche before paying it off. This is one of the best ghost story films I've ever seen."   Aisle Seat   Mike McGranaghan C "A ghost story in which character motivation is haphazard and scares as scarce as narrative logic."   Lessons of Darkness   Nick Schager 4/5 "O espanhol Juan Antonio Bayona se une ao mexicano Guillermo del Toro e ao chileno Alejandro Amenábar no grupo de cineastas latinos com talento particular para o macabro."   Cinema em Cena   Pablo Villaca 3/5 "Unfortunately for Bayona, pretty much everyone will be able to figure out how events are going to play out after the first 20 minutes."   Film Threat   Pete Vonder Haar 3/5 "Unfortunately, the script lacks the artistry necessary to marry horror and drama."   eFilmCritic.com   Rob Gonsalves B "The theme of Peter Pan wafts through the story, which stays rooted to the boundary of fantasy and reality."   Laramie Movie Scope   Robert Roten 4.5/5 "Del Toro's fingerprints are all over The Orphanage, but it's first-time feature director Bayona strikes a fantastic balance between well-earned chills and strangely heart-touching emotion."   Cinematical   Scott Weinberg "One of those rare moments wherein you actually believe your are seeing a ghost, not a Hollywood special effect."   ESplatter   Steve Biodrowski 8/10 "Suspenseful and eerie, prepare to shudder - and weep."   www.susangranger.com   Susan Granger 8/10 "Whatever narrative missteps the film makes are almost totally irrelevant compared to its actual reason for being: to scare the audience ****less."   Antagony & Ecstasy   Tim Brayton 4/4 "A spectacular entry into the horror thriller genre, The Orphanage twists and turns and gives the audience some truly scary and sorrowful moments."   Oscar Guy   Wesley Lovell "Click here to see review"   Wolf Entertainment Guide   William Wolf  (1 - 44) of 44 OFCS Rating: 82% Fresh Page   1