Orphan, directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, is one of those horror films that earns more unintentional laughs than scares. It’s a laugh-at film that will be played ten years from now on Halloween movie marathons due to its high level of cheesiness. This is a cliche-ridden predictable horror story that has been done better before, aka The Omen (the original).
After John (Peter Saarsgard) and Kate (Vera Farmiga) lose their baby, they start having a difficult time copping with the loss. The two of them decide to adopt a child to help get over their grief. While visiting an orphanage they meet a sweet and reserved girl named Esther. Immediately after meeting her they decide she is the one they want to take into their family. Not too long after she comes home with them, disturbing events start to occur. Initially, Kate is more suspicious of Esther while John is more so oblivious to her actions.
Orphan is simplistic, predictable and, at times, unintentionally humorous. Every plot element plays out exactly like one predicts it would: nothing is ever surprising. The first act just conveys that something may be wrong with Esther (which is also the film’s tagline). It’s quite obvious that something isn’t right about her at first and yet John and Kate think she’s wonderful. She carries a sense of creepiness right at her introduction and yet the find her lovable, what a surprise. The second act is where the film becomes more B horror movie fun, it’s mostly where no one believes Kate when she proclaims that Esther is troubled. These moments especially earn a good amount of laughs since it shows every character around her acting like an idiot. The climax has the laughable twist and one expected un-suspenseful battle. It’s a by the book horror film that is never scary or involving.
Unlike most horror films, the acting here isn’t too terrible. Farmiga does her best and makes her character the only believable one in the film. She makes Kate the smart one, that one cliche character that actually knows what is going on. She doesn’t get to do much due to playing a standard caricature, but she ends up doing a fine job in the end. Sarsgaard, who is usually fantastic, plays the dumb-blind character that is used more so as comic relief. He’s the one character everyone can yell at during the film. His decisions are beyond baffling and laughable. Esther is played by Isabelle Fuhrman, who is at times threatening but she also comes off rather cheesy due to all the goofy lines she has to deliver. Kids are genuinely scary, Esther isn’t.
Orphan in many ways is similar to Jaume Collet-Serra’s previous horror film, the remake of House of Wax. Extremely formulaic and predictable, but it also contains some memorable imagery. The opening sequence is very unsettling and contains some unique. Unfortunately, Collet-Serra quickly settles for the standard horror gimmicks, including the tireless jump-scare mirror scene and he makes sure the film follows all the cliche tropes one expects.
There are a few things to appreciate here, but they are all heavily overshadowed by the endless amount of unintentional laughs and horror gimmicks. Some of the performances are decent and a few scenes in particular are well shot, but the bad severely outweighs the good.