Search
Search results
JT (287 KP) rated The Orphanage (2007) in Movies
Mar 10, 2020
This is an eerie and creepy Spanish horror/thriller and was an outstanding achievement for foreign film. Executive produced by Guillermo del Toro the film centres around a young woman returning to her childhood home to open an Orphanage for disabled children.
The couples young son Simon is able to run freely around the old gothic house and play to his heart’s content, but when he begins playing with an imaginary friend things start to take a sinister turn.
The Orphanage is beautifully shot and the setting could not be more apt for a ghost story. The surroundings do enough to make the spine chill before we even catch sight of any odd goings on – but when we do it’s subtle, yet frightening.
The plot doesn’t need to rely on buckets of gore. Maybe with the exception of one particular scene. Instead it takes the audience on a roller coaster journey by manipulating their senses to what they “may or may not” have seen.
The acting too deserves a mention and Belen Rueda who plays Laura displays great emotional prowess as a mother who is on the verge of collapsing with only her husband Carlos (Fernando Cayo) to offer a glimmer of support. While there may be similarities drawn from other films of this genre; such as The Others and The Shining it doesn’t try to copy or imitate it in any shape or form.
Without spoiling it, the ending is one that will leave film goers everywhere asking many questions and in some cases these may never be answered, something which I love. It’s a brilliant and well scripted film and one I would highly recommend.
The couples young son Simon is able to run freely around the old gothic house and play to his heart’s content, but when he begins playing with an imaginary friend things start to take a sinister turn.
The Orphanage is beautifully shot and the setting could not be more apt for a ghost story. The surroundings do enough to make the spine chill before we even catch sight of any odd goings on – but when we do it’s subtle, yet frightening.
The plot doesn’t need to rely on buckets of gore. Maybe with the exception of one particular scene. Instead it takes the audience on a roller coaster journey by manipulating their senses to what they “may or may not” have seen.
The acting too deserves a mention and Belen Rueda who plays Laura displays great emotional prowess as a mother who is on the verge of collapsing with only her husband Carlos (Fernando Cayo) to offer a glimmer of support. While there may be similarities drawn from other films of this genre; such as The Others and The Shining it doesn’t try to copy or imitate it in any shape or form.
Without spoiling it, the ending is one that will leave film goers everywhere asking many questions and in some cases these may never be answered, something which I love. It’s a brilliant and well scripted film and one I would highly recommend.
Chasing Conrad: A Tale of the Sea and a Glimpse into the Abyss
Book
Simon Hall's second book is set in the mid-1970s during the closing years of the golden age of...
Medusa by Paradise Lost
Album Watch
Most people will know Medusa as the Gorgon from Greek mythology; she is the infamous beast with...
metal
National Identity in Contemporary Australian Opera: Myths Reconsidered
Book
Opera has been performed in Australia for more than two hundred years, yet none of the operas...
TW
The Wrath of Capital: Neoliberalism and Climate Change Politics
Book
Although climate change has become the dominant concern of the twenty-first century, global powers...
At the Edge: Riding for My Life
Book
I checked my balance and peered apprehensively at the sheer drop below. Once I felt comfortable, I...
Alone in Berlin
Hans Fallada and Michael Hofmann
Book
Inspired by a true story, Hans Fallada's Alone in Berlin is the gripping tale of an ordinary man's...
Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated Before You Sleep in Books
Jul 7, 2020
124 of 200
Kindle
Before you sleep: three horrors
By Adam Nevill
A trilogy of horror stories from the award-winning writer's first collection of short stories - SOME WILL NOT SLEEP - and an introduction to the nightmarish visions and ghastly spectres that have been disturbing the sleep of readers for years. In this book you'll find two ghost stories and a tale of ancestral demoniac horror.
In the big white house on the hill angels are said to appear . . .
When the children left the house, their toys remained . . .
A confused and vengeful presence occupies the home of a first-time buyer . . .
1. Where Angels come in
So reading this in the dark is so bloody frightening but the only way to read it! This reminds me of all the creepy places we used to dare each other to go as kids. There are images from this story that are going to stay with me for a while! Brilliant short!!
2. Ancestors
Well that was bloody creepy as hell!! One I think I’m hiding all the toys in a locked box!! Also don’t go poking your nose in where it’s not needed!
3. Florrie
This sent shivers down my spine. I also felt a little sad at the lives just being left and florrie still being tied to the house. Think he would have listened to his mother though! A very strange story!
Overall!
I’m a huge fan of Adam Nevill’s work and have been for years his books truly terrify me. I find myself jumping at stupid noises in the house that I know are normal! I highly recommend his books!
Kindle
Before you sleep: three horrors
By Adam Nevill
A trilogy of horror stories from the award-winning writer's first collection of short stories - SOME WILL NOT SLEEP - and an introduction to the nightmarish visions and ghastly spectres that have been disturbing the sleep of readers for years. In this book you'll find two ghost stories and a tale of ancestral demoniac horror.
In the big white house on the hill angels are said to appear . . .
When the children left the house, their toys remained . . .
A confused and vengeful presence occupies the home of a first-time buyer . . .
1. Where Angels come in
So reading this in the dark is so bloody frightening but the only way to read it! This reminds me of all the creepy places we used to dare each other to go as kids. There are images from this story that are going to stay with me for a while! Brilliant short!!
2. Ancestors
Well that was bloody creepy as hell!! One I think I’m hiding all the toys in a locked box!! Also don’t go poking your nose in where it’s not needed!
3. Florrie
This sent shivers down my spine. I also felt a little sad at the lives just being left and florrie still being tied to the house. Think he would have listened to his mother though! A very strange story!
Overall!
I’m a huge fan of Adam Nevill’s work and have been for years his books truly terrify me. I find myself jumping at stupid noises in the house that I know are normal! I highly recommend his books!
ClareR (6067 KP) rated Mrs Death Misses Death in Books
Feb 15, 2021
This is such an original idea: Mrs Death. Death in this book is a black, working class woman. This turns on its head everything we’ve all grown up believing about Death, and I love this. Why shouldn’t Death be a woman? As it says in the book:
“For surely only she who bears it, she who gave you life, can be she who has the power to take it.”
Seems logical to me.
“And there is no human more invisible, more easily talked over, ignored, betrayed and easy to walk past than a woman; than a poor old black woman.”
The thought of walking past death on a daily basis and not realising that’s who you’re passing, is rather a disconcerting thought!
I liked the playful language, starting with the title and moving on through prose mixed with poetry, and parts were written in script form too. This wasn’t reading for the lazy: it kept me on my toes. The historical deaths seen from Death’s point of view were fascinating too.
I did find myself wishing that Mrs Death had found herself another ghost writer, because Wolf Willeford is clearly a vulnerable person with mental health issues - I did wonder if it was written to illustrate a form of psychosis.
Either way, I loved it and read it FAR too quickly. If this is Salena Godden’s first foray into prose, I will be looking out for what she writes next - and looking out for some of her poetry too, when I can get back in to a library!
Many thanks to the publisher for providing me with an e-copy of this book through NetGalley.
“For surely only she who bears it, she who gave you life, can be she who has the power to take it.”
Seems logical to me.
“And there is no human more invisible, more easily talked over, ignored, betrayed and easy to walk past than a woman; than a poor old black woman.”
The thought of walking past death on a daily basis and not realising that’s who you’re passing, is rather a disconcerting thought!
I liked the playful language, starting with the title and moving on through prose mixed with poetry, and parts were written in script form too. This wasn’t reading for the lazy: it kept me on my toes. The historical deaths seen from Death’s point of view were fascinating too.
I did find myself wishing that Mrs Death had found herself another ghost writer, because Wolf Willeford is clearly a vulnerable person with mental health issues - I did wonder if it was written to illustrate a form of psychosis.
Either way, I loved it and read it FAR too quickly. If this is Salena Godden’s first foray into prose, I will be looking out for what she writes next - and looking out for some of her poetry too, when I can get back in to a library!
Many thanks to the publisher for providing me with an e-copy of this book through NetGalley.