2007’s The Orphanage was a fairly effective horror film (dvd review), but it was one that had the misfortune of being in one of those crazy foreign languages (“You expect me to read SUBTITLES?!?”), so of course it was grabbed right up for a remake.
Fortunately this has the hand of Guillermo del Toro in it as well, even more so than the original, in fact. While he worked as creative supervisor for the original he co-wrote the script for the remake with the almighty Larry Fessenden, who was originally rumored to also direct the flick. For the last three years they’ve been trying to get it off the ground, but now it looks like they might have finally settled on a helmer.
Variety reports that Mark Pellington (The Mothman Prophecies) is in final negotiations to direct the film.The story will be similar to the original, about a woman who takes over an orphanage where she was raised and gets creeped out when her son starts playing with the same imaginary friend that she used to.
No word on a production start just yet, so for now just check out the trailer for the original (the American one, of course- note the lack of any dialogue and overuse of narration) and wonder if they can improve on it.
11 comments
"…a woman who takes over an orphanage where she was raised and gets creeped out when her son starts playing with the same imaginary friend that she used to."
That is not IN ANY WAY the plot to the film. You shouldn't try to act like you know what you are writing about or just stick to giving shitty video-game blowjobs.
I don't remember any imaginary friends in the original. Maybe you're thinking of 'Night of the Lepus'?
I am an angry human man, too. Arrrgh, I'm just….I'm REALLY ANGRY.
The Others. I think he's confusing it with Alejandro Amenábar's'The Others'
The only resemblance the Orphanage had to a horror movie was that it was marketed as a horror movie. A few creepy moments early and then it turns into a bunch of weepy bullshit.
I haven't seen the movie, but that poster is fucking fantastic.
I have one word about this news:
CHAAAAAAPSTICCKKKK
If you don't know what I'm talking about go watch the Mothman Prophecies
I happened to have caught this film just last night. I thought it was fantastic. Genuinely creepy and tense throughtout, with a wee bit of a fairy tale thrown in. GDT may not have directed it, but it seemed like his fingerprints were all over the sucker… in fact I thought he was executive producer and not just some random creative supervisor or some such. Potato, po-tot-o I guess. Either way I got a real Devil's Backbone/Pan's Labyrinth vibe from the film and not just because of the Spanish subtitles… and I know Alex was joking, but to those who can't handle subtitles, you need to suck it!
If the foreign film is called The Orphanage, The American version should be called El Oreanato because it's a foreign word and foreign suggest reading and reading is scary. Because the Orphanage isn't a scary title. Though it does suggest creepy kids, and kids are scary. Creepy Kids are the worst. Will the American version have Spanish subtitles? Because I don't speak English
I loved the original Orphanage. It was a very good movie; but I definitely wouldn't consider it a horror film. Although there were a few creepy moments, the point of the film wasn't to scare or horrify. I felt it was definitely more of a supernatural fairy tale than anything else. That being said, I think a remake of this is as necessary as the remake of [REC] was….or the upcoming remake of Let The Right One In, which is to say, completely unnecessary. Oh well, what can you do? You can't stop Hollywood.
@Keith, no the original title was in spanish, it just is pretty much always called The orphanage over here- check out the poster at the top (The dvd released in the states was The Orphanage, so that's probably part of the reason)
And to those wondering about Alex's mention of imaginary friends? That's basically the entire focus of the dialogue for the first twenty minutes or so. Go watch the actual movie before posting, thanks.
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