Review of Orphan (2009) by Sherry C — 11 Nov 2011

It is scary but it is good. The whole story is dark, creepy and scary but with excellent execution.

Although it's 2-hr long, it certainly will not bored you.

Since the twist ending is very similar to another HK film "Murderer", it's hard for me that not to compare their performance (especially I saw both already).

Without doubt, Orphan is way much better - better script and better execution.

In Orphan, we know Esther is creepy and she is the killer from the beginning. So, the questions left us is what's wrong with her, wondering why she is doing this and for what.

And the twist ending explain everything in a reasonable way.

In Murderer, audience is looking for the murderer with the detective, Aaron Kwok. The main point about the movie is who is the killer? Audience certainly would have high expectation of the murderer who is clever enough to commit those brutal homicides. But it really becomes a hilarious joke when it reveals who is the killer.

In Orphan, it is creepy when you saw a nine-year-old girl committed homicides and even more scary that she asked her 4-year-old sister to cover the body for her. She intimidates her little brother and little sister will hurt them or their parents in order to complete her evil plan. Audience would certainly fear for them and their survival.

But in Murderer, you never saw the little boy killed people by his own hand. And this is another reason that why the twist ending is less convincing.

And the execution of revealing the killer part is just bad and bad, making the whole movie become a joke.

Last but not least, the 12-yr-old lead actress Isabelle Fuhrman (Esther) really can act!

Her brilliant acting makes me enjoy this movie so much.