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Orphan, The

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    Ian Jane
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  • Orphan, The

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    Released by: Warner Brothers
    Released on: 10/27/2009
    Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
    Cast: Vera Farmiga, Peter Sarsgaard, Isabelle Fuhrman, Cch Pounder, Jimmy Bennett
    Year: 2009
    Purchase From Amazon

    The Movie:

    Jaume Collet-Serra was, until recently at least, known for the remake of House Of Wax, but his 2009 killer kid film, The Orphan, will probably change all that. While the film is, in many ways, spastic and entirely devoid of logic, it's a fun horror movie, the kind we don't see so often these days. In many ways a throwback to films like The Omen and The Bad Seed, it's slick, stylish, and just a tad bit spooky.

    The film follows a couple, Kate (Vera Farmiga) and John (Peter Sarsgaard), who live out in the sticks with their two kids, a young deaf girl named Max (Aryana Engineer) and their son Daniel (Jimmy Bennett). Having lost their third child in labor, the couple pines for another kid but rather than try again, they decide to adopt. After a quick trip to the orphanage they're quickly charmed by a nine year old named Esther (Isabelle Fuhrman) who would rather paint than hang out with the other kids. Born in Russia, she seems to be the ideal adoptee - smart, clever, polite, friendly, and very respectful.

    After the paperwork is done, John and Kate take Esther home where she quickly bonds with Max and earns the chagrin of jealous Danny. Things seem great at first but soon Kate starts noticing some odd behavior from the newest member of their family. When one of the girls at school winds up hurt on the playground, she suspects that Esther assaulted her, tried to kill her even, but John is so enamored with her that he's sure it was simply an accident. As time goes on, Kate becomes increasingly suspicious that, as the tag line puts it, there's something wrong with Esther, but John's still not convinced, in fact he's fairly certain that this may all be a result of his wife's drinking problem and her guilt complex - but Kate's right, there is something wrong with Esther, though just exactly what that is isn't immediately evident, at least not until the murders start…

    Benefiting from some excellent cinematography and a reasonably gripping score, The Orphan is a well paced picture with just enough character development to work. Hurt by a few questionable actions on the part of the two parental leads, the story is never the less a pretty entertaining one made all the better by Isabelle Fuhrman's very strong performance. She's quite good in the part, allowing us to generate enough sympathy for her and letting us warm up to her a bit before showing off her true colors as the film starts barreling towards its fairly inevitable conclusion. While you might find yourself yelling at the screen in spots ('don't do that, stupid!' was heard a few times in the living room as this played out), the film still manages to hit the right notes and deliver a few unexpected though welcome bits of nastiness.

    It may not be a perfect film but it's got loads of atmosphere, it's very well shot, it sounds good and it features decent acting from all involved, including, surprisingly enough, the child actors in the cast. It may borrow a bit from past horror films but at least it does so with class and style and just the right amount of macabre tone.

    Video/Audio/Extras:

    The Orphan arrives on Blu-ray in a very nice VC-1 encoded 1.85.1 anamorphic widescreen 1080p high definition transfer that does a very nice job of showing off Jeff Cuiter's photography. The film makes use of an almost perpetually cool color palette, so don't except the colors to fly off the screen the way they would in a Pixar film. That said, it works in the context of the movie, with Esther's somber wardrobe looking as grim as you'd want it to and the outdoor winter landscapes looking just a little bit foreboding at times. Detail and texture is very good, with facial details showing off the performers' various complexions and allowing pretty much every fiber of their wardrobe show through. Black levels are nice and strong and skin tones look lifelike and natural throughout. There's a neat black light trick used in the later part of the movie that really stands out here, and all in all this is a very clean, consistent and well authored release of some great looking source material.

    The primary audio track on this disc is an English language Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track though standard definition Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound tracks are provided in Spanish, French and Portuguese while subtitles have been made available in all four languages. There are long stretches of quiet throughout the film, which make the loud jump scares that pepper the picture all the more effective and this mix does a good job in bringing that all to life through your surround set up. Bass response is fairly sporadic but when it kicks in you do notice it, while surrounds are used effectively for ambient effects, score placement, and again for the louder 'BOO' moments. This is a mix that draws you in before you even really realize it, which is always a good thing. It's quite well handled and never really too overdone.

    The most substantial and interesting extra on this release is a documentary entitled Mama's Little Devils: Bad Seeds and Evil Children, which is a fifteen minute HD featurette that covers the killer kid films that came before The Orphan and which obviously influenced it. It's hardly an all encompassing look at the genre and it really only covers big studio efforts, but those who aren't necessarily up to speed on this horror sub-genre it might prove interesting. Warner Brothers has also included about four minutes worth of deleted scenes (in standard definition), none of which are all that interesting (and that includes the alternate ending hyped on the cover).

    Aside from that, look for some classy animated menus, chapter stops, and on a second disc, a digital copy of the movie. This release is also BD Live enabled, so your broadband connected Blu-ray player can go online and access additional special features.

    The Final Word:

    As ridiculous as it all is, The Orphan is a fun film - it's well made, very well acted, and it provides a few good scares as it plays out. It's nicely shot and just well put together in pretty much ever regard that matters. Warner's Blu-ray looks and sounds great, which helps make up for the skimpy selection of extra features. The film is also being made available on standard definition DVD and through cable On-Demand services.
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