Orphan Review

Orphan review.

Orphan is remembered for its batshit crazy twist. A recent prequel may have more fun with the setup, but the original Orphan is a well-crafted piece of entertainment in its own right. The cast takes a wild scenario seriously…and the movie is all the better for it.

Classic movie reviews will contain spoilers

Orphan

Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra

Screenplay by David Leslie Johnson

Starring Vera Farmiga, Peter Sarsgaard, Isabelle Fuhrman and CCH Pounder

Orphan Review

Orphan came out 13 years ago. Spoilers are obviously going to be a part of this review. If you’re reading this and somehow do not know the movie’s famous twist…stop reading and go watch Orphan right now. We’ll wait. It’s worth it. You’ll have the opportunity to experience the movie in a way that can only be had the first time. If you’ve seen Orphan once and know the twist…go watch it again right now. We’re already waiting for the other people anyway.

Those two groups of people watching Orphan are watching completely different movies. That’s what makes the twist so wonderful. First time viewers see a well-constructed plot about an evil kid and her newly adopted family. We’ve seen those movies before. Orphan is a pretty good one. Second time viewers are watching an insane person pull a darkly hilarious and violent con on the family.

You can’t blame the family for not knowing what is going on. We don’t know at first look either. It’s why the second look is so important to watching Orphan. It’s a movie that begs so hard for a rewatch that they made a second one that forces you to watch with the knowledge that Esther is not a child. Esther (Isabelle Fuhrman) is a 33-year-old psychotic dwarf who is pretending to be a child. Orphan: First Kill makes a meal out of you already knowing this. Orphan can be just as fun when you watch it a second time.

Kate (Vera Farmiga) and John (Peter Sarsgaard) adopt Esther after losing a baby in childbirth. They have two other children and hope Esther will complete their family. Their marriage has gone through many struggles. John was unfaithful. Kate is a recovering alcoholic. Their daughter nearly drowned and lost her hearing. And then they adopted an adult psychotic murderous dwarf who loves fire.

Most of Orphan is spent watching Esther break Kate down to the point that her therapist and husband believe she is a danger to the children. People have a hard time believing Kate’s concerns about their new daughter because of her own history. Farmiga is terrific as the mother who appears to be descending into madness…but is the only person who knows what’s going on.

The first watch of Orphan succeeds because we know that Kate is correct…but everything she says still sounds crazy. How could a little girl do all the things Kate accuses her of. Of course, we’ve been watching her do it…but it still is a hard sell coming from a woman who appears to be losing her mind.

Esther is a monster. Long before we know her secret, she comes across as the ultimate bad seed. She torments her siblings and forces them to remain silent. She murders the nun from her orphanage (CCH Pounder getting CCH Pounded). We learn she has done this before leaving a trail of bodies and fire in her wake. She succeeds in killing John. She nearly succeeds in killing her brother multiple times. Esther is an efficient, devious and intelligent little girl. We don’t suspect that her creative gifts and cleverness are out of place for a child because we’ve seen enough movies to believe these tropes.

Of course, there is a reason she can play perfect classical piano, paints like a professional and can think three steps ahead of everyone. We don’t learn why until the climax of Orphan. When that information drops it’s more stunning than it works as an explanation for questions you weren’t bothering to ask. That’s where the second viewing comes in.

When you revisit Orphan you get a much darker, unnerving and funny experience. The knowledge of who Esther is retroactively gives you a more entertaining movie. It’s admittedly nuts. The kind of crazy that you don’t usually find in studio horror movies. The kind of crazy that someone wisely made a whole movie out of 13 years later.

The thing that gets lost in all the talk of Orphan’s twist is that the movie is very well made before it. All the performances land and the suspense escalates at a perfect pace. If Esther had just been the stereotypical evil child, this still would have been a good movie. That it creates an entire second, and more fun, viewing experience elevates it to a great one.

Scare Value

Orphan: First Kill leans all the way into the absurdity of the story in a way that Orphan isn’t allowed to. It’s part of what makes repeat viewings of Orphan so much fun. Once you see the full insane picture painted underneath the surface you gain another layer of entertainment. The characters having no idea what they’ve taken into their home is more fun when you do. It works as a creepy dangerous kid movie the first time…and as something completely different every time after.

4/5