DVD Review – Orphan

In today’s formulaic, mass-produced world of Hollywood it’s a rare thing to find an original movie, particularly in the horror genre, which has become a bloated mass of remakes and torture movies over recent years. So imagine my surprise when I popped a check disc for Orphan into the DVD player and found myself unable to accurately predict the twist at the end!

An outwardly angelic little girl displays an unforeseen devilish streak upon moving into the home of her new adoptive parents in this shocker starring Peter Sarsgaard and Vera Farmiga. In the aftermath of a miscarriage, prospective parents Kate (Farmiga) and John (Sarsgaard) find their lives turned upside down; their marriage is falling apart, and the demons of Kate’s past begin manifesting themselves in a series of horrifying nightmares. Deciding that the best means of achieving some semblance of normalcy is to simply adopt, the dejected couple visits a local orphanage. There, they are both drawn to a nine-year-old girl named Esther. But Esther isn’t as sweet as first impressions suggest, and almost immediately after welcoming the young child into their home, Kate and John suspect that something is terribly wrong with their adoptive daughter. Kate can see right through Esther’s seraphic charm, though her attempts to convince everyone else of the truth go unheeded by her skeptical family and friends. By the time anyone bothers to take Kate seriously, it may be too late to prevent a devastating tragedy from unfolding.

Orphan starts predictably enough, a young couple find themselves longing for a third child following a tragic miscarriage and following a trip to an orphanage find themselves drawn to a 9 year old girl called Esther. She seems like the perfect child, polite, intelligent and hugely creative, initially the young girl fits into their family well; bonding with their youngest child Max (who incidentally is deaf) and warming to her new parents.

Before long, of course, Esther’s new mother, Kate (Vera Farmiga), begins to suspect something much darker in Esther’s past and as things begin to spiral out of control she is the only one who realises that her family may be in grave danger.

Some of the proceedings read like a check-list for this particular strain of horror, one child (the older brother) immediately takes dislike to the new addition in his family and finds himself the victim of a mini-terror campaign (the fear of castration instantly comes to mind), Kate and her husband John (Peter Sarsgaard) find themselves at odds over Esther and drift further and further apart until the seemingly perfect family unit collapses on itself. However the execution of these very generic subplots is where the charm of this film lies. The sheer quality of acting seems almost surplus to requirements in today’s wooden world of horror hamminess. Farmiga and Sarsgard have a fantastic on-screen chemistry which makes this “perfect” family all the more believable. But if awards were to be given for performances in this film then by far and large praise should lie with Isabelle Fuhrman, the fantastically talented actress who brings us Esther in all her angelic, sociopathic glory.

Without giving anything away I’d like to address the twist at the end. While most “evil child” films explain away the “little cherub’s” actions by making the kid Satan’s offspring/a child possessed/a child suffering huge trauma; this film takes all of those stereotypes and discards them completely. Honestly the film kept me guessing till the end and only then did I realise that the clues had been there all along! This is a brilliantly woven story which drip-drips the suspense and tension until by the finale, all bets are off and chaos explodes on the screen.

Rating:  

DVD Features

All the standard fare here, deleted scenes, interviews with the cast and crew and a nice little feature entitled “Mama’s Little Devils: Bad Seeds And Evil Children” brilliant!

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