Film Review: The Orphan

Although I thought The Orphan wasn’t a particularly good movie, I was definitely scared and entertained by it. This was the first rated R film I ever saw in theaters and I remember covering my eyes, closing my ears and screaming at some scenes in the film.

The suspense in this movie was overwhelming and frightening. The music was dramatic and made every scene even more suspenseful. I knew that something bad was going to happen as soon as I heard the slow, quiet music start. There were a lot of teaser scenes in this movie. The suspenseful music would play as a door opened, or a mirror closed but nothing would be behind it. The fake out suspense scenes made me more scared because I didn’t know whether something scary was actually going to happen or if it was just a trick.

Along with being suspenseful, this movie was also gory. The orphan child killed her first victim by bashing their head with a hammer. She injured her second victim by pushing them off a jungle gym which caused them to snap their leg in half. She killed another character in the movie by stabbing them. There was a lot of blood. Gory scenes don’t scare me as much as psychologically thrilling scenes do. The blood and murder grosses me out more than it frightens me.

The ending of this movie was shocking. I thought it was well done in how the secret of the villain was revealed. Unfortunately I knew what was wrong with the orphan child before I saw the movie so the ending wasn’t super shocking but had I not known, I would have never seen it coming.

Overall, I think the film was successful in frightening an audience. I was definitely scared and the people in the theater were scared also. I could tell by their shrieks and screams. I would recommend this movie to anyone looking to be entertained and I think it’d be best to watch with some friends. Having company while watching a horror film always makes it more fun to watch.