Some good, some bad

Rating: 5/10 (10 August 2009)

I'm a horror film fan of long standing, but there haven't been many good ones of late. So I went to see "Orphan" with a rather jaded feeling of trepidation.
The film partly succeeded in providing a pleasant surprise. It had some genuinely scary moments, I didn't see the solution coming until we were presented with it, and Isabelle Fuhrman's performance was a masterpiece of creepy menace.
The real problem is with the adults. There is a desperate lack of originality or even plausibility in their characters. John (Peter Sarsgaard) as the father displays a touching, but utterly moronic, faith in his adopted daughter, to the extent of believing and trusting her rather than his other children or his wife (Kate, played by Vera Farmiga). Kate starts off the same, but at least sees the light eventually. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for her therapist, Doctor Browning (Margo Martindale), an "expert" who is taken in right from the start and whose only skill is in mouthing the most cretinous platitudes and clichés; if the decision rested with me, this doctor would be struck off.
The action, however, is well staged, taking place mostly in an ultra-modern house and a tree house, both providing plenty of corners where villains can lurk and high places where innocents can be trapped or from which they can be pushed
A mixed bag then – flawed, but worth seeing.
Rating: 5/10.