Horror Movie Review: Orphan

Today's movie is Orphan, released in 2009. I've been putting it off for a while, I knew how it ended but I didn't know if it would be enjoyable to watch or not. Hope you enjoy my review. Please read this previous post if you want to know more information.

This film begins with focusing on Kate, who has gone through tough times still dealing with the loss of a child and her alcoholism. She tries to work through it with her husband John, and they plan to adopt a child. They already have two children, a deaf girl Max and her older brother Daniel.

They finally make it to an orphanage to look at some girls. John meets Esther painting upstairs, and takes a immediate liking to her. So does Kate when they meet. Esther was originally from Russia, the family that brought her to America died in a house fire.

I always find it really strange in movies how people are able to adopt children as such a fast rate. I think it's three weeks in this film. In real life it takes a really long time, with lots of meetings between the parent and child to make sure everything is compatible. Esther even comments on their nice house! In real life she would have seen it a few times already.

So Esther comes home with Kate and John, and she seems to like everything. Max is really happy to get a sister, but Daniel is jealous. Esther gets teased at her new school because of her old fashioned ways (I think her outfits are lovely).

Slowly Esther shows a darker side. She pushes a bully down a slide, breaking her ankle. The nun, Sister Abigail, from the orphanage visits the house and tells Kate and John that trouble has a way of finding Esther. There were lots of incidents where someone got hurt by accident and Esther seemed to be there.

 

When the Sister Abigail leaves the house Esther and Max follow. Esther uses Max to stop the Sisters car, and then hits her over the head. She bullies Max into helping her hide the body.
Esther hides her bloodied clothes in the treehouse, where Daniel sees her leave. She later visits Daniel in his room and threatens him.

Kate and John take Esther to their therapist, on Kate's decision. Kate feels there is something off about Esther, but her fears are not confirmed by the therapist or John.
She later gets a call from one of the Sisters at the orphanage, asking if she had seen Sister Abigail because she hasn't been seen. Her body is found near the lake.

Kate becomes more paranoid about Esther, and wishes that she had more information about her background and where she came from.
Esther becomes more manipulative, doing things to Kate that make her look bad. It reaches a stage where Daniel is in hospital, hurt by Esther. Kate is also in hospital after attacking Esther, and John and the two girls are at the house. Things get worse from there.

Orphan started out really slow, and I didn't think it would get better or pick up. I'm glad I was wrong, I was interested in how far Esther would go. I had trouble feeling sorry for Kate. She's a privileged white woman, obviously rich with a husband and children.  I never got scared during this movie, more of a slight unease at how Esther manipulates everyone around her. I already knew how the movie ended, so I wasn't surprised at the 'twist'.
I loved the scenery of snow and ice, I always love to see snow falling. It was an interesting movie overall, and I would recommend it.

Scare factor: 0/5 I wasn't frightened at all.
Gore factor: 3/5 A bird got squished, and some stabbing later on. Good blood, but not horrible.
Boob factor: 2/5 Some sexual themes
OVERALL: 6/10 Enjoyable