Subtitles

Last year sometime, I saw Pan's Labyrinth. I thought it was a great movie - though not at all what I originally expected. The previews made it seem as though it was on the same page as movies such as Narnia, when really it was a thriller / gruesome story about a little girl who created a fantasy world to deal with the harsh reality she was living in. It was written and directed by Guillermo del Toro, in Spanish with subtitles. It was intriguing, scary, a little gory and overall rentworthy. 

So, on blockbuster.com, I found another movie del Toro worked on - The Orphanage. It had a similar feel to Pan's Labyrinth in that it was a thriller / scary movie and had a pretty dark story line. (And, also in Spanish with subtitles.) Basically, The Orphanage starts with a little girl named Laura who lives at an orphanage and is being adopted. Cut to 30 years later, and she has her own son and husband. She has just bought the house the orphanage was in 30 years ago and plans to open her own home for children. Her son, who is also adopted and suffers from an illness, has imaginary friends that are a bit too real to him. Laura struggles with her rational/mother mode and support of her son when she plays along with his 'imagination'. Tragedy strikes the family, and the rest of the movie takes you through their ordeal. It was not at all predictable - which is refreshing since so many movies can be figured out before they are over. If you can stand a few jumpy scenes and creepy masks - I would recommend renting this. Just a heads up - I watched it during the day and was creeped out by the masks!