Orphan

Impressing fresh, dinky footprints into the well trodden, murky trail beaten out by Hollywood’s pre-pubescent horror greats is no simple task, when previous exponents include such iconic figures as The Omen’s Damien Thorn, The Exorcist’s possessed Regan, and, bless ‘em, the poor, sinister Grady Twins from The Shining. Given the intimidating pedigree of her miniature predecessors, Esther, the Orphan of this lengthy but well-executed chiller, makes impressive work of carving out her rightful position in the upper echelons of Hollywood’s Hall of Infantile Infamy.

Director Jaume Collet-Serra’s bold opening sequence in the hospital commences his assault on our nervous system, and though the story unfolds more sedately after the initial bloodletting, he doesn’t allow our nerves to slip into slumber, using some low level jumpy moments and the horrible repeated scrape of a bathroom cabinet mirror.



Talking of which, the bathroom cabinet sees regular action in Kate and John’s home, as Kate (Vera Farmiga), troubled by her history, struggles through life with assistance from prescriptions. Things start to look up though; she’s been free from alcohol for a while, began to come to terms with the tragedy of her still-born child, and with husband John (Peter Sarsgaard) agrees to visit an Orphanage to adopt. Things are, of course, too good to be true when the couple stumble upon Esther, a Russian orphan with almost prodigious talents, and as they bring her home to meet the family, the stage is set for an unforgettable descent into every parent’s nightmare.

What makes Orphan such a compelling excursion of schadenfreude is Esther’s cruel modus operandi; the two adults cloak a host of historical weaknesses that persist to torment them (it’s not just Kate carrying the guilt; John has proven fallible too), and Esther keenly draws these out, twisting and exploiting them in divisive fashion to set the wheels in motion for an emotional vehicle that accelerates wildly towards a devastating, shattering climax. The success of the picture is heightened by the overwhelming delivery of horror at multiple levels; there’s the direct violence and implied threat of our nefarious little perpetrator (the shot of Esther standing menacingly over sleeping little sister Max’s bed leaves an almost indelible image on the mind), the very real horror of the tarnished, damaged consciences the characters are struggling to reconcile within themselves, and the utterly cringe-worthy quasi-Freudian overtones that will have you frenetically slapping your hands over your agonised gaze with renewed vigour.



Where Fuhrman’s portrayal of Esther, a character she makes utterly her own, is terrifyingly brilliant, some other performances lack the presence and bite of this promising young actress. Peter Sarsgaard’s John, for example, whilst successfully exposing his own character flaws for our devious young orphan to manipulate, is shallow and nondescript; we witness his torment with depressing indifference. And cruel, tactless mother-in-law Barbara (Rosemary Dunsmore) is also soulless and irrelevant; her elementary contribution to the plot seems unnecessary.

Fuhrman is not completely alone though. Vera Farmiga is convincing as the tortured Kate on her nauseating journey at the hands of our evil Orphan; Lorry Ayers, whilst only performing a minor peripheral function as a potential side interest for John, does a great job of hinting at his previous wandering dilly-dallies; and Aryana Engineer is nothing short of exceptional as the endearing, morally tortured deaf little sister, Max.



The resultant product of this melting pot of human tragedy, heavy consciences, and brutal violence – both physical and psychological – is slick, polished, and often disturbing. The measures used are sometimes a little uneven; the quality of the performances range from exemplary through to insipid, the whole piece feels a little over-stretched, and the taught climax reprises just one too many times. These are minor flaws though; all in all, Orphan is a deftly executed, exciting, and wicked portrayal of human frailties exposed, twisted, and manipulated to cruel and chaotic effect. Modern gore-lovers and torture freaks will doubtless be disappointed, but amongst the tidal proliferation of some one-dimensional extreme shockers, the more traditional quality of the enjoyable Orphan should come as something of a welcome respite.



The Disc

The movie is presented with a screen ratio of 1.78:1, in anamorphic widescreen. The picture quality is naturally excellent, which is not only a prerequisite for the carefully constructed horror unfolding on our screens, but also a real boon for the shots of the beautiful snow-capped countryside.

There are English subtitles for the hard of hearing.

Audio

Audio is presented with the options of straightforward 2.0, or Dolby Digital 5.1. Dialogue is clear and balanced, and John Ottman’s score is well presented.

Extras

There are a handful of extras which, whilst not incredibly long, provide some sort of compliment to the movie itself. I should warn you not to watch them before the feature itself, as it will almost certainly spoil your viewing pleasure!

The “Mama’s Little Devils” featurette gives a brief but interesting insight into the role of evil children in horror, including some references to Mervyn LeRoy’s 1956 chiller “The Bad Seed”.

Interviews with the production team and director are worth a glance, but once again Esther steals the show as the modest Isabelle Fuhrman shows maturity beyond her years with her commitment to making the role as successful as possible.

The deleted scenes, if nothing else, demonstrate some judicial editorial judgement, as none of the scenes would have added any extra value to the picture; indeed some of them would have proven misleading, such as the comedy meal scene. The alternative ending is another option that was thankfully eschewed, as it is far inferior to the chosen climax.



Overall

The production team that brought us the House on Haunted Hill remake, and worked with director Collet-Serra on House of Wax (not to mention Leonardo DiCaprio, who was also involved in production duties) walked directly into a storm upon the release of the Orphan trailer, but beneath the controversy lies a taught, gripping, and enjoyable tale, with a stellar performance from the promising young Isabelle Fuhrman. With a smattering of extras and strong overall presentation, this Optimum release is one well worth adopting for your horror collection.

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