Miscellaneous Movie Musings

[flippyshark]

I admired The Orphanage quite a bit, particularly the lead performance. And it did have terrific atmosphere. However, the movie sadly contained one of the most odious of current horror movie cliches. I refer to

Spoiler:

the bus or truck that rushes in suddenly from screen left, taking out an unsuspecting, to say nothing of unobservant, character. The effect is not unlike a train squashing Wile E. Coyote. This shock-shtick is overused, and for me, unintentionally slapstick funny. So, in The Orphanage, I don't object to the plot point of a character being run over, just the hackneyed way in which it was presented. On the other hand, the best shock moment in the movie followed just a minute later.