Orphan

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

An outwardly angelic little girl displays an unforeseen devilish streak upon moving into the home of her new adoptive parents in this shocker starring Peter Sarsgaard and Vera Farmiga. In the aftermath of a miscarriage, prospective parents Kate (Farmiga) and John (Sarsgaard) find their lives turned upside down; their marriage is falling apart, and the demons of Kate's past begin manifesting themselves in a series of horrifying nightmares. Deciding that the best means of achieving some semblance of normalcy is to simply adopt, the dejected couple visits a local orphanage. There, they are both drawn to a nine-year-old girl named Esther. But Esther isn't as sweet as first impressions suggest, and almost immediately after welcoming the young child into their home, Kate and John suspect that something is terribly wrong with their adoptive daughter. Kate can see right through Esther's seraphic charm, though her attempts to convince everyone else of the truth go unheeded by her skeptical family and friends. By the time anyone bothers to take Kate seriously, it may be too late to prevent a devastating tragedy from unfolding. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 1
• Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1
• Screen: Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
• Features:
  • Additional scenes including a chilling alternate ending

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Peter Sarsgaard - John Coleman
       Vera Farmiga - Kate Coleman
       Isabelle Fuhrman - Esther
       CCH Pounder - Sister Abigail
       Jimmy Bennett - Daniel Coleman
       Aryana Engineer - Max Coleman
       Margo Martindale - Dr. Browning
       Karel Roden - Dr. Varava
       Rosemary Dunsmore - Grandma Barbara
       Jamie Young - Brenda
       Lorry Ayers - Joyce
       Brendan Wall - Detective
       Genelle Williams - Sister Judith
       Mustafa Abdelkarim - Daniel's Friend
       Landon Norris - Daniel's Friend
       Julien Elia - Hospital Receptionist
       Leni Parker - Delivery Room Nurse

• Director:

  Jaume Collet-Serra

• Producer:

  Leonardo DiCaprio, Joel Silver, Susan Downey, Jennifer Davisson Killoran

• Screenwriter:

  David Leslie Johnson

• Screen Story:

  Alex Mace

• Cinematographer:

  Jeff Cutter, Don Carmody

• Composer (Music Score):

  John Ottman

• Editor:

  Tim Alverson

• Production Designer:

  Tom Meyer

• Art Director:

  Patrick Banister, Pierre Perrault

• Co-producer:

  Richard Mirisch, Henning Molfenter, David Barrett, Erik Olsen, Carl L. Woebcken, Christoph Fisser

• Associate Producer:

  Aaron Auch, Ethan Erwin, Sarah Meyer, Stacey Fields

• Executive Producer:

  Don Carmody, Steve Richards, Michael Ireland

• Costume Designer:

  Antoinette Messam

• Casting:

  Andrea Kenyon, Tina Gerussi, Randi Wells

• Visual Effects Supervisor:

  Richard Yuricich

REVIEW:

• Evil kid movies are a staple of the horror genre, and they're usually pretty predictable. That's not necessarily a bad thing; seeing innocent little faces twist up with murderous rage is creepy to begin with -- that's why these movies exist. And to a large extent, Orphan is no different. However, this movie comes with a twist: a truly insane surprise ending that's so bizarre it's almost innovative. It will delight horror fans looking for something outlandishly weird, and induce vomiting for any casual, mild-mannered moviegoers, who assumed that a film starring Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard would be all pared down and modest.
  
  The two leads play parents Kate and John, an upper-middle-class couple with two lovely children, one lovely home, and a giant pile of familial issues, ranging from alcoholism to unresolved grief over the stillbirth of their daughter about a year before. So, of course, the best way to heal the household is to bring in an unnervingly sophisticated little girl -- in this case, a nine-year-old Russian orphan named Esther. She's smart and polite, and you can tell she's evil because she's creepily articulate and really pale.
  
  Unexplained accidents and eerie stares soon escalate into actual maliciousness, and Esther becomes exponentially more vicious -- though John's been manipulated by her cuteness and doesn't see it. Kate tries to convince him, but has no credibility with anybody because of the lingering stigma over her alcoholism, so she goes steadily bonkers having a wicked child in the house. This whole cerebral backbone of the story is actually pretty solid, no doubt because of the high-caliber talent in the starring roles. And it's a good thing, because for a movie about an little girl, there's a lot of screen time devoted to the emotional narrative, and there are only a couple of violent scenes in the whole film (though they do get increasingly wilder).
  
  But, of course, by the time the big twist happens in the final act, you're in the middle of a frenzied race against time, and there are crazy-bombs dropping left and right. It would be a crime to spoil any details about the madness of that climax, but suffice it to say, it more than makes up for the rest of the movie being somewhat more discreet. ~ Cammila Albertson, Rovi