Orphan

The latest entry within the increasingly crowded killer-kid horror subgenre, Orphan follows suburban couple Kate (Vera Farmiga) and John (Peter Sarsgaard) as they decide to adopt a nine-year-old girl named Esther (Isabelle Fuhrman) from a local orphanage – with trouble ensuing as Kate becomes increasingly convinced that there’s something just a little off about her new daughter. It’s a fairly conventional set-up that’s employed to primarily positive effect by director Jaume Collet-Serra, as the filmmaker does a nice job of infusing the proceedings with an appropriately ominous atmosphere that’s complemented by the uniformly impressive performances. Screenwriter David Johnson’s reliance on almost excessively familiar elements is thereupon not nearly as problematic as one might’ve assumed, with the progressively sinister actions of the central character going a long way towards sustaining the viewer’s interest through the film’s more overtly superfluous interludes (which, given a running time of over two hours, there are more of than entirely preferable). And as effective as both Farmiga and Sarsgaard are here, Orphan‘s success is ultimately due in large part to Fuhrman’s absolutely chilling work as Esther; armed with a creepy Russian accent and an antiquated dress sense, Fuhrman’s Esther immediately establishes herself as one of the most compelling and downright indelible screen villains to come around in quite some time (ie she’s just so evil). The inclusion of a twist ending that’s flat-out jaw-dropping in its audaciousness virtually justifies the entire movie’s existence by itself, and it subsequently goes without saying that Orphan definitively establishes itself as a better-than-average horror endeavor that’s an obvious cut above such similarly-themed efforts as Godsend and the recent Omen remake.

*** out of ****