- Little Miss Muffet hated waiting rooms - Total Film
Horror films have long known how terrifying children can be. From The Village Of The Damned to The Omen to The Children Of The Corn, the ankle biters have been giving their parents and the moral majority nightmares for decades. Add to that list Orphan, one of last year's most talked about frighteners that, while not exactly a groundbreaking addition to the genre, is a creepily effective and enjoyable movie with a stand out performance from young actress Isabelle Fuhrman.
Set in the appropriately bleak settings of a snow covered midwest American every-town, Orphan kicks into life with an attention grabbing scene of grisly humour. It sees Kate and John Coleman (Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard) arriving at hospital for the birth of their third child, only for things to go dramatically wrong and the baby to be stillborn.
Orphan: The Demon Child
As the terrified Kate watches her world come crashing down in a room filled with uncaring surgeons and blood dripping swaddling clothes, it is quickly revealed to be a dream sequence, but the mixture of black comedy and messy proceedings sets an appropriate tone for the story that follows. In an effort to survive their grief, the couple decide to adopt and visit a local orphanage where they meet Esther (Fuhrman), a sweet and clever, if somewhat unusual little girl. She is quickly welcomed to their family but unbeknownst to them, Esther isn't quite as adorable and innocent as she first looks...
From here, the Coleman's already fractured family life is subjected to a merciless onslaught. One of Esther's school mates suffers a mysterious accident and winds up with a fractured ankle. A visiting nun is found bludgeoned to death in the woods and when Kate fails to find any satisfying answers, her sanity starts to give in.
Isabelle Fuhrman: Terrifying Young Star
Given it's concept, Orphan was always going to be a film that rose or fell depending on the performance of the leading child. The production team have pulled a real coup however because the relatively inexperienced Fuhrman (the film was her first lead and only her fifth gig overall) is an absolute gem. She is at one moment effortlessly charming, the next dangerously unhinged and this manipulative little Asbo hunter can make a scene as relatively harmless as trying on make-up into one of the most disturbing moments in 2009's cinema history.
Good thing too because if Fuhrman was removed from the role there'd be nothing but a reasonably entertaining homage to Damien left. Director Jaume Collet-Sera plays it relatively safe with the genre standards - a bloody murder here, a surprising jump cut there - and is a bit too in love with the classics to have forged one of his own.
The Verdict
That being said, Orphan is an entertaining thriller and Fuhrman is pretty much guaranteed a place in stardom's hallowed halls. Plus, the now pre-requisite twist is an absolute belter and were it not for the fact that Fuhrman is already literally outgrowing the character, they could have had a whole new horror franchise on their hands.
Tim Bolitho-Jones - Confident but inexperienced, I am a 25 year old from England who recently graduated from Southampton University with a Masters degree in ...
