The Orphan Review and Plot Synopsis (2009)

Let's see what makes a good slasher flick:

1. A nasty protagonist who turns out to be the antagonist.
2. A cute as a button hit list, out of which some actually end up dying.
3. A hard as nails main character who comes up trumps finally, one way or the other.

Now lets check what the "Orphan' has for itself:

1. A nasty protagonist who turns out to the antagonist - Check
2. A cute as a button hit list, out of which some actually end up dying - Check
3. A hard as nails main character who comes up trumps finally, one way or the other - Check.

Seriously speaking, when it comes to slasher or horror flicks, the perfect ten cannot be farther for The Orphan. It may be the movie that actually brings about some storyline aspects into the entire realm of Slasher an Horror flicks.  And with the great acting by the main cast as well as the supporting one, this movie seriously had something for the hardcore slasher fan.

Plot:

The movie speaks about a couple that has recently lost their third child, because of which the mother goes into a kind of depression, which makes her prone to drinking and she even loses her job back at Yale. After a while, the couple decide to adopt a child, so that they do not miss their unborn child as much as they actually are. This brings into their life Esther, singularly the most sick character ever that has come into mainstream media, and more so when she does hasn't been 'taken by a ghost', or has 'bad things been done to her'.

Esther is bad news since the very beginning, though everyone puts her quirky behavior to what she has 'gone through' as  a child and the basic fact that she is from Russia. However, things take a bad turn when the orphanage from where she has been adopted start to smell a rat about sending a girl they do not know anything about to a house that is essentially a happy, complete household. 

Review:

The movie surprises you with the level of brutality that is prevalent all about. Of course, the direction is stark and dark, and what plays a greater role in the movie is the background music, which has the correct tempo and thump that'd be required by a horror/slasher genre movie.

What interested me is the unwavering synposis of the child's mind that is shown all through the movie, right from where Esther manipulates the little girl, to where the boy tries to find out whether the girl that has come into the house is actually as evil as he thinks that she really is.

Another important aspect that works in making this movie an  intelligent one is the reason that Esther goes through all the trouble to kill a nun, to hurt the small girl and to threaten the little kid with a knife - the husband. It is only logical that a grown woman who has lived as a teenager for different reasons would not find it very difficult to get love and affection, and yes, even basic physical intercourse. 

The final clink in the movie may seem to be quite unreal to many people, but as a avid follower of crime and punishment, the reviewer would like to inform that the movie is in fact based on a true story, where a thirty year old woman actually lived as a teenager with many houses, finally disappearing into nothing one fine day.

Plot Synopsis:

The movie begins with Warner Bros logo splattered in some kind of neon paint, which then brings us to the other company affiliated with the movie, Dark Castle Entertainment. The setting is dark and foreboding, just a symbol of what the path ahead.  A simple, type face font  announces the arrival of the 'Orphan'.

It's Web 2.0 Man.. All Simplistic and Stuff!

The entire neon light common light aspect is brought forward as the titles go ahead, as the name Orphan becomes a weird, madhead written scrawl of the film name.

The first scene takes us to a couple coming into a hospital with the gay abandon of a much married couple coming into a home appliance showroom looking for a washing machine for their house. The woman, named Kate, goes into labor quite cheerfully, even having some time for some small talk with the nurse, and we think it's gonna be a family themed movie until we see this:

My God.. the color is so realistic!!

Okay, a woman has blood on her naughty parts when she goes into labor, not a good sign. We are further told that all is not well when the woman finds herself in the labor room, with the doctors and nurses being as happy as a group of children  looking forward to the prospect of having a enactment of a tea party with their Barbie dolls. The weird scene ends with what women do best in Horror flicks, shout her lungs out as she is presented with the dead baby, nicely blood splattered on one side of its head, for horror effect.

Fortunately, this insane enactment of the medical profession did not happen and we find out that the woman is basically prone to nightmares and has to take some peanut shaped medicine whenever she has such dreams, maybe it's to bid her away from anxiety attacks, it is not clear.

With this done,Kate thinks that she did a great job surviving the nightmare, but because nobody else takes interests in her nightmares, and because she thinks that she will not have another chance to show off her thigh high boots, she trudges off to a mommy type psychiatrist, who does a good job of sitting on a chair and looking like a very busy and serious psychiatrist.

Look at these boots. You will never, ever see them later. 

We find out that Kate has some skeletons in her closet, with her drunken behavior, which we are also told has brought about some changes in her life, and therefore the couple's life. In fact, the little twerp actually leans ahead and tells her psychiatrist that she stopped over at the wineshop by the road for a bottle, but did not get it. Nice abstinence.

Look at this woman. This is a woman who abstains. 

After being all pompous and haughty about the fact that she didn't add to the economy by getting punch drunk, and beaming like a little kid when the psychiatrist gives her a pat on her back, it is then time for her to meet her daughter, a very sweet kid who is unfortunate deaf and dumb. This immediately makes a veteran movie watcher to gauge she will soon be dead and her  deaf and dumb nature will play a very important role in her death.  Anyway, we begin taking the forced 'talk ton the dumb' lessons as mother and daughter bond.

As the two drive home, the movie has one of its first 'Holy Shit' moment when Kate is lost in thought and breaks a signal, or breaks a signal and is lost in thought, it doesn't matter, because in a moment her nice little Lexus will be pummeled by a sixteen wheeler! Of course, she is saved and she heaves a sigh of relief.

Daved! oh sorry, Saved!

Ok, so what does a woman do when she has just brought her daughter home, has saved herself from coming under a truck and has effectively beaten her wanton need for wine? - Play the piano! If you ever thought why you were never successful in playing the piano, the movie gives you the right answer - Smexy Glasses!

No, you don't understand. I need those smexy glasses!

Soon Kate is disturbed by her daughter trying to be the next Shaquille O Neal in her bid to become the next.. erm.. who's a famous piano player? Anyway, before we lose ourselves in such deep questions, the men come home, completing the family - Or Is It?

Okay, who is the one who has the worst deal when it comes to be the husband of a hot knocking woman? This man:

Look at him closely as he 'tries' to kiss his wife

Why? Because she loses the child, she gets to drive a Lexus, she gets fat woman to listen to her problems, she gets to be all happy that she didn't drink and what does this man get, not even a simple lay at night! And they say it's a man's,world! After this night, the two talk about and decide that they should adopt a child, an older child, so that their two other children have the right company. So off they are to the Orphanage!

It has been long been said that the man of the species is the one who basically goes hunting for danger, and 'Orphan' affirms it, with Kate going towards all the good kids, while her husband walks right into the pit of evil, that's right, John meets Esther!

Hi! I am Esther.

Both the parents are pretty damn sure within the first ten minutes that Esther is the one who would be the best option for their family. With a quick talk with the Mother of the orphanage, Esther can be a family member within three weeks!

With Esther coming home, there is joy and excitement all around, with the mom, the dad and the daughter welcoming her, while the son doesn't, and the feeling is basically mutual, because it here where we see her first signs of pure evil.

Whenever someone looks at you like this, hell is gonna come over.

Well, the kid takes it like any nice grown up man would, he goes up to his treehouse and starts reading Playboy. Some  kid comments that one of the Playboy models look like his mother. And what does he do? This:

Meh!

And so night falls on the household, and as we all know, every night in a horror movie has to have lighting and thunder even if its the middle of the year. So, on with the lighting and thunder and this is where Kate thinks that she can have it with her husband! Of course, Esther, being the evil kid that she is, wants to be a bone of contention and she brings in the artillery, saying they are scared of the lightning, saying they are scared of the lightning and she wishes to sleep near daddy!

Sing me a Lullaby!

Now, all through the movie I did not find one soul whom I thought should die, or even come under some percentage of violence, but now we are in school, in one of the greatest democracies in the world! Which basically allows twerps like this:

After she calls Esther 'Bo Peep'

Which makes Esther point daggers towards this girl, whose name we do not know yet. Now, I have been through various situations where jokes are made about the physical aspect of some phrases. Like back in my country,we have a phrase, 'Laughed in my mind'. There are several smart alecs who tell the person, "Show me how you laugh in your mind'.  One similar phrase is 'Looked Daggers at'. Now, if you use that phrase anywhere, and if that particular smart alec ever asks you , "Look daggers at me, please point them to this picture:

This is how a person looks daggers

With school over, Esther and Max start playing, and this is where the second symbol of her being upto no good is proved, where she deliberately takes Max towards the water. She further makes life difficult by catching the boy hitting a pigeon with a paintball, and when he shows remorse, she eggs him to kill the pigeon, and when he refuses, she goes ahead and smashes the pigeons head with a rock.

At night, she begins with locking her doors, and when spoken about, she says that she will sing for the Sisters in the Orphanage so that she was allright. And then the whole house is drowned in a dreary, quite eerie slow lull of music.


Days go by and Kate begins to feel that something is amiss when she finds a very old Bible with photographs of two grown men, torn kept as leaflets in the book. Now, firstly, I would not have taken a girl from another country into my home. Secondly, I would have kicked her out the moment I find out pictures of two grown men in her Bible! But apparently this is a movie and things are different here.

At school. the Bible plays an important role where she is ragged by the same girl who called her Bo Peep, one thing leads to the other, and finally the Bo Peep girl tries to remove the coverings that she has on her throat and neck. And this is what she gets:

Never Take Out Her Neck Coverings

Well, the girl goes back to her piano lessons with mommy dearest, and mommy dearest comforts her about the incident in school, which basically is dropped off by Esther quite immediately. This is where Kate tells her about a scrapbook that she had created, and  the scrapbook that she has in mind for her. Things move from one to another and finally Esther asks about who Jessica is.

With this kind of mother daughter bonding, the couple begin to find some sparks back into their marriage, and the sparks are so hot that they begin having it in on the kitchen sink itself! Unfortunately, this is seen by Esther. When Kate confronts her with it, she drops the 'F' bomb in a typical academic manner, and the two start having discussions about her. Trust me guys, I would have thrown this girl right out of my house by this time!

Okay, now with the couple on other talks, its time for Esther to do something really drastic, She finds out that the husband had an on off affair with a woman and finds her villain, the Bo Peep girl, whom she decides to take revenge on. She drops the girl from a ride in the garden!

On being confronted, Esther says that she was playing and that is seconded by Max. A volatile situation becomes a bit violent when Daniel remarks about her behavior, and the two have a little bicker about where she's from. Finally, Daniel blows the 'F' word, and he loses his tree house for that. The next day, the women of the house are out shopping, and Esther refuses to speak to the sister from the Orphanage, and at the same time goads Max into lip read what they are talking.

Sometime later, Kate finds out that Esther knows how to play the piano and when confronted, she taunts her about a daughter who cannot talk or listen and a son who is not interested. When the couple talk about it, John is very nicely saying that he does not believe in her being the evil conniving female that is about to destroy the family. The two have a little bickering about an affair that he had ten years ago, and the voice goes to Esther, who is apparently enjoying all of it as she paints a pretty picture.

The next day, Sister Abigail comes to the house and confesses that there might be a problem with Esther, and once again, John is quite an idiot about it all. Even the facts that are thrown at his face do not make any difference to him! He is even told that the girl could be party to arson!Esther takes her revenge by practically killing the woman by blowing her car off the road. When that is not enough, she takes hammers the point home to Sister Abigail that 'she's gonna stay!'.

Point Hammered

Esther increases her points on the evil meter when she risks Max's life during the activity. Hell, if she wanted to have the car crash to the sidewalk she could have thrown a stone at the windscreen! However, Esther and Max then get up and take all the incriminating material (killing a woman is bloody business) in the tree house,  the key to which has been taken from Daniel because he drops the F word during dinner. She notices Daniel during the murder and actually threatens that she will cut off his wingwang if he ever told anyone what he saw.

John and Kate then take Esther to the good little psychologist that they have, and the psychologist is bowled over by Esther.  She sings praises of Esther, while Esther throws a tantrum in a more than typical strong washroom.

Well, things do not end here, with Kate getting a call from the orphanage about the fact that Abigail hasn't returned, and this leads to the police finally finding the poor lady who had a freezing death, and the police at the door. Now, wait a minute. If I had a orphan who had a tiff with a woman and she ends up dying the next day just outside my house - I call the authorities - instanto presto. There are no two ways about it. Why this couple does not do that, or why John never, ever believes Kate until he has a knife thrust into his heart is something that we leave the the cinema goers to figure out.

All of this leads to a quite  nice scene that tells us why the titles were made up neonsmattered light. All the paintings that Esther does actually can be viewed in dual lighting. With the common house lighting, its a warm, All American Home, and with the lights off, it's evil at it's most brutal!

Kate meanwhile decides to take the matters into her own hands, and arms with those smexy glasses of hers, does some layman research on the Internets for such huge terms as antisocial personality disorder, and more importantly character disturbed child and finally, children who kill.

Muh Smexy Glasses and Me!

Ladies, believe me, the one way to find out whether you have married a prick or not is to actually wave scientific and historic evidence that a killer may be residing in the house, and he turns it all around and has you visit the shrink. But then, the woman does she what she does best - solve problems while she feeds her brood.  A quick phone call all around tells her that the orphanage seriously does not have any information about her, other than the tacky information that is provided by her.

Well, John shows his basic disknowledge when he allows Esther to once again play him off and not go to the dentist, while Kate does some investigation with her already threatened and scared children, and both of them do not give her any glue.  And all this while Esther begins her seducing game with John in the time that she earned because she did not go to the dentist, I say, smart girl... or... woman?

Because of the daddy daughter time that the two spend, maybe Esther has a change of heart and tells Kate that she has got a present for her, a present from a plant that husband and wife had planted in the memories of their dead kid. Now wait, if John does not find anything trick in this, there has to be something wrong with John's head. No, seriously, I am this close to driving up to John's house, slapping his head with a cup and coffee and yell in his ear 'Smell up and wake the coffee!".

Meanwhile, Esther goes about breaking her arm herself by putting it in a screwing machine or something and then goes ahead to yell 'Daddy, Daddy' in her Russian accent.  Of course, daddy dearest believes that a simple clutch from Kate could break a 11 year old's hand, what does he think he has married, the IncredibleS Super Woman?When Kate finds out that her husband thinks he has married the Incredible Super Woman, which she knows that she is not, she decides to drink and then decides against it, and finally throws out one of the bottles.

The next day, Esther tries to kill Max by starting the car when it parked in the neutral by the school. When John finds this out, and he finds a bottle of wine in Kate's room, he gives her an ultimatum that she either goes to rehab or he leaves with the children.

Well, when daddy dearest is stupid, its the mom and the son who has to take things in their own hands, and they both do, with mommy going back to the Bible and finding a Russian sounding institute name, and Daniel going down to Max's room to ask her about what's actually happening.

Well both are successful, with Daniel finding out that the incriminating evidence linking Esther to Abigail's death is in his own treehouse. Esther is a step ahead of Daniel and reaches the treehouse when he does, and this leads to Daniel basically hanging from a thick enough branch as the whole tree house burns.

Yes, you guessed it. Even after his son is in the hospital after surviving a tree house fire, which just had  his own daughter and a complicated girl from Russia in the vicinity, he does not believe that Esther had anything to do with it. Even Esther knows that her game is up and goes ahead to kill Daniel in the hospital itself.  This infuriates Kate to no end and for the first time, for the love of God, this child of Evil gets a thick, tight slap from her hands! Yes, the little girl Max plays a great role in this scenario. Oh if only a part of her brains were given to  her father!

It's all downside from here, with Kate being admitted into the hospital due to her outburst and Esther, Kate and John in the house alone, where Esther tries to seduce a punch drunk John. Thank the Lord that she does not succeed. Well, what girl would succeed if she tries to seduce a man dressed like the woman in 'The Memoirs of a Geisha?"

Believe me when I say so and I won't show you screenshots

While all this is going on, Kate gets a call from wherever she had contacted, and everything, finally, finalmo dawns on her.This leads to a very nicely shot chase sequence, where Kate basically crashes into her own house, and the nail biting climax that 'DOES NOT PLAY ON MAX'S HEARING PROBLEM'.

The climax is good, because its the girls who do everything, where the husband just lies dead by the time the woman actually gets back to the house. Yes, the movie is said to have an alternate climax, which you can watch here: