Guillermo del Toro ‘s “The Orphanage” has become something of an international surprise hit following its release in Europe. Now that the United States release is looming, screenwriter Sergio Sanchez spoke to ShockTillYouDrop.com about the movie, and how the project came together. “I just wanted to make a classic horror story,” he told the site. “I spent all of my childhood reading ghost stories, but this came about in a very natural way. I couldn't really tell you my influence was this or that. The main two influences were like ‘The Turn of the Screw’ and ‘Peter Pan.’ It was like trying to do "Peter Pan" from the point of view of the mother. That last chapter of ‘Peter Pan’ is devastating and I'm thinking, 'Jesus, what happened to this Wendy' and all of them. It was really fucked up. I thought it was interesting to show it from that point of view. I wanted to write something that was open to interpretation 'cause you can see this as a ghost story but you can see this as something that has nothing to do with the supernatural. It's a tale of a woman who loses her mind because she's unable to cope with the loss of her son. There's nothing that proves the existence of the paranormal in this film.” For Sanchez though, writing this horror movie was a very personal endeavor as he used it to bring to life two of his closest childhood friends †his imaginary companions Watson and Pepe. “When I wrote it, I just thought of my own fears as a kid,” he continued. “I was very sick, I had very bad lungs and was coming in and out of the hospital a lot. So I developed these two imaginary friends named Watson and Pepe, who are in the film. But I don't know what it is about horror and children. If I were to make a list of my five favorite horror films, they all have children in them. There's something about that that makes you … just like the fantasy genre allows you to do things you could not do in any other genre. Having a kid or having the point of view of a kid allows you to show a wider spectrum of emotions. You can go from complete innocence to complete perversion - because kids can be very cruel. It just opens up a wonderful field of possibilities.” In the movie, a woman returns to the orphanage where she spent much of her childhood but once there she experiences a very personal loss †her son †and soon discovers that the orphanage harbors a few secrets … and some of them are deadly. To read the rest of the interview, visit ShockTilYouDrop.com by clicking here.