Evil Esther plots in pigtails

Youngsters are often used in horror movies as disturbing devices because people naturally don’t expect evil to come from innocent, wide-eyed cherubs. The juxtaposition of cute and conniving is a palpable one, but it’s getting old. So much, in fact, you have to wonder when characters in film will finally get wise to the truth that nefariousness knows no height, especially when the ankle-biter’s name is Esther. Audiences certainly understand this, which is why Orphan, directed by Jaume Collet-Serra (House of Wax), is immediately recognizable and almost entirely predictable. Most of us have seen the likes of The Omen, The Good Son and Joshua — the list is a long one — and can readily dictate the tempo of such films. Orphan, like a Von Trap child, falls right in line with the rest. Nevertheless, the film surprisingly manages to push the convention in a number of interesting ways, which makes it worthwhile for any fan of the genre.

As we all know, Esther (Isabelle Fuhrman) is a secretive little heathen adopted by Kate (Vera Farmiga) and John (Peter Sarsgaard). Embracing the aloofness needed in this type of story, Kate and John think Esther’s antisocial, mature-for-her-age personality (and her ever-so creepy name) are adorable traits that hearken to deeper eccentricities worthy of their upper-class care. Little do they know that her pigtails and Anna Karenina manners and presentation are attempts to conceal her violent past and future intentions. Esther joins the couple’s two children of relative same age, Daniel (Jimmy Bennett) and Max (Aryana Engineer).

Max is their deaf daughter, whose lack of hearing is leveraged surprisingly well in the film. As Esther begins to manifest her true personality, Max often bears witness. The youngest of the three, Max is scared of Esther and not exactly able to verbalize the horrors to which she’s exposed. Whoever can sign, “That crazy bitch you picked up because you don’t love me enough tried to push me in front of a nun’s car,” raise your hand. Not easy, right? For Ester it might be, since she actually knows how to sign — one of many odd traits presented to audiences that ultimately builds to the secret Esther holds.

Orphan also sets itself apart from familiar films in a number of unexpectedly blunt and satisfying scenes. John impulsively bending Kate over the kitchen counter falls into the former category (well, and maybe the latter, too), but it’s ever-so pleasing to see Kate snap and confront Esther; this scene is the kind most hope for in a film like this, since stiff-arming a little spawn isn’t exactly difficult. Too, the film does a solid job of keeping Esther’s secret, despite the timing of the reveal being painfully formulaic and hurried. These elements, speckled throughout the largely predictable affair, do keep the pace.

But Orphan, at large, is just what is says on the box, and follows the same recipe as others of this ilk; the parents don’t believe their adopted little bundle of odd can do any wrong; the other children know the truth but no one will listen; accident after accident is just unhappy coincidence; and eventually, all the cards are on the table in a frantic conclusion. The film definitely has a familiar path, but takes even easier short-cuts in some areas — revealing Esther’s true nature takes a matter of seconds, for instance. And when John wises up and Googles “children who kill,” you’re clearly reminded that most of these stories are pretty unsophisticated. Orphan colors outside the lines a bit, and though otherwise unremarkable, is a reasonable 90-minute adoption.