Geoff Boucher at The LA Times is a fan of "The Orphanage" the Spanish film from a couple of years back that gave everyone who saw it a very subtle, very pernicious case of deep dread (eye the critic's excellent overview). We liked it too, even as it turned our knuckles white. Small tots running around with weird, burlap-ish masks. A creaky old mansion. Wallpaper-y backgrounds the hue of spilled wine, or dried blood. And we recall some sort of shadowy gardening shed that we loudly told the main character -- repeatedly, mind you -- to not go into, but she did not listen to us.
Now the director of that deliriously dark flick, Juan Antonio Bayona, is taking the reins of "Eclipse," the third movie from the "Twilight" series. Seems like a sound decision, and a scary one -- he probably won't hold back on the chills -- but fans of the romantic element of the books needn't fret. "The Orphanage" felt lushly romantic, at least in tone, and at least when it wasn't frightening the goose-bumpery out of us. Overall, this feels like a good fit.
But that will be up for the many, many "Twilight" Twitterers and blogs to determine, dissect, discuss, mull over. And they will. And we do love that. Long live the rabidly popular genre movie series!
