Spanish director Jaume Collet-Serra’s American-set psychological horror was slammed in the US — but it has more to recommend it than you might imagine.
Set in an ice-bound Canadian winter, the tale centres on a married couple (Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard) who try to cope with the loss of their unborn child by adopting a cute little Russian girl from an orphanage (Isabelle Fuhrman).
The girl, however, is not all she seems and sets about dominating her new parents. Mother smells a rat but dad is convinced that his wife is the trouble.
We, of course, begin to know the truth early — and it gets murkier and murkier.
Orphan ends too melodramatically for credulity but it has atmosphere and tension, and the performances are far better than usual for this sort of caper.
Orphan
Cert: 15
