After a slow-burning start Orphan degenerates into an increasingly grisly, far-fetched affair with a jaw-dropping twist that has you chortling with disbelief.
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08/07/09
Orphan (2009)
55
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:135
Fresh:74
Rotten:61
Average Rating:5.5/10
Consensus: While it has moments of dark humor and the requisite scares, Orphan fails to build on its interesting premise and degenerates into a formulaic, sleazy horror/thriller.
Theatrical Release:07-08-2009
Synopsis: The tragic loss of their unborn child has devastated Kate and John, taking a toll on both their marriage and Kate’s fragile psyche as she is plagued by nightmares and haunted by demons from her... [More]
Starring: Vera Farmiga, Peter Sarsgaard, Isabelle Fuhrman, CCH Pounder
Director: Jaume Collet-Sera
Reviews for Orphan
A welcome addition to the Evil Child sub-genre, thanks to great performances, strong direction, a delightfully over-the-top plot, some impressive gore effects and a terrific twist.
08/07/09
If Esther materialises silently and unexpectedly once at the edge of the camera, she does it a dozen times – but this is merely the film warming up its trash aesthetic before heading onwards to a memorably queasy finale.
08/07/09
An entertaining addition to the evil child genre, simply for its over-the-top chills and nutty plot
07/27/09
Solid lead performances and a moderately engaging premise make Orphan a slightly above-average evil-child movie with an infusion of Electra complex and a good, if half-hearted, narrative twist.
07/23/09
As interesting as Collet-Collet-Serra's story is, there's simply nothing here that you won't find in other better evil children films in the library...
12/04/09
Alas, in the end, it's not nasty enough.
12/01/09
Bad Seed-style horror movie is gory and ludicrous.
10/26/09
Orphan is not very good. At 90 minutes, it might have been amazing. At nearly two hours, it's tedious.
10/25/09
This is the rare fright flick that is actually grounded in some genuine human emotion.
10/24/09
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10/22/09
...more concerned with producing cheap thrills and melodramatic effects than creating any sense of mystery or suspense.
10/20/09
David Johnson's script plays fair with red herrings before a devilish denouement with all the torque of a good twist. Esther doesn't just want to topple the Colemans' house of cards. She wants to torch it, and "Orphan" is gruesome, gripping material.
09/19/09
Something isn't quite working in the intended way when the audience's primary reaction for two-plus (!) hours is raucous laughter.
08/31/09
Orphan is as much a high-tension, frightening thriller as it is a straight-up horror flick, at least it is until it devolves into outright silliness in the final act.
08/28/09
a carefully staged deconstruction of our assumptions about horrorshows about preternaturally manipulative and malevolent children
08/25/09
"A superior entertainment."
08/23/09
Collet-Serra's film succeeds in being genuinely creepy, is commendably well acted by all concerned, and contains the best twist since The Crying Game.
08/21/09
Director Jaume Collet-Serra (House of Wax) endows this ugly mess with a slew of unintentional laughs, but not enough to repay the 123-minute time suck.
08/20/09
The movie amps up the tension to a laughable degree, using every cliché in the horror movie guidebook.
08/16/09
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August 03, 2009:
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July 23, 2009:
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