For this ‘Ten Years On’ post we take a look back at “The Orphanage”.
I like to credit this film with introducing younger audiences to foreign cinema and we’re all grateful for it.
When this film came out my patience was being tested by the Horror genre, there was an onslaught of abundantly bad films being released and it seemed to fans that no one really cared anymore and originality was absolutely nowhere to be seen bar a few releases.
It was around this time I decided to widen my horizon once again to foreign Horror and I discovered a few gems along the way but this film really stood out, it had everything I was looking for in a film at the time and I could not have been any happier.

The film really does have everything, it has such a great and creepy atmosphere, such a greatly written story, amazingly directed and acted, all of this mixed together just makes for amazing and entertaining viewing. Throw in the usual twists and you’ve got a hit.
This was one of the first foreign features in a very long time that crossed into mainstream film, it put a huge spotlight on Spanish Horror. Not a bad feat for feature film debuts by Director J.A. Bayona and writer Sergio G. Sánchez and they deserved every accolade they got.