NYFF. The Orphanage.

"It's a horror movie for the Merchant Ivory set: tasteful, restrained and technically excellent," writes Grady Hendrix at Twitch. "The Orphanage [site] is a movie made by and for grown-ups and it's so good, so rich, and so accomplished that it makes growing up look cool."

"There may not be Spanish Fascists or political allegories in The Orphanage, but as a sophisticated horror movie, the film succeeds beautifully," writes Jürgen Fauth, referring, of course, to the fact that the film is "produced and 'presented' by Guillermo Del Toro."

Updated through 10/15.

For Tom Hall, it "provides cheap thrills and breaks no new ground while going bump in the night.... It is, however, one of the most grim portrayals of maternal anxiety at the festival."

"Sad to report, it's well-executed schlock with delusions of grandeur," writes Vadim Rizov for the Reeler. "I haven't been this scared in a theater in recent memory, but file it alongside similarly retarded but effective works like The Ring and The Others."

"At a time when most entries in the horror genre strive to find the most gruesome, gratuitous ways to violate flesh, The Orphanage returns to the triptych of shame, psychoanalysis, and suspense so effective in horror classics like Psycho and Carrie," writes Emily Condon at Reverse Shot.

Earlier: Reviews from Cannes and Toronto.

Update, 10/15: The Orphanage has seen "the second-best opening ever" in Spain, reports John Hopewell for Variety.

Posted by dwhudson at October 14, 2007 1:04 PM