laura ( belen rueda ) return to the orphanage she spend time in a a child with her husband carlos ( fernando cayo ) and little boy simon ( roger princep ) in hope of re establish it a seaside retreat for child with disability only to find there may be some former resident who never leave . in juan antonio bayona tightly wound the orphanage nothing be a it seem and child play take on sinister overtone . bayona belongs to this new wave of spanish language director ( most notably del torro and amenabar ) who excel when it come to create moody atmospheric tale of the supernatural with catholic overtone . whereas pan labyrinth take a dark fantasy approach to a passion play and the orphanage be closer to the classic haunt house theme of the others a it attempt to give a sentimental view of life after death . be warn and the orphanage be often more sad than scary and and those not familiar with catholic mysticism might find thing a bit hard to believe . a go the film mantra . believe and then you will see . those with the patience and the heart will be greatly reward a the audience doesn not necessarily have to believe to relate to the character who do . work from refine less be more psychological horror template and bayona delivers the formulaic good . there will be a simplistic but heartfelt exploration of grief . there will be allusion to classic literature ( in this case a very nicely do peter pan a catholic allegory motif ) . there will be uncovering dark secret from the past . there will be precocious child with spooky imaginary friend . there will be creak set design and manipulative sound effect to create gotcha . moment . there will be a creepy medium ( an excellent geraldine chaplin ) bring in for a séance . and there will be a twist at the end . thankfully and there be also a great performance from belen rueda a laura . she give a compelling portrayal of a woman devour by her loss and achingly desperate for the truth no matter how horrific that truth might be . one must have a cold heart not to find sympathy with her and and even the most hardened audience member will find it hard not to feel that stray tear form in the corner of their trembling eye when all be reveal . the orphanage offer nothing terribly new and but sometimes the same old ghost story present in a beautiful way make for the best type of cold rainy day entertainment .