The film poster proudly proclaims, ‘presented by Guillermo Del Toro’ and it’s easy to see why the Pan’s Labyrinth director would be interested in this spooky Spanish ghost story and why he wouldn’t mind having his name associated with it.

Laura (Belen Rueda) grew up in an orphanage and many years later, she and her husband Carlos (Fernando Cayo) return to the establishment with the idea of renovating it and running a school with children with special needs. With them, they bring their adopted son, Simon (Roger Princep) who has special needs himself– he’s HIV positive. Simon has a tendency to invent imaginary friends and once installed at the old orphanage, he starts talking about the five new friends he’s made in the old house and the intricate games they like to play.

Laura starts to glimpse things out of the corner of her eye and hears strange sounds in the night– but events take a more complicated turn when Simon goes missing and the distraught parents start a search that will eventually lead them into investigations of the paranormal. Watch out for a cameo from Geraldine Chaplin, playing a sinister medium.

If this all sounds a bit ‘seen it all before’ don’t be misled. Director, Juan Antonio Bayona keeps a tight grip on the story and gradually wracks up the tension, throwing in the occasional frisson that really will have your hair standing on end, before unleashing a plot revelation that I guarantee you won’t see coming. Most films in this genre tend to go to pieces in the final furlong, but this mesmerising film is brilliantly plotted throughout and will keep you gripped until the final frame. A word too, about Belen Rueda, whose powerful performance carries you through virtually every frame of this wonderful film.