"Sugar and spice and everything nice... that's what little girls are made of..."
Most folks have grown up hearing that quaint nursery rhyme at one point or another. However, the new psychological thriller "Orphan" gleefully twists and turns that cute childhood description on it's innocent ear... with very little sugar nor portions of tasty spice.
Instead, "Orphan" serves up it's little girl title character with plenty of murderous evil and sociopathic bloodlust... that would make even Damien himself cringe.
Actors Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard play a couple of emotionally battered parents still grieving the tragic loss of their youngest third child... although they still have two wonderful children whom they deeply love. Farmiga's character, we learn harbors deep personal guilt about the loss and... at one point, found alcoholic solace for her grief at the bottom of a bottle.
She still mourns her lost child by lovingly tending to a garden bouquet of white roses... which also serves as a memorial resting place for some of her lost child's burial ashes. This is a married couple trying to come to terms with their grief... and yet, move on as well.
Sarsgaard's father character believes, despite some moderate reservations by Farmiga, that some measure of solace will come in the adoption of a new young child. The couple ultimately ends up adopting a nine-year old Russian orphan named Esther - expertly played by newcomer, Isabelle Fuhrman.
The couple is immediately smitten with Esther who displays a sweetness and polite maturity that quickly endears her to the emotionally desperate couple looking to bring new life and love into their home... and fill the apparent void left by their child's untimely death.
On the surface, Esther is truly all sweetness and light. However, there is a strangeness to the child that is also apparent, yet understandably overlooked by the enthusiastic new adoptive parents. Esther wears enjoys outdated, old clothes... and insists on wearing decorative cloth bands around her neck and wrists... which later in the film, will reveal a dark secret.
She is also oddly mature in much of her manner. However, the parents are willing to overlook these quirks... as they are told Esther has had a difficult and traumatic past leading to her being an orphan.
Farmiga and Sarsgaard welcome little Esther into their home with open arms. However, the reaction from their two blood children is a mixed bag. Their youngest hearing-impared daughter, Max ( played by a wonderfully gifted Aryana Engineer ) embraces Esther with unabashed openness and love for her new older stepsister.
However, older son, Daniel ( Jimmy Bennett ) is more skeptical of the new addition to the family. Daniel finds Esther's odd look and "sweeter than sweet" demeanor to be creepy... not to mention, the undercurrent of jealousy that sets in as he sees his father being smitten by the new daughter and the attention he lavishes on Esther over him.
As time wears on, Farmiga too begins to sense odd things happening... as it becomes apparent that smiling little Esther is also manipulating the couple against one another. Esther says shocking, matter of fact things to Farmiga's mother character that seem out of place for a child... yet, when Sarsgaard's father appears on the scene, Esther turns on the innocent charm. In Sarsgaard's blind, almost frustrating to the audience, affection for the child... he is unwilling to see the suspicious signs that become apparent to Farmiga and their son, that there's something about Esther that is truly amiss.
Indeed, Esther soon shows her darker side in carefully calculated moments as the film evolves. When Daniel accidentally cripples a pigeon with his paintball gun... Esther coldly urges him to put the wounded bird out of it's misery. When the emotionally shaken Daniel refuses, Esther does the deed for him... seemingly without emotion, she smashes the bird into pulp with a large rock under the guise of mercy.
However, Esther's cold eyes show this "act of mercy" is certainly not new ground for this child. She kills with ease and without a hint of remorse. As new revelations about Esther develop. the orphan keeps her new step-siblings in check through a series of acts of intimidation that are frightening to watch.
Eventually, Farmiga's own suspicions about Esther increase and she begins asking questions of the orphanage about the child's past. It turns out wherever Esther has been in the past... bad things soon followed. What transpires next is a series of increasing events that result in near fatal accidents, fiendish intimidation, and suspicious deaths... all the while, Esther is nearby.
We the audience, and the family's young children are soon privy to the fiendish truth about Esther that the parents are slow to realize and discover. Sarsgaard especially is clueless and reluctant to accept his own wife's suspicions... driving a long dormant wedge between them.
When Esther shows up watching the couple making love... and the child later tells Farmiga what the couple was doing in very un-childlike candor... Sarsgaard still refuses to see anything is amiss and instead accuses his wife of paranoia, jealousy and even a return to her former alcoholism.
His blindness will ultimately have devastating consequences for the family... leading to a deadly and brutal conclusion. The film final act ends on a surprising twist that you may figure out before it's revealed... but only at the last moment. It's a twist that is still quite satisfying... even if you do figure it out... before it actually plays out on-screen.
"Orphan" is not the first film of this type... nor even the best. Perhaps the best film of this killer-child genre was 1956's Oscar nominated "The Bad Seed" starring Patty McCormick as a sweet faced child with a penchant for cold blooded homicide to get what she wants.
Many other and sometimes lesser quality films about evil children have followed in "The Bad Seed's" prestigious wake... from "Children of the Damned" and the "Damien / Omen" films... to "The Good Son" starring a maturing Maculay Culkin. In "Orphan", we get a hybrid of the best of the genre, coupled with some predictable, but nevertheless frightening moments.
Director Jaume Collet - Sera will undoubtedly be criticized by some as drawing from a grab bag of fright movie cliches... doors you expect someone to be hiding behind suddenly closed to reveal nothing... or other similar visual tricks to make one anticipate; and then, either jump in horror... or gasp in relief. However, such tricks work in this film. They especially work when you have an effective cast that makes the cliched material scarier and more frightening on the screen... than perhaps on the script page.
Vera Farmiga is convincing as the step mother coping with her grief... and later, trying to protect her family against the unholy young terror that is threatening her family. Aryana Engineer as little Max is a delight. She conveys an innocence and convincing fear in a role where, as playing a hearing-impaired child... she barely utters a sound. Yet, her small frightened young face, her demeanor and her eyes speak volumes.
However, it is 12-year old Isabelle Furhman who runs away with this film. Her sweet, cooing childlike orphan character... which alternates with scenes depicting her cold, soulless eyes and emotionless voice is a chilling transformation to watch.
Her performance, especially in the film's final act is frighteningly mature in more ways than one. Perhaps her best accomplishment as an actress for me in this film... is that Furhman portrays this child orphan as a character you cannot wait to see get her comeuppance ... that is, if she truly ever does.
"Orphan" is a fun, unexpectedly frightening thriller... albeit filled with some cliches from other films in this genre, but nevertheless well executed by a fine cast.
As the film's tag line appropriately says, "There's something wrong with Esther"
... but, not delivering the chills and thrills... isn't one of them.
For more info about TV entertainment reporter / film critic, Tim Estiloz visit : www.Examiner.com and video reviews at Boston Latino TV : http://bostonlatino.tv/ - Visit Tim's website at : www.TimEstiloz.com