Had I paid closer attention to the movie description on Amazon, I wouldn’t have bought this movie. The Orphanage was filmed in Spain, and the actors speak Spanish. I didn’t realize this until I started watching the movie, but decided that if I could sit through Ju-on and its subtitles, I could sit through this.

The Orphanage begins with young Laura (Belén Rueda) playing a game with her friends. The scene ends when the orphanage headmaster goes outside to tell Laura that she has been adopted. Years later, she and her husband, Carlos (Fernando Cayo), return to the old orphanage to live. They plan to reopen it as a home for special needs children.

Their seven year-old son, Simón (Roger Príncep), has a lot of imaginary playmates. He is also HIV-positive and doesn’t know that he is adopted until an old woman visits the house, using the guise of a social worker. In the meantime, Laura has been hearing strange noises and dealing with her son’s growing insistence that his imaginary playmates are real.

Tension builds between mother and son until it explodes on the day of their open house. Simon vanishes without a trace. Six months later, he is still missing. The police have not been able to help the distraught couple. Finally, Laura decides to contact a medium to help her find her son.

This is where the movie gets really good. A classic battle of skeptic versus believer unfolds between Carlos (who refuses to believe) and Laura (who is looking for any answer at this point). In the end, she stays on in the house to unravel the mystery of her past because she feels that the past is the key to finding her son.

I won’t say any more about the plot. But I will say that this is the most original ghost story I’ve yet to watch. Director, Guillermo Del Toro did an excellent job putting this movie together. While The Orphanage had plenty of dark atmosphere and special effects, he put his focus more on the story that makes you think and feel. Highly recommended.

CW has confirmed that Supernatural will return on January 31st, with the first of its four remaining new shows. The last show is scheduled to air on February 21. Reaper is scheduled to take over that time slot on February 28. Whether this is a permanent schedule change or not is unknown at this time. Many shows have been left in the lurch by the long standout between Hollywood and the writers who have created them.

Due to the writer’s strike, CW made a potentially costly mistake when they decided put the less popular Reaper episodes in the same time slot of Supernatural, effectively forcing it off the air.

Fans are demanding that the network air reruns of Supernatural in at its normally scheduled time. They are so upset that they have launched an online petition, which has 829 signatures. Rumor has it that if this protest doesn’t sway the network executives, CW can expect a deluge of salt bags delivered to their door.

Source: Buddy TV

Mayor Scott Walker of Reeves, Louisiana calls CenturyTel’s decision to remove the 666 telephone prefix a “divine intervention.” Christians in Reeves were unhappy when the telephone company instituted the 666 prefix to their telephone numbers in the early 1960s. They had always considered this prefix to be a stigma on their small town.

Residents were happy to learn that they can change their number to the 749 prefix for the next three months. The mayor expects that 80% of the 450 homeowners will make the switch.

Source: BBC News