Some scenes flirt with brilliance. I particularly enjoy the reemergence of a childhood game, a Spanish version of "Red Light, Green Light" that offers the film's most terrifying sequence. "Uno, dos, tres, toca la pared," challenges Laura, knocking on the wall and turning to see what sort of response she gets from the friends of her youth. Watch how the scene is filmed. In a wonderful example of the use of off-screen space (always an important skill for a horror filmmaker), the camera holds on Laura while she knocks. As she turns, so does the camera, revealing fellow gamers at the same time as she sees them. The camera then turns back to the wall with Laura as she knocks again. Again, she turns with the camera and what we see changes. The movement continues several times more until something rewardingly scary occurs. The scene brought the normally inactive hairs on the back of my neck to new heights.

Unlike this winning moment, there are some instances where I felt the direction was a bit weak. The scene when Laura goes manically in search of her lost son is poorly covered and we fail to get a true sense of screen space. Where is she running and why does she go to the beach? Is she following her son? Why is her son running there? Does she think he will be there? Then we see a quick shot of the boy in the cave in the distance and the obligatory second look that shows him missing. The moment is important. It is the first major plot point of the story, yet it left me frustratingly out of step with what was going on. When other important revelations are made in the story, the confusion only continues.

For all this muddled decision-making, there is something very clear about The Orphanage and that is that the location scouting is a stroke of genius. The setting for the movie is absolutely stunning. The mansion is perfect for a ghost story. The cave is artfully constructed. Long shots of characters on the beach or walking down a dirt path from the mansion to the lighthouse are a visual wonder. If only the film's content could back up its winning form. The film is worth taking a look at, especially in comparison to what Hollywood has offered us in the past few years of horror.

The Orphanage is loaded with extras that provide wonderful incite into all aspects of making the film. A documentary about the making of the film allows the writer to describe the film as the tale of Peter Pan from the mother’s perspective, which gives the story in interesting context not immediately taken from the film itself. Like most of the material here, it challenges you to take a look at the film again with a new point of view. The special features also ...