Rating: R
Genre:
Thriller
Release Date: 06/25/2002
SubTitles: English
Dubbed: Espanol
Sound: DD5.1
Run Time: 110 Minutes
Distributor/Studio: Columbia TriStar
Guillermo del Toro, who quickly became one of the most talked-about directors in contemporary horror films with his first two features,
Chronos and
Mimic, takes on a more subtle tale of terror with this psychological suspense piece. Casares (
Federico Luppi) and Carmen (
Marisa Paredes) operate a small home for orphans in a remote part of Spain during the Spanish Civil War. Helping the couple mind the orphanage are Jacinto (
Eduardo Noriega), the groundskeeper, and Conchita (
Irene Visedo), a teacher who is also involved with Jacinto. Casares and Carmen are aligned with the Republican loyalists, and are hiding a large cache of gold that's used to back the Republican treasury; perhaps not coincidentally, the orphanage has also been subject to attacks from Franco's troops, and an unexploded bomb waits to be defused in the home's courtyard. One day, a boy named Carlos (
Fernando Tielve) arrives at the home, looking for a place to stay after being left behind by his parents. Casares and Carmen take him in, and the boy soon strikes up an unlikely friendship with Jaime (
Inigo Garces), a boy with a reputation for tormenting other kids. But Carlos soon begins having visions of a mysterious apparition he can't identify, and hears strange stories about a child named Santi who went missing the day the bomb appeared near the orphanage.
~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
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