A unique psychological thriller with a surprising twist

Rating: 7/10 (25 March 2013)

This film is centered on the Coleman family, John, Kate, and their two children: Danny and Max. Esther John, played by Peter Sarsgaard, and Kate, played by the lovely Isabelle Fuhrman, are trying to rekindle their love for each other after the loss of their unborn child and Kate's drinking problem. They decide to adopt a child, Esther, played by Isabelle Fuhrman. Kate starts to suspect that they may not know all there is to know about Esther and eventually fears her other children Danny, played by Jimmy Bennett and Max, their deaf daughter, played by Aryana Engineer may be in danger.When Kate's fears become reality and this innocent little girl turns into a psychopathic killer, will it be too late for Kate to save her family?
Kate and John travel to the St. Marina Orphanage to find a daughter to adopt. Immediately John is fascinated by the singing of a 9-year old Russian girl named Esther, played by Isabelle Fuhrman. She is a very artistic, well-educated, and polite child and the Coleman's decide she will be a perfect addition to their family.
Just as John and Kate seem to be happy again and you see Esther start to try and push them back apart. Kate starts suspecting that Esther adores John but doesn't quite like her. A meeting is had by John and Kate and Sister Abigail, played by the talented CCH Pounder, from the orphanage. As they are having the meeting the camera angle is from a watching view because Esther is eavesdropping on this meeting. She decides to stop Sister Abigail from digging into her past by manipulating Max into helping her stop Sister Abigail from sabotaging her place in the Coleman family. This is one of many times when Max could have told on Esther and avoided a lot of what Esther accomplished but Max is fearful for her family's life.
The death of Sister Abigail strengthens Kate's suspicions of Esther and she starts doing her own research on who exactly Esther is. Her suspicions turn into reality when Danny is hospitalized after he falls from his burning tree house. Kate just knows Esther had something to do with it. There is a huge scene at the hospital which leaves Kate sedated with any overnight stay at the hospital. Now Esther has John all to herself.
At the house we see Esther trying to seduce John, which is a very creepy, disturbing part of the film. After John turns her down she is devastated and destroys her room. At the very same moment at the hospital Kate receives a phone call from a doctor at the Samme Institute who informs her that Esther is really a 33 year patient who escaped the hospital last year. What a twist to the movie! I did not see that coming. It still didn't make the scene where Esther tries to Seduce John any less creepy but understandable.
As suspected after Kate has proof her family is in danger she rushes out of the hospital to save her family! By this time John also realizes that Esther is not whom he thought she was. The lights are cut in the house as Kate is racing home to warn her family. The editors used parallel cuts to show the action of Kate racing home and John trying to figure out why the lights are out. Come on John why didn't you listen to your wife this whole time instead of a creepy child you barley knew? It wasn't hard to predict we would see his demise. Kate crashes into the house and immediately finds John stabbed to death on the floor. From this point on we see the film in high suspense as Kate is trying to stop Esther! She does and she saves Max. I liked that I FINALLY didn't have to scream at the TV for Kate Grab the gun out of Esther's hand but my excitement was short lived when she didn't make sure she was dead! So of course by the time the police get there Esther is already gone, trying to finish what she started. How fitting the movie ends on the pond that nearly killed Max and that in the end Esther was the one who drowned.
The film is fast-paced from the beginning. We get a lot of back story in the first few minutes of the film. I think the right amount of editing was done to avoid being extra long. The transitions in the film add to the suspense of the film. I think the use of the subjective point of view heightened the realization of certain scenes related to Max since she is deaf. When her hearing aids come out all sound is distorted and the closed caption comes up on the screen. All in all film was decent but a little long. I think the movie got further and further away from reality after each thing Esther got away with and nobody was the wiser. But I did think the writers had a good twist to this story when they revealed the true identity of Esther. I also think the makeup in this movie was perfect. In the beginning of the movie we see Esther as the 9 year old she is pretending to be but after all comes out she has transformed into a believable 33 year old with a dwarfism disease. Her skin is no long pale white but a natural tanned skin tone. Big kudos to the makeup team for making Esther's character as convincingly as possible. The ending of this movie mad it for me! From the twist of Esther's age, to John dying, and then the way Esther died.I give this movie a C+