Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 17, 2011

Decidedly amoral.

| Jul 6, 2010

Collet-Serra's film succeeds in being genuinely creepy, is commendably well acted by all concerned, and contains the best twist since The Crying Game.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Aug 21, 2009

Director Jaume Collet-Serra (House of Wax) endows this ugly mess with a slew of unintentional laughs, but not enough to repay the 123-minute time suck.

| Aug 20, 2009

One of the good things about ORPHAN, which is directed by Jaume Collet-Sera, is that it takes itself quite seriously and manages to bring a surprising level of originality to the potentially familiar material.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 12, 2009

Lifted above the average by a pretty nifty twist and some unnecessarily good acting.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 11, 2009

It has atmosphere and tension, and the performances are far better than usual for this sort of caper.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 11, 2009

Predictable and been-there, seen-that, but entertaining nevertheless at times.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 7, 2009

This wickedly entertaining, if slightly over-stretched, variation on the familiar 'evil child' scenario displays an unusually complex grasp of twisted psychology.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 7, 2009

If you're not easily offended or upset, there is much to enjoy in Orphan. Horror films this skilfully made don't come along that often. You probably won't find a better one this year.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 7, 2009

Some impressively committed work from Farmiga (even when Googling "Children who kill") and a humdinger of a twist make this a rather good bad seed.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 7, 2009

Directing with a wink and some style, Jaume Collet-Serra (House of Wax) knows that it's possible to be totally absurd and witty with it -- he has that trash touch.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 7, 2009

That director Jaume Collet-Serra made House of Wax, the Paris Hilton remake, does not bode well. But stars Vera Farmiga and Peter Saarsgard, as mum and dad, find a few frail pegs of humanity to hang their characters on.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 7, 2009

A squall of improbabilities leads to a laughable late revelation, yet somehow the film keeps a clammy grip.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 7, 2009

Scoff-inducing twist aside, this is an uncannily astute and unnerving family psychodrama, over-garnished by final-act splatter.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 7, 2009

There's a surprise ending, followed by several bonus endings, and we're not giving anything away in noting that the film's titular adoptee has more lives than Chucky.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Jul 24, 2009

Clocking in at more than two hours, the movie teeters between psychological horror and violent blood-letting and, as such, probably won't completely satisfy fans in either camp.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 24, 2009

The scares are often the generic, push-off-the-slide variety and Orphan doesn't add much to the genre except, disturbingly, a fetishistic bent that's creepy in the wrong way.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 24, 2009

Although reasonably, cheesily suspenseful, the movie takes a long time to get going. Its tagline, 'There's something wrong with Esther,' turns out to be a masterpiece of understatement.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Jul 24, 2009

The film rests on Furhman's shoulders, and she's up to the task.

| Original Score: B | Jul 24, 2009