The Orphanage (El Orfanato): with Spanish Subtitles

The Orphanage, a diverting, overwrought ghost story from Spain, relies on basic and durable horror movie techniques. Full Review

An unexpectedly poignant ghost story. Full Review

In a season filled with dark-themed films, it stands out as an elegantly mounted, surprisingly humane but terrifying horror thriller well worth seeing. Full Review

Lures us in with extraordinary subtlety. Keeping sound effects and incidental music to a relative minimum, it builds its suspense almost subliminally. So when something scary or shocking does occur -- deprived of those Hollywood-style cues -- we are truly startled. Full Review

For those who enjoy ghost stories and are willing to be patient with a movie that gradually unveils its secrets rather than uncovering them all in an orgy of violence and terror, The Orphanage fills a need. The spell it casts early does not evaporate until the epilogue is finished. Full Review