Surprisingly true to its genre.

Rating: 8/10 (29 May 2010)

There are way too many "horror" movies out in the world. Such of them (like House of Wax (2005), Blood of Dracula's Castle, The Uninvited, The Stepfather, Diary of the Dead, Prom Night (2008), etc.) that are honestly not scary at all. They don't stay true to their genre, and more of just a money-making fad that just attracts stupid teenagers into wasting their money by watching a horrible rendition of an over-used idea.
This is what I thought when I was first planning on watching Orphan. In fact, the first time I saw it (which I only watched only the first 10 minutes) I was like "Oh dear, it's how I thought." However, I should have given it more of a look. So I did.
To my absolute surprise, this movie was actually very good. To everyone who says the horror genre is dead, it's not entirely true. Orphan provides what most horror movie-filmmakers would be jealous of--depth of character and suspense. When I saw the dinner table scene where Daniel drops the F-bomb on the parents, I totally felt the emotion come from this little actor. Of course, Jimmy Bennett has had a very good career start (examples such as Star Trek, Hostage, and Polar Express). Engineer as Max was just so great, she could pull of a sad emotion like she was actually in the situation herself.
Fuhrman was excellently rolled. She had the guts to pull off a nearly unmissable Romanian accent. I would for sure have to compliment on her anger towards Farminga's Kate. Her acting has surpassed all my expectations for teenage actors.
If you haven't seen Orphan yet, I would highly recommend that you watch it. As Ebert has said, do not let your children see this movie.