Throw The Innocents, Sixth Sense and Hook into a blender and you might come close to The Orphanage. It’s hard to describe it any other way and it’ll take at least another viewing for me to feel like I know what I’m even talking about while talking about it, except without any doubt to say that I found it just as good as people have been saying for the past year.

I think Mark Kermode said he counted 4 separate scares in the movie – I have to say only one really lifted me out of my seat and I’m pretty sure it must be the one he talked about that the stranger grabbed his arm over. For me, it’s the emotional content of it all that affected me most. There’s just a constant terror in the very atmosphere of the movie as a result of the mystery that builds around a young boy and his games, his imaginary friends and his mother’s attempts to understand. To even try to attempt a plot summary beyond that after a single viewing would be crazy – all I can say is, it’s beautiful. Sorry, review brain’s just not been up to the task lately, lol, you’ll just have to see for yourself.

I couldn’t quite remember the original Asian version of this except that I loved it, though bits and pieces came back to me as I watched this remake. Oddly, though this is to me as good a remake as The Departed or Dark Water (okay, I haven’t seen the original of the latter yet; what I’m saying is they’re good movies, great movies), I can still see myself watching the original again more readily. But for what it is, this is perfectly gripping. Jessica Alba’s performance is at turns surprisingly naked (not like that, perv) and she does the blind thing better than expected. Parker Posey is wonderfully cast as her sister. The ending absolutely made me sit up in the same way I remember the original doing, and I think anyone who hasn’t ever heard of it before will be in for a pleasantly thrilling surprise.