Orphan Movie Review

Orphan (2009)

Rent Orphan on Amazon Video
Written by: David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick (screenplay), Alex Mace (story)
Directed by: Jaume Collet-Serra
Starring: Vera Farmiga, Peter Sarsgaard, Isabelle Fuhrman, CCH Pounder
Rated: R
Watch the trailer

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

Verdict
This is a solid horror movie with a good mystery and nice reveal. The tension builds as I wondered what is the twist. The ending falters on its own and as it tries to explain the premise.
It depends.

Review
With lots of foreshadowing, there is no doubt something is up with Esther. She's the recently adopted daughter of the Coleman's as they are trying to recover from the loss of a child.

They welcome Esther immediately, but there other two children aren't so quick accept her. I wasn't sure what was up with Esther. She definitely has sociopath tendencies that become psychopath territory. Things ramp up through the first hour as the mom begins to suspect something, but the father just goes with it. It's hard to buy. I get he wants to be welcoming, but there are a lot of "accidents" happening. That and how can you ignore your own kids? Do these parents not know the signs of distress?

The nun that brokered the adoption shows up and lets them know that bad luck follows Esther. People around her die. That would have been something I'd want to know before the adoption. The mom is researching Esther, you'd think that could be something she found on her own.
Esther knows way more than a nine year old should and is completely detached from everything. The parents shrug and chalk it up to being adopted. Anyone else not in a movie would have known something was wrong.

This definitely has some shock factor moments. I like the reveal, but the moment of explanation for why Esther does this doesn't work. It's not a bad first half, but the second half drops the ball.