Starring: Belén Rueda, Fernando Cayo
The opening scene shows Laura, an orphan at an orphanage, being adopted. Years later, she returns to the orphanage with her husband and son Simon. Before long, Simon develops invisible friends and spends much of his time playing with them. A worker named Benigna visits them and reports that Simon is HIV-positive. After a fight, Simon disappears and Laura unearths the truth about what happened at the orphanage after she left so many years ago and how Benigna and Simon's 'invisible' friends are involved. Laura can only connect with the past when she acts out thigns from her time at the orphanage.
This movie was directed by critically-acclaimed Guillermo del Toro. I personally prefer Pan's Labyrinth, but I guess he didn't write this one and thus only his style was infused. I found the story a bit disjointed and it didn't have the creeping effect that I had hoped it would. It was a well-shot movie and the acting was decent, I suppose, though I did lose a little in translation, perhaps. I should say, I think some of the suspense may not have carried over as much. I did enjoy the storyline of the boy who was nearing death being able to see the dead and his parents thinking they were just invisible. It is a twist on the traditional 'only kids can see the evil/dead/monster' theme.
It was certainly not without enjoyment or suspense, but it didn't quite live up to what I thought it could be (not that I could put my finger on exactly what was missing). I will give it a 7/10.
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