Orphan is Superbly Creepy, and Not For Everyone
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Orphan enticed me with its trailer and eerie intimation that ‘there’s something wrong with Esther’. Because let’s face it – what’s more compelling than an adopted child dressed in Victorian clothing that has something (more) wrong with her. Happily I was not let down.
Horror Queen Says: Bloody Thumbs Up!
Written by BHM Contributor Horror Queen
July 24, 2009
Buy on Amazon
Watch the Orphan Horror Movie Trailer!
Release: July 24, 2009
Directed by: Jaume Collet-Serra
Written by: David Johnson and Alex Mace
Starring:
Vera Farmiga as Kate Coleman
Peter Sarsgaard as John Coleman
Isabelle Fuhrman as Esther
CCH Pounder as Sister Abigail
Jimmy Bennett as Daniel Coleman
I have to admit that based on the trailer and its eerie intimation that Orphan has it all - an original plot, characters we’re actually interested in, superb acting by Isabelle Fuhrman as Esther and Vera Farmiga as her adopted mother Kate and yes, a sequence of alarming events that keep us glued nervously to our seats right up until the bombshell ending. The only hitch with Collet-Serra’s Orphan is its obvious exploitation of children, and by obvious I mean those that are sensitive to this are hopefully deterred from the theatre by the title alone (hello?). As first-rate a film as this is, it is not for everyone.
Why adopt Esther? Kate and John Coleman already have two children - sweet five-year old deaf-mute daughter Max, and not quite as sweet, older son Daniel. Plus the couple is recovering from 1) her recent miscarriage, 2) her alcohol abuse and 3) his infidelity years back. Again why adopt Esther? Frankly, we’re not sure. And when we meet Esther at the orphanage, complete with her Little Bo Peep outfit and antisocial behavior, we’re definitely not sure. But alas, she’s apparently the one that will round out the Coleman family.
Esther’s Mary Jane shoes barely hit the front steps of her new school before she’s causing trouble on the playground – you know little things like pushing other children off the slide and breaking their legs. Typical kids stuff. Both Kate and her son Daniel begin to suspect ‘there’s something wrong with Esther’, whereas little Max is glued to her new big sister and John is oblivious if not annoying blind to what’s going on.
Here’s a fun scene. Esther convinces the family therapist she’s normal and that mom is to blame. While Kate and John are meeting with the therapist, Esther is down the hall in the bathroom loudly wailing and smashing her fists and on the stall doors.
Okay so playground mishaps, sudden musical genius, creepy dinner table mutterings, fine. But the real horror begins when Sister Abigail from the orphanage that adopted Esther out comes by to check on things. After bludgeoning her to death with a hammer in front of little Max (this is very disturbing), Esther coolly and in her Russian accent and adult tone directs her sister to “stop crying, grab a foot and help get her off the road”. Hint: even adoring baby sisters have their limits.
The lengths Ester will go to to sabotage this family continue to stagger…even breaking her own arm in a vice to incriminate Kate as a child abuser. But rest assured, in the end the reason why she’s doing these things is revealed.
Do the Coleman’s survive? Does their adopted child just need more time to adjust? Let’s just say ‘there’s (more than a little) something wrong with Esther’
Horror Queen Says: Bloody Thumbs Up!
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