El Orfanato

I watch a lot of films. A ridiculous amount. Several days a week I overrun the video rental store, and the DVD row of the local library - and every now and then, I hesitantly go searching the internet for a potentially low-quality upload. I know that there is a world of difference between sitting in a cinema, with a massive screen and surround sound and lounging around in my living room, with a tiny version of the film playing, competing with msn, or any website I might be surfing at the time.

There is something to be said, however, of films that are so good that they can shine through, even on the internet. Juan Antonio Bayona's, 'El Orfanato' (The Orphanage) is one of these films. Produced by Guillermo Del Toro, whose unmistakable aesthetic is very present in the film's photography, this was an incredibly compelling and chilling story about a woman who moves her family back into the orphanage she grew up in.

This intelligent, disturbing and visually stunning movie will stay with you for days after you've watched it. While it doesn't use extensive gore or CGI to create scares, it's unnervingly realistic, and utterly heartbreakingly, which can't often be said about the horror genre.

To watch it, here's a surprisingly good quality youtube video. I would definitely recommend renting this one, though. El Orfanato