Laura spent the happiest years of her childhood growing up in an orphanage by the seaside, cared for by the staff and fellow orphans whom she loved as brothers and sisters. Now, thirty years later, she returns with her husband Carlos and Simon, their 7-year-old son, with a dream of restoring and reopening the long abandoned orphanage as a home for disabled children. The new home and mysterious surroundings awaken Simon’s imagination and the boy starts to spin a web of fantastic tales and not-so-innocent games; a troubling web that begins to disturb.

Laura, drawing her into the child’s strange universe which resonates with echoes of long-forgotten, deeply troubling memories of her own childhood.

As the opening day draws near, tension builds within the family. Carlos remains sceptical, believing that Simon is making everything up in a desperate bid for attention. But Laura slowly becomes convinced that something long-hidden and terrible is lurking in the old house, something waiting to emerge and inflict appalling damage on her family. Laura’s fears about her family’s survival start to come true and she must revisit her own past to find answers to the mysteries that the orphanage holds.

Following a deadly path where few have gone before, The Orphanage unites the past and the present to produce a first-rate psychological horror film. Academy Award winning director and writer Guillermo Del Toro produced J. A. Bayona’s award-winning masterpiece, also Spain’s official entry to the 2008 Academy Awards.