Vera Farmiga, Peter Sarsgaard, Isabelle Fuhrman

A husband and wife who recently lost their baby adopt a 9-year-old girl who is not nearly as innocent as she claims to be.

Flixster Users

65% liked it

830,958 ratings

Critics

55% liked it

133 critics

R, 2 hrs. 3 min.

Directed by: Jaume Collet-Serra

Release Date: July 24, 2009

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DVD Release Date: October 27, 2009

Stats: 23,172 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (23,172)


  • November 8, 2009
    A cool movie about an evil little girl. I liked it more than The Omen. Reminiscent of "The Good Son", eh??? The burning treehouse scene is a new classic! The frozen pond scene works well too. The girl's secrets are a shocker. Quite well done and well acted too.
  • November 3, 2009
    Orphan is a strange movie. It is riddled with bad kid horror cliches, true, but it takes just as many audacious chances and they almost always work out. The gallery of absurd events that unfold could have turned the movie into a campy howler, but the acting is strong enough to an...( read more)chor it into actual drama and the more unusual tidbits come across more like intentional black comedy. It isn't really an intelligent movie, and the above-average dialogue still hosts a few groaners ("I'M NOT YOUR FUCKING MOMMY", lifted from The Ring 2 of all places), but dubious material was placed in front of Jaume Collet-Serra and he did a pretty damn decent job pulling it together into something watchably trashy. Your reaction to Orphan will probably be heavily influenced by the circumstances of your viewing: are you with friends? Are they not easily scared? Do you have alcohol, or at least the intent to watch a bad horror movie? More likely than not, this will end up acting as your group's late-night MST3K fodder.

    If you choose to experience Orphan as a serious film, well, you'll probably still be having a few chuckles. But Vera Farmiga is bizarrely effective here, effortlessly communicating the horror that creeps into her life with Esther's advent. It seems inappropriate to compare this movie to Rosemary's Baby, but her performance is just as effective as Mia Farrow's, no joke. This is an especially impressive feat considering that the material she has in front of her is a lot more bizarre than the former film's. The scene stealer here, obviously, is Isabelle Fuhrman. Her Esther is such a delightful horror confection; menacing, morbidly amusing, threateningly violent and wholly physical, Fuhrman leaves Patti McCormack and Macaulay Culkin in the dust. The character's psychology is pretty crude, but for a 12-year old to get so thoroughly entrenched in it is nothing short of fantastic. Also of note is Aryana Engineer, who I'm guessing is no older than 6 but is the cutest little girl you'll see in a movie all year. The only disappointment here, surprisingly, is Peter Sarsgaard. This obviously read out as a paycheck gig to him, and a lazy and confused performance ensues. Is John a dick, or is he just swallowed up by stress? He communicates, without much of a good reason, the former.

    Anyway, I'm fairly sure this was a flop: the budget seemed high, the marketing push was hard and it didn't make all that much money. I think that shows what a sad place R-rated horror is in right now - not to call Orphan a paragon of the subset, but if this is the only thing the studios thought would get asses in seats, then I guess this movie's failure means we're going to have to be looking toward straight-to-DVD releases for a while. I, for one, am glad that an anomaly like Orphan got such a wide release. It's conventional while still being unabashedly weird, lovingly crafted, character-oriented, and if you're into that sort of thing it has a really wicked final-act twist. It's a little overlong, and the climax could have used some tightening, but Orphan goes down smoothly and is sure to entertain in any capacity.
  • November 3, 2009
    SO creepy! The ending is a shocker. The girl who played Esther did a very good acting job.
  • November 1, 2009
    "There's something wrong with Esther"

    A husband and wife who recently lost their baby adopt a 9-year-old girl who is not nearly as innocent as she claims to be.

    REVIEW

    Like "Joshua" in estrogen...( read more), "Orphan" not only shares its similarity with George Ratliff's thriller via featuring a precociously villainous juvenile, but also because it stars Vera Farmiga as a mother at the receiving end of her child's diabolical manipulations. Jaume Collet-Serra crafts a mildly diverting hybrid of "The Omen" and "Swimfan" though the proneness of David Leslie Johnson's script to adhere to cheap horror conventions undercuts whatever interesting psychological thriller about a gradually imploding family that stirs underneath.

    Played with vicious adequacy by Isabelle Fuhrman, Esther is blissfully welcomed into the Coleman household in a snowy middle-of-nowhere house. Kate (Farmiga), a former alcoholic still reeling from the death of their unborn third child, and John (Peter Sarsgaard), a husband with loyalty issues regarding his wife, nevertheless wholeheartedly accepts Esther as part of their family. Their adopted daughter is gleefully cordial, paints cheery images, eager to learn the piano, and -- for a nine-year old Russian who has just spent a year in the US -- speaks very good English. The mantra "too good to be true," however is slowly evidenced, as the titular daughter starts to react violently to school bullies and casually drops the F-bomb as if it were a customary lexicon for people her age.

    Embodied by John's imperious refusal to see something is wrong with the things around him to the point of being laughable, "Orphan" ultimately plays on overly familiar genre tunes that rely too much on foreseeable shock moments and questionable logic of its characters to deliver most of its scares. Collet-Serra, despite the obvious lack of faith that the material would provide the spooks without resorting so much to shock tactics, at least capably maintains an ominous aura that accompanies his villain's innocence largely through Fuhrman's calm, faux-Manichaean scowls and Oedipus cajolery, and Farmiga's gameness to provide her character with more depth than what it's actually called for. Yet despite being ultimately entertaining and having a potential to be more intelligent, it frustratingly pursues a well-trodden path with such earnestness. "There's nothing wrong with being different," remarks Esther early on. Strange, though, that "Orphan" doesn't share the same belief.
  • October 28, 2009
    The horror genre is really at it's rise again. Let's just hope it stays this way and grow as it did in the mid 90's, before it fell apart partially due to that PG-13 crap that was help started by The Sixth Sense. Starting from a little more than a year ago, horror's making a come...( read more)back in a major way, simply for the fact that it's sticking to it's traditional rules again. And for the sayers who complain consistently saying that "you don't need "gore" to be scary", well, I couldn't agree with you more. No argument there, this debate is tossed out the window. Shit, you don't even need a drop of blood to be scary. But come on people! This is one subject I'll debate with you till the day I die. And "Orphan" being a great example, along with many other great horror films, one good mention being "The Shining", we need "R" ratings for this type of genre, period. In order to be scared you need to be convinced first, and how so if no one such as uses the "F" word one single time. No realism in the dialogue? Not even a "fuck" or "shit" word? Hell, I feel safe now! No boundaries can be pushed to extremes, not even the hope of so, knowing it's already a PG-13 horror film. And because of no fearing "realism", ALL worries to the side...Get what I'm saying? This is real life people. And life is scary. To make a horror film scary, or even slightly intense, it needs to be "real" as well.

    "It's one of the most disgusting developments in the last few years; the whole notion of a PG-13 horror movie to me is a contradiction in terms. It's like having a XXX Disney picture. It doesn't work. To me, you don't have to throw blood around in every scene, but there has to be a sense, and this is not my quote, it's Wes Craven's quote. Wes says that, When you go into a horror movie, you need to feel that you're in the hands of a madman. Now what madman makes a PG-13 picture, right? Your horror-movie madman doesn't neaten up all the edges and make it all nice for mommy. They [studios] do it because they want to bring in younger audiences and make more money. But they don't make better movies."
    - Clive Barker

    Back to the Orphan. What a fantastic horror film this was! The tension never let's up, and the scenes keep getting better and better, almost like having 25 short, separate, tense horror films. What I love about Jaume Collet-Serra, director of the very much underrated "House of Wax", is he knows how to build up his characters, so much, that we pertain to a level of understating so strong of he or she's underlying emotions. Think about it. It took about 45 minutes for House of Wax to start unraveling it's wrath of terror. And why? Because Jaume Collet-Serra lets us study his characters first, and equants them to us on a certain level where we can make the right judgment when their emotions matter most. Same here with the Orphan. And that's what I call "good filmaking" my friends. Character development first...the obsticals later.

    Orphan is smart, witty, intense, and occasionally funny. A horror movie that's done right! We're even treated with a great, original twist in the end, one you probably won't see coming. It's a fun thrill ride, and Esther, flawlessly and strongly performed by the young, and undenyingly talented Isabelle Fuhrman, will probably go down as one of the most psychopathic, crazy bithes in horror movie history. I highly recommend the Orphan!

  • November 23, 2009
    kinda predictable.. but still good
  • November 22, 2009
    not bad..... she did preety good job...
  • November 22, 2009
    Pretty good but I loved "The Good Son" better which was what this movie was taken from.
  • November 22, 2009
    i want to see this movie on dvd again because i did not get to go when it came out
  • November 22, 2009
    It's a bit naff really. Very unrealistic and not enough action compared to most other modern horrors.

Critic Reviews


August 7, 2009
Nigel Andrews, The Financial Times

That director Jaume Collet-Serra made House of Wax, the Paris Hilton remake, does not bode well. But stars Vera Farmiga and Peter Saarsgard, as mum and dad, find a few frail pegs of humanity to hang t... full review

July 24, 2009
Kyle Smith, New York Post

Although reasonably, cheesily suspenseful, the movie takes a long time to get going. Its tagline, 'There's something wrong with Esther,' turns out to be a masterpiece of understatement. full review

July 24, 2009
Pete Hammond, Boxoffice Magazine

Has enough kinky Grand Guignol moments and scenes of sheer terror to make a quick killing at the box office--even though it borrows from just about every other Bad Seed flick Hollywood has ever unleas... full review

July 24, 2009
Claudia Puig, USA Today

It's a cut above most spooky-kid movies, with a twist that sets it apart. full review

July 24, 2009
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

So sloppy, so lowdown, so shameless and so entertaining, Orphan provides everything you might expect in a psycho-child thriller, but with such excess and exuberance that it still has the power to surp... full review

July 23, 2009
Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times

Overlong and overwrought, Orphan stays faithful to every cliché of the genre. full review

July 23, 2009
Ty Burr, Boston Globe

Director Jaume Collet-Serra moves Orphan along efficiently, doling out a 'boo!' shot every few minutes with mechanical professionalism. full review

July 23, 2009
Nick Schager, Slant Magazine

Despite director Jaume Collet-Serra's apt use of running children's laughter for jolt scares, the suspense generated from Esther's early lunatic behavior is of a mild, amusing variety. full review

July 23, 2009
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Here is a shamelessly effective horror film based on the most diabolical of movie malefactors, a child. full review

View more Orphan reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments


  • Muktidaya
    November 10, 2009
    Very good movie, I like it!!
  • HeadlessChook16
    November 3, 2009
    Yeah it was pretty good.
    Some of the thrilling bits got me annoyed.
    Typical plot, although twists make it a little more unique.
    A few bad acting moments apart from that an alright movie.
    It got my sister scared :]
  • billyvinson81
    November 3, 2009
    Interesting
  • jaxroxsox
    August 18, 2009
    does anyone know the name of the deaf girl actress? the little girl
  • VOS410
    August 9, 2009
    Phenomenal
  • liliecv1
    August 3, 2009
    very nice.
  • wonderwoman711
    July 25, 2009
    I'll give it 3 stars up. Reason: I saw the movie at the local AMC 8, either there was not much editing in the movie or the theatre received an unedited version. Reminded me of several of the Euro "B" horror films that are in my collection. In the beginning of the movie the frames bounced around and throughout the movie you could see the overhead microphones; found that to be a bit distracting. Were it not for the background music, I don't think I would have enjoyed it as much. Kept me on the edge of my seat though, I was constantly waiting from something to happen whenever someone would open the refrigerator door. Or whenever Kate was popping a pill in front of the medicine cabinet. The music assisted with the suspense. Storyline was great. Gotta love Ester!!! Love horror movies and I will be adding this one to my collection.

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

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Orphan Trivia


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