Gory and somewhat repulsive killer kiddie flick. When their third child is stillborn it takes a toll on John (Sarsgaard) and Kate's (Farmiga) marriage and Kate's sanity as well, tipping her farther over the edge into alcoholism. So of course it makes sense (only in movie plot land) to decide it would be a great time to adopt. They choose extremely polite but obviously odd nine-year-old orphan Esther (Fuhrman) but Kate becomes increasingly alarmed that something evil lurks beneath the girl's prim facade. Passive-aggressive John (and everyone else) seems to think Kate is the one needing a timeout.
Due largely to the excellent work by Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard, Jaume Collet-Serra's Orphan is a surprisingly effective thriller that should deliver exactly what audiences expect from it. Bucking the trend of being just another "demon kid" movie, Orphan features a clever mix of honest emotion and ridiculous, over-the-top, ...Read More