Orphan is a 2009 horror mystery movie directed by Jaume Collet-Serra. It deals with a couple who lose a child and decide to adopt a 9 year old with a checkered past. Below is my Orphan (2020) movie review
After they lose a child, a couple, still grieving, decide to adopt Esther, a 9 year old orphan. As many movies about evil kids go, Esther acts all innocent to convince her new family she is a good chile. However, as the movie progresses, her new mother and her Son Daniel start to suspect she is not as innocent as she seems. From this point on it is a game of cat and mouse as people start to drop dead around the Coleman family.
Later on we are introduced to Sister Abigail who says that Esther is not who she seems. As always, the family is split on whether to trust Abigail or not. After all, it can be hard for an adopted child to fit in with their new family members. This process can take months, even years to come to fruition. This is where the movie got some controversy. One of the lines is “It must be difficult to love an adopted child as much as your own”. It was later changed to “I don’t think Mommy likes me very much”. This was due to adoption groups protesting against a character who is adopted that turns out to be evil.
There are also some cliches such as an Eastern European person turning out to be evil. In the DVD menu, filmmakers included a note to consider adoption to lessen the controversy. All of that aside, the movie was overall received well. Isabelle Fuhrman’s performance as Esther was especially praised. She did a great job in appearing innocent as well as younger than she is. Esther pins family members against each other and has a great way of getting people to do her bidding. She also has a good way of keeping those around me to keep quiet as she goes after those she finds a threat.
While it is not original, the plot and the overall pacing of this movie is good. The acting was good as well and everyone started to feel uneasy around the new girl. In Feb 2020 a prequel was announced that was recently released as Orphan: First Kill.
Thanks for reading my Orphan (2020) movie review
