Orphan Movie Review

Orphan

Movie Review

Do you remember what Christmas Eve was like as a child? Not the idealised version you remember now, mind you, but what it was actually like. I do. I would bounce around the house all day, like I had been tooting coke, wondering out loud – really loud – what santy would bring me the following morning. I feel sorry for my parents; if the day itself wasn't bad enough, they had had to put up with the building excitement – and annoyance – from the day they bought me my chocolate filled advent calendar. The real torture though, for all concerned, was bedtime. I didn't want to go, but my parents had some – ahem – things to take care of downstairs, so the sooner I was under the covers, the sooner they could get on with their appointed tasks and snatch three hours shuteye before I woke them.

The point of this story is that until I was in my teens I could almost guarantee that I would get little or no sleep that night. I would pass the hours looking at the ceiling, counting off the minutes until I would look at my alarm clock again. An agreed upon time for parent waking had been negotiated that day, and so I spent most of the time I wasn't tossing around the bed trying to decide how much earlier I could feasibly get them up, usually settling on just under half an hour. I'm sure there's something to be said for anticipation, and its ability to make an event sweeter, but I would have had a lot better time of things if I had been knocked out until the present opening. And watching Orphan, I was reminded of my annual childhood crescendos of anticipation.

I had somehow managed to be listening to a radio during most of the weeks film critic slots, and so had heard numerous times that although Orphan featured a lot of by the numbers Horror elements, it had a third act twist so different and ground shaking, that it apparently shook the entire critics screening from their cynical reverie. And that’s what drove me to see Orphan, a film which I would otherwise have left for the small screen.

The plot was as billed; standard Horror fare, albeit with a sampling of Thriller lobbed in. Kate (played by Vera Farmiga) and John Coleman (Peter Sarsgaard) are a middle aged, suburban American couple. They lose a child in utero before the film begins, although the movie opens with a horrendous, attention grabbing dream sequence depicting a fantastical version of the events. Flash-forward and the pair have decided to add to their two children – Max, their nearly deaf girl and their older (and somewhat dickish) son Daniel – by adopting. In steps the creepy Eastern European Orphan of the title, Esther. She charms the family, dad mostly, during their visit to a local Orphanarium, and they decide to wade straight in, signing papers to bring her home. Cue ever more strange goings on at the Coleman house and more than a few die-hardesque one-liners from Esther.

The most frustrating element of Orphan is that there's a lot of waiting involved. The plot never really unfolds fast enough to preclude the audience from thinking ahead. I used most of my downtime in between the long eerie tracking shots silences preceding jump scares to ponder story progression.

The thing is that the story in Horror films can, and probably should by nature, be pretty generic. Orphan is essentially a twist on the Omen, Shining, Children of the Corn line of strange child horror. It throws in the well worn “she was a horrible monster when you weren't here, but she's fine when you turn up. Why won't you believe me?” angle. A generic plot is acceptable, but it must at least move fast enough to bombard the audience to satisfaction. By and large, what sets successful horror flicks apart is a new and inventive implementation of the staple genre ideas, and how Zeitgeisty the film can be in holding a mirror up to current everyday fears. Orphan gets it’s pacing wrong, but succeeds in the latter, ploughing a new, or less used horror furrow.

Farmiga and Sarsgaard are a strange choice for the films leads. They're both from a background of generally smaller, less commercial fare, which fall outside typical Hollywood genre pieces. I can only imagine that three things brought them to Orphan. The chance to work with an emerging talent like director Jaume Collet-Serra, the aforementioned third act twist, and having an opportunity to bring something a bit more real to the current teens-being-butchered horror market created by Hostel and others.

So, what about the twist? Is it worth the price of entry? In other words, is it in the same league as Psycho, The Usual Suspects, The Shining and countless other memorable shock endings? In short, no. But, it is different, and well executed, and in horror, that’s nearly the whole battle. Probably the biggest compliment I can pay the ending is that I had managed – probably inadvertently – to guess the correct outcome, but dismissed it because I thought it was too far fetched. When it actually occurred though, the conceit felt natural, and kept the audience along for the ride.

It may be the adults' names at top billing, but the most mature performance of the film belongs to Isabelle Fuhrman. The twelve year old, in her second movie, reacts excellently to being put in a major role. Her portrayal of the hell child Esther could very well have ruined the movie if her tender years had shown, but she acquits herself admirably; her Russian accent is spot on and tonally she never puts a foot wrong. The child must have chameleons for parents.

The direction is well worth mentioning. One of the only non-script elements which helps Orphan to rise above the also-rans of the genre is Jaume Collet-Serra’s treatment of the material. It’s just different enough to warrant attention, without drawing that same attention from the narrative. The sense of style injected by a hundred subtle elements such as the sound of Max’s hearing aids being taken out makes the film more watchable. Finally, there is a slow motion kick just before the credits roll which made me wish I had a DVD pause function.

Was the end of Orphan like opening Christmas presents? Not exactly. So, I suppose that in that respect my analogy falls down. But Orphan is definitely worth a look if horror is your bag, and it certainly beats the squidgy clothes presents under any childhood Christmas tree.

6.5/10