Movie Review- Orphan

THAT LITTLE GIRL IS THE CREEPIEST THING I HAVE EVER SEEN!

She should seriously win an NAACP award for her performance. I don't know if she is in fact a "negro" but i say why not.

"Orphan" manages to hearken toward the older horror films i loved in the 80s. A basic story that appears normal, but slowly twists and turns into a more details story that no one sees coming. This is by no means the greatest horror movie I've ever seen, and of course I'll explain why, but it is solid and doesn't require much thinking.

PLOT:
After the tragic death of their newborn, the Colemans, wife Kate (Vera Farmiga) and husband John (Peter Sarsgaard) want to adopt to fill the void. They meet a talented and sweet 9 year old Russian girl Ester (Isabelle Fuhrman) and decide to adopt her. As she mixes in with her family, which includes their deaf, 5-year old daughter Max (Aryana Engineer) and bitter 10 year-old Daniel (Jimmy Bennett), the Colemans slowly learn that their sweet new daughter is not anywhere near what she seems.

PROS:
The creepy factor in this film is at a staggering 9/10.5 of the creepy scale. Watching this movie you quickly realize why adoption agencies opposed this movie. Fuhrman's performance as Ester reminds me of Linda Blair in the "Exorcist". It makes me wonder how such adult-like performance from a teenager. In addition, Bennett and Engineer, also added in good perfomances, almost overshadowing a decent job by Farmiga, who i thought was Rosana Arquette until late into the movie, and Sarsgaard, who i knew was Peter Sarsgaard. I just hope that the kids in the film won't endure psychological damage from this, because the violence and themes were incredibly oriented, not something for kids at all, but there was no way you could make this movie any other way.

CONS:
The build-up took a while to comes to life. The audience knew very early that the girl was disturbed. I found myself wanted the family, particularly the parents, to figure things out a little bit more. When the nun that runs the orphanage, CCH Pounder, reveals to the family a little while after adopting Ester that there is something weird about her, it was lazily dropped in, in a very anticlimactic manner. Almost as if they knew they needed to speed it up a little bit. Though the climatic reveal at the end was surprising and a good twist, the final scenes were crafted lazily as well, and the characters did not display the emotions that the scenes actions warranted.

Recommendation:
Rent it.

Written by:
David Johnson
Alex Mace

Directed by:
Jaume Collet-Serra

Main Cast:
Vera Farminga ("The Manchurian Candidate", "The Departed")
Peter Sarsgaard ("Garden State", "Jarhead")
Isabelle Fuhrman ("Hounddog", "Children of the Corn")
Jimmy Bennett ("Evan Almighty", "Shorts")
Aryana Engineer
CCH Pounder (TVs "The Shield", "Batman/Superman: Public Enemies")

Similar Titles:
The Omen (1976), The Omen (2006), The Good Son

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