MovieChat Forums > El orfanato (2008) Discussion > Am I that desensitized?

Am I that desensitized?

posted 14 years ago by JaseofBass
38 replies | jump to latest

Everyone seems to love this movie. It is at this moment a 7.6. This was the least scary movie I have seen in a while with the exception of campy horror.

I understand the horror was not the point of the film, but don't put it in a horror setting if you aren't going to utilize it. It was awesome for a Lifetime movie. Beyond that I was very bored. So this begs the question do you all love it because it was something different, or is it because you genuinely found it scary and I am just numb to these films now.

Tough times don't last. Tough people do.

[–] PoppyTransfusion 14 years ago

I love the story, the setting, the acting and I was scared by the ghosts. I think it gets classed as horror because of the supernatural element of the film. Horror isn't just something that scares or terrifies, but to which we feel genuine horror. The fate of the orphans was horrifying.

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fierce concentrated joy,
fires the blood

[–] mavap 14 years ago

I think you are looking for the wrong things if you were expecting a horror movie. This was supernatural by its setting/story, yes, but it was not meant to scare you. If you were so focused on boos/scares, then I think you are watching the wrong movie.

This movie was an intensely emotional story, particularly with the ending/resolution.

The heart of this movie is the mom's search for his son and the back story regarding the orphanage itself (which is - hmm, the title of this movie). If you were expecting something with dead orphanage kids popping up randomly to scare you, then you missed the point of this movie.

[–] JaseofBass 14 years ago

No I wasn't expecting jump scares. I hate jump scares. I have seen this on several "Scariest Movie" lists; I just expected it to be at least somewhat scary. It was a good enough story, great acting, and after ten minutes I forgot it was subtitled..... but it just left me wanting much more.

Tough times don't last. Tough people do.

[–] beaterfred 13 years ago

I think this was a genuine horror. The scariest bits for me were (SPOILERS);

1. Tomas in the hallway with a bag over his head walking towards Laura
2. The woman hit by a bus / car and dying with her jaw dropping off
3. The medium describing the suffering children and the monitors all go off and she appears where she started (well, the whole medium scene to be honest. I normally find mediums in horror movies annoying, but this one was good)
4. Laura playing 'one two three knock on wall' and ghost kids appearing
5. and MOST OF ALL, her realizing what happened to Simon. Realizing that she herself accidently locked Simon in the basement and that she was listening to herr son's attempts to get out and actually heard him fall to his death. That is true horror! Maybe not jump out of your seat screaming horror, but jaw dropping, eye popping, OMG kind of horror!

I love this kind of horror and wish there were more of them, as opposed to the slasher type horrors so commonly available these days.

[–] kupukupumu 10 years ago

The scariest parts for me are (spoiler alert):
1. How a mother can accidentally killed her child
2. How the kid kept on making noises every night fighting for his life, yet nobody realized

[–] Abs12490 14 years ago

I think it could have passed for a drama, but some elements (Simons death, the ghosts) categorized it as horror. I honestly thought it was creepy because it was confusing; did Simon push his mother into the bathroom or Tomas? Was Benigna really evil or no? I just had a lot of questions throughout the movie, and there were times that I was closing my eyes. I think so many people are used to stupid horror like chainsaws, blood and guts that they overlook these movies. Blood and guts isn't scary to me though... it's just gross. So I think people have a different opinion on what's "scary." Like someone else said, the setting, music, storyline etc. made it "scary" for me.

[–] Hargiwald 14 years ago

It seems no one considers this a horror movie, whether they liked it or not. I just don't get that. I mean, sure, on one hand it was drama (a really good one), but the film had it's share of tension and scares and a for large portions a really, really creepy atmosphere. What constitutes horror to you people, really? Is there a minimum amount of scares required? 10 per hour?

[–] jctennant55-892-30458 9 years ago

Some people think a good horror movie has to show blood and guts every 10 minutes to be effective or it has to have people being dismembered. To me the greatest horror is what is in your head and being suggested and implied. Some classics that deal with this concept is The Uninvited, The Innocents, The Haunting (1963). These three movies show the fear and terror in the victims mind instead of endless blood and gore.

[–] faith_elisabeth 14 years ago

To me any movie that involves being in a scary, life threatening and tense situation is horrific, therefore a horror. If you can't step outside of yourself and feel the fear of being in a situation like that, then you may be desensitized.

[–] jajceboy 14 years ago

I think this film was more creepy than scary. It was very tense and unsettling, and some scenes were in fact scary.
But I thought it was a good film none the less, very powerful.

I just think you expected it to be more of a true horror than the thriller it is, and therefore didn't think it was scary. Many of today's horror films are actually more thriller than horror.

[–] forslund 14 years ago

To anybody saying this movie is not scary, I will ask which movies do you consider scary then?
It might not be THE scariest movie of alltime, but I still consider it quite scary and much more than most american slasher movies, which do not scare because they are so predictable. F.ex I have seen very few scenes as creepy as the one with the medium.

Maybe it is just a scary vs creepy debate, as the movie might only have two jump scare moments, but the overall feel of the movie makes it extremely creepy and scary in my mind.

But even besides the scares it's a brilliant movie wich great acting and story.

[–] kdp90125 12 years ago

nearly ANY Asian horror movie is creepier AND scarier than this flick...the nearest comparison to this is probably Dark Water or maybe Kairo...even some US horror is scarier

a few which are easily scarier

Paranormal Activity
Insidious
Rec - well thats Spanish

[–] matthew-confer 13 years ago

I think this is pretty silly to say. I mean, what movies that are classified as thriller, or suspense, or any action movie that involves scary, life threatening and tense situations? Would you really classify those as horror movies? To OP, like a lot of others have said this is more of a supernatural movie. I went into it expecting a horror film as well and was pretty bored throughout.

[–] gnosischris 13 years ago

the point wasn't to scare you...

plain and simple

[–] Jupiter1988 13 years ago

horror is subjective. As I've said on another thread: I watch horros all the time be they supernatural, gore fests, exploitation or whatever and I consider this the scariest film I've ever seen. It's just about what scares YOU. nothing to do with being de-sensitized

There is no escape

[–] aamotc 13 years ago

Are people not calling this a scary movie because there aren't any actual scares? I watched it alone in the dark with headphones, and there were 3 or 4 times that I thought I'd made a serious mistake.

This movie had a ton of anticipatory fear, but only 1 jump-out scare. Knowing what happens, it'll never scare me again. But for a while, I didn't think I was going to make it. Ghosts don't do it for me, but that damn burlap murdermask had my number.

---
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[–] kcdee 13 years ago

I thought it was good too, but no one said it's a Horror movie, it's a Drama/Mystery/Thriller.

[–] umme4uke 13 years ago

I thought it was good. I didn't think it was horror. I thought, like Labyrinth, it was a dark fantasy. Actually, like Hellboy too. And, come to think of it, like The Hobbit if he directs it. Del Torro, it seems to me, makes dark fantasy films.

[–] paulalexburns 13 years ago

I didn't mind it. It was dark but not frightening in the slightest.

[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Jiiimbooh 13 years ago

I liked it because it was creepy and had an engaging story. I don't think a horror movie needs to be scary all the time.

___
"What does it do?"
"It doesn't do anything. That's the beauty of it."

[–] kdp90125 12 years ago

LOL - thats like saying porn films shouldnt be a turn-on

[–] Jiiimbooh 12 years ago

No, it's not. To clarify, I think it's OK for a horror movie to have plot and character development, and that it doesn't have to be just one scary scene after another. If the film isn't meant to be scary at all it's obviously not horror though.

There are porn movies with a plot. Since the main purpose of those movies are to get the viewer sexually aroused they are still porn, even if not every second of the movie has on-screen sex. If there isn't any sex at all it's obvious not porn though.

___
"What does it do?"
"It doesn't do anything. That's the beauty of it."