The Orphanage (Spanish w/ English subtitles)

This eerie, shocking, and emotionally wrenching piece makes you realize the power of European artistic form mixed with a formulaic narrative. The story is fairly straight forward: a woman and her husband return to her abandoned childhood orphanage with hopes of reopening it. They bring their own adopted son who plays with a growing number of imaginary friends until one day he abruptly vanishes. Their only clues are trinkets left by ghosts and a deranged woman who lurks on the orphanage property. Although many expansive landscapes and seamless tracking shots give the septic, digitally enhanced feel of the next Harry Potter installment, the tension and realness built in several sequences is second to none. The mixed media formats (super 8, video) add to the tension, not to mention a truly climactic twenty minute finale that throws a twist into a plot already ultra compelling. The film also exhibits a true knack for horrific and startling images that hit you like a brick to the forehead. You can count on these haunting you in bed later that night.