The Orphanage is a prime example of what I'd call a Feel-Good horror film. That's not to say that there aren't some bumps along the way (and in the night) before the bittersweet (emphasis on the 'sweet') ending, but any horror movie that makes me cry genuine tears of joy, as opposed to crying out in abject terror, can't be all ghouls and ghosts. 
Laura, a former orphan, and her doctor husband, Carlos, purchase the orphanage Laura grew up in with the intention of turning it into a facility for intellectually handicapped children. Along for the ride is there adopted, HIV-positive son, Simon, and his various invisible friends.The orphanage is your basic foreboding mansion full of locked rooms, dusty furniture, peeling wallpaper, and the ghosts of murdered children. These five child phantoms become Simon's newest pals, the most significant one being Tomas, a young deformed boy who wears a burlap clown mask and a frilly nightgown. Tomas is the one you saw in all the television ads for The Orphanage because he looks creepy and stuff, but he's really not that bad once you get to know him. Well, he does smash Laura's fingers in a door and locks her in the bathroom, but other than that he's a jewel. You've got to expect some aggression. His mom made him live in the orphanage's basement and wear a grubby mask all his life. Literally every photograph we see of Tomas shows him wearing the mask, including a day out in the country with his mother. His mother gets crushed by a truck and has her jaw ripped off, so she gets her comeuppance, don 't worry.
Most of the film concerns Simon's disappearance and Laura's search for him, utilizing both the police and some professional ghost hunters, the latter of which provide the creepiest and best moments in the film.So why do I consider this a Feel-Good film? I mean, there's a missing child with HIV, a haunted orphanage, a malevolent ghost boy wearing a burlap sack on his head...nothing about what I describe should make any sane, compassionate person feel good. Well, I'm not going to give anything away because The Orphanage is worth your time. Sure, it's not terribly original (it reminded me a bit of The Others, which reminded me of The Sixth Sense, only with the ghosts figuring out they were ghosts without Haley Joel Osment's assistance), but very few horror movies are 100% original. Hey, it's presented by Guillermo del Toro! That should be enough!
I'm curious, can you think of any other horror movies you'd describe as Feel-Good? Leave a comment and let me know.
