Orphan

Movie: Orphan

I saw it on: August 3, 2009

Cast: Peter Sarsgaard, Vera Farmiga, Isabelle Fuhrman, CCH Pounder, Jimmy Bennett

Genres: Horror, Thriller

Synopsis: Devastated by the loss of their unborn baby, Kate (Vera Farmiga) and John (Peter Sarsgaard) decide to adopt.  At the orphanage, they make a connection with a rather odd little girl named Esther  (Isabelle Fuhrman).  Soon the adopt her and bring her home to raise with their son and daughter.  Esther quickly proves to be not-quite-normal.  She makes the girl from The Bad Seed seem almost cuddly by comparison.

Although both of the other children are quickly aware of Esther’s dark side, they are too terrorized to do anything.  To complicate matters, Kate has a history of alcohol abuse; so when she starts getting suspicious – no one believes her.

Things build to quite a bloody climax with a really shocking - at least for me – twist.

My two cents:  With a lot of these evil-child movies, I find it a stretch to believe a young child could do a lot of the things they do.  This movie actually had a pretty good explanation for everything. 

Esther was a truly evil child.  It made me cringe to see some of the things she did.

One thing that seems to be standard for this kind of movie is that one adult recognizes that something is wrong with the bad seed – but no one believes the adult.  Same thing in this movie.  But that does not keep this from being a top-notch horror thriller.

If you like horror movies, don’t miss this one.