For our kick-off film of the RDHP we selected 2007's The Orphanage. A surprisingly original Spanish film about a woman who returns to the orphanage she grew up in with her husband and their adopted, HIV-positive son Simon. The plan is to reopen the building as a home for special needs children, but soon lonely Simon begins seeing dead former orphans on the grounds. Watch out, these orphans are pissed! On the day the building is to open, Simon goes missing with his new "friends" and it is up to his parents to convince his ghostly abductors into returning the boy. But with Simon away from his HIV meds, time is running out!
The Horror Project founders found "The Orphanage" to be a pleasantly appropriate beginning to our journey through the horror ages (the fact that the last film we viewed together was The Zombie Dairies may have had something to do with how taken we were with this film).
To recap this adventure, Nick Rich and Chris Dimick have decided to watch one horror movie from each year, beginning in 1927 when the first "talkie" (film with sound) was released. Seeing as Nick resides in San Diego, and Chris resides in Chicago, the movie project will be coordinated through use of Skype technology and good olde fashioned DVD synchronization.
Some films we watch will be classics. Some will be near the top of Best Of yearly lists. And some will be utter garbage. That's cool, we here at the RDHP don't discriminate between big budget blockbusters and low-brow trash pixs.
We invite all who please to join this ride of horror, or merely muse on our writings as we time-travel through the annuals of film history.
One year down, 81 years to go.
RDHP Ratings:
C-Rating: 4
"The Orphanage is a highly creative ghost story whose cinematography sends it high above your average spook story. Some slow points, including a five minute montage of a woman turning door handles, knocked off a point on my movie-meter. I'd recommend this for those film fans who are interested in horror, but just can't handle all that sticky gore. This well crafted story relies more on suspense and mood than gore for its scares, which is always enough to renew my faith in the genre."
N-Rating: 3.7
"I agree this film was great to watch, but I had to dock is some points because the woman wore a bra in her sleep. All the scenes where she was woken up in the night she had a tank top and bra on - what woman sleeps in a bra!?!? It totally took me out of the reality of the situation."
Most Memorable Scene:
Three words: CPR. Old lady. Missing Jaw. Ok, that was more than three words, but geez - this scene made both of our jaws drop (off)!
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