THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
It is neat for adults to adopt children, whether or not they already have one. That is until it's known that the child is what it seems.
PLOT
Orphan follows Katherine ‘Kate’ Coleman, a recovering alcoholic who lives with her husband John, their 12 year old son Daniel and 5 year old daughter Max whose deaf. Her relationship has been feeling strained since the miscarriage of her third child Jessica. So the two decide to recapture the spark by adopting a child at St Mariana’s Home for Girls. There, they adopt a 9 year old Russian girl named Esther, who wears ribbons she refuses to take off. Although the majority of the family openly welcome her, Daniel chooses to be distant towards her. As time progresses since the adoption, Esther is shown to be not as innocent as she appears: She reveals to be knowledgeable about sex when walking in on Kate and John. When she’s not at school, she acts hostile towards the kids by killing a pigeon and intentionally injuring a school bully named Brenda (Jamie Young). One day, the family gets a visit from the head of the orphanage, Sister Abigail (CCH Pounder). Since Kate had shared what happened to Brenda, she shares that Esther survived a house fire that killed her last adoptive family. When Esther overhears this, she later causes her to crash her car, kill her with a hammer and force Max to help her hide the evidence in Daniel’s treehouse. She then threatens to castrate Daniel when he saw her at the treehouse. The day after this, Esther tries to cause Max to die in a car crash in front of school, setting the car on neutral and releasing the brake, staging it as if it’s Kate’s fault. However, the girl ends up being unharmed when the car crashes into a pile of snow. Although Kate is sure that it wasn’t at fault, being more suspicious of who she adopted, John chooses not to side with her. His bond with Esther would become stronger, as she claims that she doesn’t feel loved. Wanting to do something ‘nice’, she gives her a bouquet of white roses. But Kate quickly realizes that she cut them from the garden she dedicated for baby Jessica. When she confronts her about it, she roughly grabs her arm in distress, knowing that she did it on purpose. Esther further worsens her image by breaking her own and continuing the blame on Kate. This puts the mother in such a stressful position that she considers drinking again, but stops herself from relapsing. However, Esther would then show John the spare bottle of wine she didn’t get rid of. This would lead to him and Kate’s therapist Doctor Browning (Margo Martindale) to convince her to go to rehab. John even threatens to divorce her if she doesn’t go within a week. Not wanting the family to be broken, Daniel takes the opportunity to confront Max about Esther’s actions. She confesses to it by showing him drawn pictures of what she’s done. They plan to get the evidence from the treehouse to put her away in jail. When he sneaks into the treehouse the next day, he doesn’t find it because Esther moved it after overhearing his plan. She then tries to kill him by lighting the treehouse on fire, which also destroys the evidence. He is able to get out through the window, but gets knocked unconscious as a result of jumping off. Esther almost tries again by planning to smash his head with a rock, but Max stops her. When Kate sees the fire, she quickly takes her son to the hospital. Although neither she nor John are sure who started the fire, she puts her foot down by declaring that she won’t go to rehab until Esther is out of the house. As this conversation occurs, Esther tries to suffocate Daniel, but it backfires when he gets stabilized afterwards. Kate then slaps her when she quickly deduces that she tried to kill her son. This obviously does not look good on her end as this causes the orderlies to sedate her. When John takes the girls home, Esther takes the opportunity to try to seduce him as she dresses provocatively, but he rightfully turns her down and threatens to take her back to the orphanage. Back at the hospital, Kate gets a call from an Estonian psychiatrist named Doctor Varava (Karel Roden). He worked at the Saarne Institute, where Esther last resided before her first adoption. He reveals the shocking truth of Esther: Her real name is Leena Klammer, is 33 years old and looks like a little girl due to the hormonal disorder known as ‘hypopituitarism’. She chooses to pose as such to appear the least suspected when committing her past crimes of murder, which included the last family that adopted her. Failing to seduce John, she removes her disguise (her ribbons that covered her scars from trying to escape straitjackets, and her fake teeth which reveal her actual teeth to be mature as well) and kills him. As Kate leaves the hospital, she rushes home to save her family. Upon arrival, she is heartbroken when finding her husband dead, but becomes more determined to save Max. Leena tries to kill her with John’s gun, but grazes her arm. As Kate hides above her glass garden, she finds Max hiding. She is able to save her from Leena by throwing herself onto her from the glass ceiling. As they leave the house, Leena escapes just when authorities arrive. She pursues them near a frozen pond, fighting the mother with the knife she used to kill John. Max tries to save her mom by shooting at Esther with the gun, but she accidentally misses and hits the ice. A majority of it breaks and both women fight for their lives underwater. When Kate reaches the surface again, Leena tries one last time to kill her. Ultimately, Kate finishes her off by kicking her head so hard it breaks her neck, leaving her body to sink into the pond. The film ends with her and her daughter being met by the police with the horror finally over for their family.
THOUGHTS
As a kid, I was very picky with the horror movies I chose to watch because I was trying to minimize the nightmares. I got convinced to check this out from the poster alone because I knew that this was gonna be different. By the time it was over, the only thing I was able to say was 'Holy crap'. This was back shit crazy and I respect it for being that. Director Jaume Collet Serra puts us in an experience that is genuinely creepy. When you listen to the bone chilling score by John Ottman, you just know that things are not gonna go the way you expect. Every time I try to figure it out before the whole puzzle, the pieces go in places I would've not guessed. To me, I think this movie truly works when you catch on to its theme on how family can overcome obstacles when they're all in with trust. Families aren't ever perfect, yet we put up each other's flaws because we know that doesn't define them deep down. Seeing a family go through this near their breaking point made the whole movie worth it. Seeing a journey that starts tragic but ends triumphant would've not been so effective without a well acted cast to keep the ball rolling. Vera Farmiga straight up gives my favorite performance in her career. She gives her all in playing Kate as a woman whose been such a ringer of grief. She went so far with her alcoholism that she almost crashed into a pond that could've killed Max had John not saved them. That moment became something that people including her husband chose to define her, without giving her a true chance to redeem herself. As a mother, she had so much love to give to Jessica and felt she would be fully healed if she were to give it all to an adopted kid. This thoughtful plan may have backfired, but it still changed her for the better as final trial and tribulation made her stronger than ever. It is definitely hard to like John because Peter Sarsgard very minded self minded in the strain. Of course he wants the marriage to survive, but his decision to not hear out his wife is what drifts them apart. Had he looked at things in her perspective just once, then he maybe he'd still be standing. You arguably feel bad for Max the most in the situation because Aryana Engineer portrays her as the most innocent of the family. She simply wanted a sister and got the worst one ever. Although she visibly scared shitless of what she sees, she is arguably the bravest of the family for being able to stand up to her tormentor twice. Now Jimmy Bennett makes it hard as well when it comes to trying to like Daniel because he quickly decides to act like a brat. Well that's because he's getting reflected by someone he doesn't even know. Of course he overreacts at first, but his jealousy would be a blessing in disguise since he sees the true colors before hell broke loose. It became a relief that he survived his demise because kids can be difficult, but they do not deserve to die. Of course, this movie wouldn't work without a villain that will be remembered in infamy, that is Esther/Leena. Isabelle Fuhrman is goddamn incredible for portraying this character as the two faced. At first, she fools us all when acting as quiet and friendly little girl, but in reality, we're caught off guard that she's really a dwarf that is an antisocial sadist. Seeing her flip the switch at every chance possible and act so calm with her vile actions are what make the movie so terrifying. Even her paintings gave me goosebumps. Seeing her pursue John intimately proves that she only desires to be loved, but her true colors prevent her from ever getting that. And seeing a villain fail at getting what they want is when they're at their most evil. Even though she gets taken care of, no one is gonna forget what a monster she was. There is no doubt that this movie will gain more respect the older it gets, but even I can admit that one as good as this has moments where I'm scratching my head. These moments kept occurring when the characters make the non smart decisions. For instance, Kate does the right thing dumping the bottle of wine, but why would she keep the spare? You could buy into the defense that she likely would've kept it for guests, but they don't seem to have that much guests before Esther enters the story. And why didn't she check John about the institute? Of course he doesn't budge at the hospital, but since people are bound to read texts, he would've likely looked into it during work. The same mistake she makes with Sister Abigail is believing the term 'institute' would be used for an orphanage. It's like they've never heard of mental hospitals before. The only mistakes Esther makes is keeping the bible around. The bible is the Macguffin that reveals the truth of her and we need an excuse for it to come out, but if she has been so good at keeping her cover, there is no need to keep mementos of your actions. And why would she risk killing Max in public? Of course not enough people suspect her, but even she is gambling with her luck because at least a bus driver or another parent could've saw her. And seeing Kate snoop in her room made me wonder how come John doesn't do the same when it came to Daniel's treehouse? Of course he doesn't get suspicious of Esther until it's too late, but if he wanted to grasp what Daniel was going through, he likely would've found the evidence on accident. Speaking of which, I was rooting for that kid the whole time, but even he makes way too many mistakes. I know kids learn from them, but it's like he doesn't even know what he's doing. He has the right to be jealous about Esther, but it's ridiculous that he couldn't even give a legit insult aside from saying she's not his sister. His brain is basically farting for thinking cutting food in pieces is weird and mistaking an orphanage as a retard camp. There was even no point in referencing Transylvania if she claims to be from Romania. That was worse than him forgetting ASL during that same dinner scene. I then wonder how come he didn't tell anyone about the pigeon. This was before Sister Abigail died, so he had good leverage and basically lost it. And if we're gonna ice the cake, the biggest mistake he makes is speaking out loud to Max in private when planning to stop Esther. Had he not done that, Esther would not have overheard and later move the evidence. They both know ASL, so he didn't need to talk at all. Other than that, this is still one hell of a movie. In short, Orphan is the best horror movie of 2009 for being the boldest of the bunch and putting you on the edge of your seat. If you're contemplating on having kids, whether conceiving or adopting, let this movie prepare you for the worst.
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