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 It’s very possible that Orphan might have taken itself a little too seriously. Included among the DVD’s trailers is an endorsement for adoption. “Orphan is not about real people; there are children out there seeking adoption.…” Similar to a cheesy “The More You Know” segment that NBC used to run to raise awareness of issues taken lightly in a previously aired program, it’s amusing to visualize a couple seriously considering adoption looking at each other after viewing this movie and saying, “You know, honey, maybe we should get a kitten instead?” Or the opposite reaction: “I’ve got an idea, let’s check out the nearest all-girls’ orphanage run by clueless nuns and see what’s what!”
Orphan begins with the tragic death of Kate (Vera Farmiga) and John Coleman’s (Peter Sarsgaard) unborn infant. They seem to admirably carry on with their existing family unit which includes their son Daniel (Jimmy Bennett) and young daughter Max (Aryana Engineer), who is severely deaf. However, John and Kate feel that the love and devotion they were ready to share with the unborn Jessica should not be buried with her, and make the admirable decision to adopt an older child. Oh, sure, Kate recently had a serious bout with heavy drinking that apparently led to Max almost drowning in the backyard pond as well as the loss of her job as a music instructor at Yale, as Kate’s antagonizing mother-in-law “Grandma Barbara” (Rosemary Dunsmore) loves to remind her, but flaky therapist Dr. Browning (Margo Martindale) believes Kate is ready to raise another child since she’s been driving by the wine store and not stopping in, thereby giving the seal of approval.
Taking the plunge, John and Kate head to an all-girl orphanage headed by Sister Abigail (CCH Pounder). There are dozens of lovely, vivacious young girls interacting with one another, but John finds himself captivated by the mature, pleasant, yet slightly standoffish Esther (Isabelle Fuhrman). Esther isn’t quite like the other girls, and her lilting Russian accent, mature demeanor and amazing artistic skills also win over Kate; three weeks later, the couple brings their nine-year-old bundle of joy home to join the family.
 Brother Daniel takes an immediate dislike to his new sis, but Esther and Max bond and become partners in crime. Esther clearly has a daddy fixation over John and seems to want to please her new mama, but...what’s up with the velvet bands she wears around her neck and wrists, and the insistence to dress like Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm? Why does she insist on locking the bathroom door? How does she manage to ruin every romantic opportunity between John and Kate? Did the mean girl classmate fall from the slide, or was she pushed? Where did Esther learn the “F” word? Why won’t she go to the dentist? Kate becomes concerned and John just doesn’t want to hear it.
Esther also has a knack for exposing the spackled-over cracks in the foundation of this seemingly happy family. John is not entirely the loving, long suffering and supportive husband and father he first appears to be; he has a history of extramarital affairs, which Esther manages to bring back into Kate’s focus. Between Kate’s suspicions that he may be on the prowl again and her seemingly paranoia over Esther, John’s had enough.
Sister Abigail pays a visit and expresses her concerns that something may not be quite right with Esther. Apparently, it wasn’t deemed important to bring up until now that the fire that killed her last adoptive family was determined to be an act of arson. After learning of the accident at the playground, the good Sister began to connect the dots. When Esther is around, people get hurt, get into fights…or die. She promises to follow up on Esther’s background, but our orphan girl can’t let that happen and implicates poor Max in the brutal murder of the well-intentioned nun. Then, Esther finds a gun. She scares Daniel so badly he wets himself. She releases the emergency brakes on the car with Max in the backseat, making Kate look like a drunken irresponsible mother. She butchers the rose bush honoring the ashes of baby Jessica, throwing Kate into a frenzy. With their heads up their backsides, John and Dr. Browning (there should have been a disclaimer before the movie stating that the therapist wasn’t a real person and they can actually help people) tell Kate she’s paranoid, that she’s obviously off the wagon and needs to go to rehab.
 The movie’s tag line “There’s something wrong with Esther” also indicates the major flaw in the film. Director Jaume Collet-Serra and screenwriter David Johnson created a miniature female Hannibal Lecter--not a bad concept, but Esther becomes jarringly out of place in an otherwise compelling plot comprised of sympathetic characters with believable bad faith issues. Suddenly, it’s all Esther all the time and the story switches gears and becomes something completely different.
Isabelle Fuhrman plays the role of Esther beautifully; she nails the creep factor and Esther should be a popular Halloween costume for years to come. Here’s a nine-year-old girl who knows how to expertly handle a gun, play a piano concerto, disable life support systems, pit adults against each other and effectively terrorizes her peers without encountering any resistance…welcome to Camp Orphan!
Why Esther is the way she is comes late in the movie; it does make sense but seems like a cheat, an unsatisfying conclusion to the mystery. After the reveal, the ending is a predictable mash-up of The Bad Seed meets Fatal Attraction with a splash of The Shining.
Orphan is available on both DVD (Warner Home Video, MSRP: $28.98) and Blu-ray (MSRP: $35.99). Both versions feature five forgettable deleted scenes which run four minutes and a 20-second alternate ending. The alternate ending is less satisfying than and a contrast from the film’s “happy” ending (based on which characters live or die). It’s also out of context with the theatrical release; viewers are left to assume what other aspects of the film would have been altered to reach this particular conclusion.
 The Blu-ray version also features the extra "Mama's Little Devils: Bad Seeds and Evil Kids" (15 minutes), an odd little featurette. It begins as a making-of documentary with on-set footage from Orphan and comments from the cast and crew who discuss the story and themes of the film. This leads into an exploration of the history of evil children in horror films, followed by interviews with experts in the field of psychology and film who discuss the deeper meaning of these movies. Strangely, it does not provide much insight or background into this particular film.
Don’t mistake Orphan for a horror film; Orphan is a suspense-thriller when it works (which sometimes it does), but no one should have any trouble falling asleep afterwards or bolt in fear at the sight of a rogue orphan.
Orphan is now available on DVD and Blu-ray.
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