Movie review: "The Orphanage" (2007)

The gist: An orphaned Spanish girl grows up, marries a rich doctor, adopts a sweet kid, reopens the institution where she spent her early childhood and they all live happily ever after. That's the plan, anyway. In reality, the seaside mansion's way creepy, a crazy crone's hanging round and our heroine's son has acquired a gang of imaginary friends...

Selling points: Just as Quentin Tarantino champions certain foreign fillums, this Spanish effort's got the weight of Guillermo Del Toro ("Hellboy", "Pan's Labyrinth") behind it – and he knows superior spookery when he sees it. Cinematography out the wazoo, a minimum of gore and – unlike 16/17 movies in the genre – an unambiguous finale.

It's kinda like: There are elements of GDT's "The Devil's Backbone" (also set in an orphanage) and "The Others". At one point, it veers into "The Exorcist" territory, but with a medium and electronic equipment rather than "an old priest and a young priest".

Final word: It won't cheat you and it will disturb you.

[Australian cinema release date: May 29]