Maybe the scariest evil kid movie since "The Omen"

Rating: 7/10 (15 January 2010)

"The Good Son", "Joshua", "The Children"... I don't really have high expectation when it comes to evil kids movies. In my opinion, people are scared way too quickly by "creepy" kids. The plots of those movies are often stupid, the kids themselves underwhelming in their supposed creepiness. Director Jaume Collet-Serra, however, has managed to breathe some fresh air into the concept with last year's "Orphan".
The movie isn't scary so much as it is thrilling. It's actually more in the tradition of films like "Night Of The Hunter" or "The Stepfather", in which an outsider joins a perfectly fine family and destroys it from the inside. Of course, in "Orphan" the new family member isn't a grown up, strong man, but an apparently lovable 9-year-old called Esther (played by the astonishing Isabelle Fuhrmann who jumps back and forth between cute and evil as naturally as if she was already an old veteran in the business).
Sure, it's a story we've seen many times before, but Collet-Serra puts her own spin on it. She takes a long, but never boring time to set the plot up and fills every frame with atmosphere. The main characters are believable (for the most part) and played well by Peter Sarsgaard and the always great Vera Farmiga. On top of that, "Orphan" has a twist that I didn't see coming. Maybe it's got to do with the fact that I knew very little about the movie beforehand and didn't expect any twist at all. I still found it to be an enjoyable little extra to the end, and it's actually kinda creepy, too.
"Orphan" isn't anything special, but it's a more than solid thriller. For an evil child flick it comes pretty close to being a masterpiece. Just steer clear of making any sequels, please.