Orphan (www.the-usher.com)

"I love you Daddy"

After the loss of their third child, Kate (Farmiga) and John (Sarsgaard) decide to take that love they would have had for the child and give it to an adopted orphan. That orphan is 9-year-old Esther, a shy but gifted girl from Russia and Kate and John welcome her into their family. Connecting instantly with their youngest and hearing impaired daughter Max (Engineer) but Daniel (Bennett), their older son finds it hard to except her, especially when the kids at his school start picking on him because of her. All Esther wants to do is fit in with her new family but no one is going to stop her doing that.

The Hollywood horror movie has not been anything else but remakes and reimagining’s of 70s/80s classics but can a rare original movie bring back the scares?

When it comes to writing a horror movie set within the normal, non-supernatural world you can’t get worse than using an evil child as your protagonist. We can all come to terms with adults committing murder or doing some horrific things but when these are perpetrated by a child, there is an instant repulsion and element of fear that doesn’t feel right. The loss of innocence is something that we don’t want for any child but the notion that they can become evil, is truly terrifying and ‘Orphan’ plays on this.

Here we have a lonely and gifted Russian orphan called Esther, who is always left behind when potential parents come visiting. That is until John discovers her painting on her own and the two strike up a conversation. Introducing her to his wife Kate, the couple make the decision to bring Esther into their family. Even though they already have two children, a son called Daniel and a daughter called Max, who is hearing impaired, John and Kate think that have enough love to give to a third child. Esther isn’t the sweet little girl they thought she was however and when ‘accidents’ start happening at her school and at home, Kate starts to think that it is Esther who is behind them.

A premise like this needs a young actress to bring the role to life and become as frightening as she can possibly be at such a young age and Isabelle Fuhrman does just that. As Esther, she switching from sweet and innocence to complete psycho in an instant, making her one evil child that you won’t forget in a hurry. The parents are also pivotal and Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard are well cast as Kate and John. Jimmy Bennett and Aryana Engineer are also very good as the tormented brother and sister Daniel and Max, as is CCH Pounder as Sister Abigail, the head of the orphanage and the woman who becomes suspicious of Esther’s behaviour.

As a bad seed or evil child movie, ‘Orphan’ provides many a horrific moment and a twist that isn’t as obvious as you might think. With excellent performances from the cast, especially Isabelle Fuhrman as Esther, this is a suitably creepy movie that provides plenty a fright.

PICTURE & SOUND

The Blu-Ray disc presents the movie in High Definition widescreen 1:85 up to 1080p, with Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround sound.

BONUS FEATURES

Mama’s Little Devils: Bad Seeds and Evil Children (14.56 mins/HD)
Director Jaume Collet-Serra, producers Susan Downey and Joel Silver and stars Vera Farmiga, Isabelle Fuhrman and Peter Sarsgaard are joined by child study experts to talk about the movie and the impact of evil children within cinema.

Interviews (18.36 mins/SD)
Watch interviews with director Jaume Collet-Serra, producers Susan Downey and Joel Silver, Vera Farmiga, Peter Sarsgaard and Isabelle Fuhrman

Deleted Scenes and Alternate Endings (4.04 mins)
A collection of deleted scenes and alternate endings that suffer from the lack of a commentary or introduction to explain why were removed.

Theatrical Trailer
Watch the preview that advertised the movie in cinemas and on the Internet

Trailers
Previews of ‘Away Days’, ‘White Out’ and ‘The Hurt Locker’

OVERALL

The Blu-Ray treatment for Orphan is fine but fans could have been expecting a little more. The interviews and featurette are good but more insights into the making of the film could have been added and the lack of any real Blu-Ray quality extras. This aside it is not a bad package.

BLU-RAY

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2009