For whatever reasons, the makers of Orphan apparently didn’t aim at originality of any kind. The look and feel of the movie somehow reminded me of lots of 70s and 80s horror films. I thought that was quite nice as I’d just been complaining that nobody does decent horror films anymore. But when the whole story turns out to be something completely different, and the plot itself is almost straight out of some real horror classic(s), you’ll wish there’d be something worth watching. And there is: I thought some of the child actors’ performances were easily reason enough to go and see this film. Especially those of
Aryana Engineer and Isabelle Fuhrman were amazing really. Despite some serious twists in the storyline. From the grown ups Vera Farmiga delivers a solid performance as well.

If I’d know what director Jaume Collet-Serra had done before Orphan, I’d have given this a miss, but luckily I didn’t. A decent, stylish horror film, though full of cliches and too long. Enjoyed it nonetheless.