8.0

Orphan

Evil children are EVIL! It's that plain and simple and the movie Orphan is definitely one of those scary thrillers that fits this mould perfectly. The story revolves around a happily married Connecticut couple, Kate (Vera Farmiga) and John Coleman (Peter Sarsgaard) who after a personal family tragedy decide to adopt a child into their family.

With already two children in their family, they believe that Esther (Isabella Fuhrman) will be the perfect solution for their happy family and may hopefully drown (pun intended) some of their sorrows. As they visit a Catholic orphanage, John is captivated by the maturity of Esther, one of the children their and is intrigued by her unusual paintings.

Although Kate feels something strange about Esther, she eventually succumbs to John's choice and she is indoctrinated into their family. Of course, this innocent little Russian girl has her own secrets and when Kate starts to investigate, things slowly begin to go awry.

At first, it's the subtle things that raise alarm bells for Kate such as a one of Esther's school colleagues accidentally falling off at the playground or why Esther refuses to let anyone see her neck without a scarf.

Indeed it's quite strange, however director Jaume Collet-Serra definitely hams up with these little subtleties in the movie which will eventually make you start holding your arm rest at the nefarious nature of Esther.

Of course Esther knows how the system works and when Kate turns her hunches into a full blown investigation, their new addition to the family starts to turn her step father John against his wife which forces her to return to her alcoholic self.

Some of the revelations in the film were shocking and I must admit that I was not expecting the ending, even though subtle hints were made throughout the movie. Of course, the star of Orphan is definitely Isabella Fuhrman who plays the perfect evil child and the makeup at the end of the movie is priceless.

Definitely not one to be watched alone! This is how horror thrillers should be done!

Special Features

Additional Scenes - including a chilling alternate ending.