Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think that The Orphanage is a better film than Pan's Labyrinth?

32 replies

TheChicOfIt · 21/01/2010 17:33

I thought both were amazing films, but watched The Orphanage first. When I watched Pan's Labyrinth, I think I was expecting a huge twist at the end and I felt a bit disappointed when there wasn't one.

I also cried buckets at TO but didn't cry at PL although I did find it sad.

I hear so many people say that PL is the best and saddest film they have ever seen, so is it just me ??

OP posts:
nigelslaterfan · 21/01/2010 17:35

I had to stop watching the orphanage because I was too scared! But I think Pan's Labyrinth is just brilliant really wonderfully original. Love the director

ProfYaffle · 21/01/2010 17:37

I loved them both, thought PL was v sad. TO was one of the scariest films I've ever seen 1, 2, 3 knock on the wall

pagwatch · 21/01/2010 17:37

It Is Just You.

Nah - everyone has different taste. Pans is the best film ever

Morloth · 21/01/2010 17:42

I liked PL, but like nigelslaterfan got too freaked out about 15 mins into the Orphanage to keep watching.

kerstina · 21/01/2010 18:01

I liked TO better too it is one of my all time favourite films.
It is heartbreakingly sad though from a mothers perspective.

laloue · 21/01/2010 18:03

both superb, try The Devil's Backbone (same director again), utterly terrifying but brilliant too.

Original poster
TheChicOfIt · 21/01/2010 18:48

Totally agree with you kerstina - I don't think I would have been as upset if I was not a mother.

It is the saddest film moment I have ever seen and I couldn't stop crying for hours .

OP posts:
LittleWhiteWolf · 21/01/2010 21:06

God, the Orphanage/El Orfanato terrified me when I watched it...that scene where she's playing the game with the children...

I found Pans Labyrinth to be a great allegory and a well told story. I preferred TO as it was a good old fashioned, properly scary ghost story.
Thats just me.

Nemofish · 21/01/2010 21:19

Love the orpahange, cried buckets at the end. I think the film made a good point about how we are automatically petrified of the supernatural / spirits.

Pan's Labyrinthe was wonderfully dark and european / pagan with some great points about family dynamics / war.

I'm not sure that I could choose between them...

Rhubarb · 21/01/2010 21:22

Weirdos!

Longtalljosie · 21/01/2010 21:50

I loved both - but then I got thinking about the wallpaper in the cupboard at the end of The Orphanage. Why did she need to rip it if the little boy was in there already?

zisforzebra · 21/01/2010 22:42

I loved both but agree that TO was better. It stayed with me for weeks after I'd seen it and could barely discuss it with a friend without crying. It's absolutely heartbreaking.

BelfastBloke · 21/01/2010 22:50

laloue, The Devil's Backbone has the same director (GdT) as Pan's Labyrinth, but Guillermo del Toro didn't direct The Orphanage.

Remotew · 21/01/2010 22:56

Love PL one of the best films I've seen. Havent seen TO but will watch it some time.

Longtalljosie · 22/01/2010 08:22

GdT produced The Orphanage though.

Original poster
TheChicOfIt · 22/01/2010 13:22

Rhubarb - ?
Longtalljosie - I wondered this too, but then I remembered that he had taken the door knob off, so I think she just ripped it to see where the handle had been.

abouteve - you really should see it - It is not a horror so much, more of a suspense/mystery story, with a twist to the tale, having said that, we have probably just ruined it for you................

OP posts:
Rhubarb · 22/01/2010 14:11

Weirdos!

I was bored to death by The Orphanage, it was just all so predictable and I hate those kind of unrealistic endings - as if!

Whereas Pans Labyrinth was not so straight forward. You never did find out if she was imagining it all or not, so the ending very much depended on how you viewed the film. I thought that was clever. Also the horrors she experienced in the Labyrinth you could say were her way of dealing with the horrors of the war.

It was a fascinating insight into the minds of children and how they might deal with real horrors. Whereas The Orphanage was just drivel.

Another example of me being right and you lot being wrong. I'm on a roll today!

pagwatch · 22/01/2010 14:16

Oi Rhubarb!

weirdo yourself.

I like PL and not TO

[ner]

LetThereBeRock · 22/01/2010 14:21

Poor delude Rhubarb. We must pity her,not laugh at her.

I loved both movies but I do prefer The Orphanage.

I went to see it at the cinema and went 20 feet in the air during that jump scene.
I want to get in on dvd but when I was in HMV last week it was priced at £25.

LetThereBeRock · 22/01/2010 14:24

Deluded even.

I love The Devil's Backbone too.

LetThereBeRock · 22/01/2010 14:26

Speaking of Spanish horror films did anyone else watch 'The Baby's Room' when it was shown on one of the BBC channels over the Christmas period?

Caitni · 22/01/2010 14:27

Definitely prefer The Orphanage - scared the bejesus out of me! - though also enjoyed PL...two great films but TO is a classic as it doesn't rely on gore/violence.

greenday · 22/01/2010 14:35

Love both .. but definitely prefer the Orphanage. Closer to home on a human level.

Rhubarb · 22/01/2010 14:41

Southern softies the lot of yer!

LetThereBeRock · 22/01/2010 14:45

Oi! Don't dare call me a softie Southerner. I'm a Scot!