The MovieSite — Orphan

Orphan

There's something wrong with Esther.

A year ago, a young couple's third child was stillborn. The mother went through some trauma, and now seems to have recovered. The couple decide to adopt a child, and settle on a Russian girl who is pretty, charming and talented. However, as she settles in to her new family and school, it becomes apparant that she is not all she appears to be, and has a decidely evil streak... which the parents have trouble coming to terms with, even as their other children are increasingly at risk.

120 minutes, No persons under 16 (Language, Sex, Violence)
Detective/Mystery, Drama, Horror, Thriller.

Credits

Cast

Vera Farmiga, Peter Sarsgaard, Isabelle Fuhrman, CCH Pounder, Jimmy Bennett, Margo Martindale, Karel Roden, Aryana Engineer

Director

Jaume Collet-Serra

Screenplay

David Johnson, Alex Mace

Music

John Ottman

Cinematography

Jeff Cutter

Editing

Timothy Alverson

Sound formats

Dolby Digital, Sony Dynamic Digital Sound, DTS

Soundtrack

Not available

Made in

2009

Produced by

Warner Bros. Pictures, Dark Castle Entertainment, Appian Way, Studio Babelsberg Motion Pictures, Studio Canal, DCP Orphan Productions, Don Carmody Productions

SA Distributor

Nu Metro

FPB Report (SA)
Genre	Horror, drama
Language	Strong, fairly infrequent
Nudity	Brief sexual nudity — breasts, pubic area in drawing
Sex	Strong simulated sex and sexual conduct, seduction
Violence	Strong psychological and physical violence, bloody, fairly graphic and gory
Prejudice	None
Blasphemy	None
Drug abuse	Brief use, infrequent, in context
Comments	None
These details are supplied by the FPB. If you have a problem with any of the above, please take it up directly with the FPB. Read the Classification Guidelines.

ScreenIt Report (USA)

Sex / Nudity

Violence

Blood / Gore / Gross

Guns /
Weapons

Profanity

Alcohol / Drugs

Smoking

Disrespectful /
Bad Attitude

Imitative Behaviour

Frightening /
Tense Scenes

Jump Scenes

Tense Family Scenes

Music (Scary/Tense)

Music (Inappropriate)

Topics to talk about

Ratings

Scale (Max)

International Media

Box Office (USA)Pete Hammond This kitschy horror item about a nice suburban couple with two kids whose adoption of an orphaned Russian child turns out to be a not-so-hot move 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 unleashed.

Chicago Sunday TimesRoger Ebert Rosemary would have been happy to have this baby. Here is a shamelessly effective horror film based on the most diabolical of movie malefactors, a child.

eye Weekly (Canada)Adam Nayman A bad-taste classic in waiting, Jaume Collet-Serra’s Orphan restages The Good Son with more sodomy and a little Russian émigré in place of Macaulay Culkin.

ReelViews (USA)James Berardinelli Although the picture concludes with the expected kick-ass one-liner, it feels hollow and pointless. It would be harder to find a more dark and joyless thriller on the market than this one.

ScreenIt (USA)C. Fuchs Orphan might feel just like its title once it leaves theaters and the company of viewers willing to go along for the over-the-top ride.

Metacritic.com25 critics

RottenTomatoes.com120 critics

RottenTomatoes.comTomatometer While it has moments of dark humor and the requisite scares, Orphan fails to build on its interesting premise and degenerates into a formulaic, sleazy horror/thriller.

Internet (IMDB)4449 Netizens Excellent horror thriller!

Average .. 52%

Trailer

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