Orphan
Warner Bros. Pictures | Release Date: July 24, 2009 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
42
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 25 Critic Reviews
Positive:
7
Mixed:
11
Negative:
7
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
You want a good horror film about a child from hell, you got one. Do not, under any circumstances, take children to see it. Take my word on this. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerTirdad Derakhshani
Orphan, with a perverse plot twist at the end, will keep you on tenterhooks from its nightmarish opening scene to its chilling last frame. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
A two-hour nervous breakdown. Read full review
75
St. Louis Post-DispatchKevin C. Johnson
During a summer with the usual transforming robots and young wizards, this chilly flick is a bit of a break, and there are worse options than letting this Orphan in the door. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
Furhman plays pure evil with such supreme calmness that only her eyes shine with madness. Indeed, all of the child actors are superb, especially the expressive Engineer. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy Burr
The best part of Orphan is the outstandingly lunatic plot twist that kicks in just as you're checking your watch and hoping they'll wrap things up. This development - I'd love to tell you, but you wouldn't believe me - boosts the movie into overdrive for a final 20 minutes of happy, disreputable mayhem. Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia Puig
It's a cut above most spooky-kid movies, with a twist that sets it apart. Read full review
60
Film ThreatJessica Baxter
For the most part, Esther is an entertaining and solid addition to the Evil Child canon. There may be something wrong with Esther, but there's nothing terribly wrong with Orphan. Read full review
60
NPRNathan Lee
The movie is, as these things go, enjoyably trashy. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
Assuming your psycho-pigtailed-killer memories extend back as far as "The Bad Seed," Maxwell Anderson's play filmed by director Mervyn LeRoy in 1956, Orphan may remind you of the icon made famous by Patty McCormack. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesGlenn Whipp
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. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Jennie Punter
Orphan descends into a formulaic bloodbath that barely registers a pulse. Read full review
50
Portland OregonianM. E. Russell
The movie pads the good stuff out with a bunch of mediocre mainstream-thriller junk. It takes too long to get started, it pulls some key punches, its dialogue is deeply uninteresting, it relies way too heavily on endless jump-scares and its finale is pure slasher-flick formula. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Bottom line: This Orphan is an atmospheric and occasionally vicious little git and an above-average entry into the "cuddly hellspawn" genre, overlong at two-plus hours, but nowhere near as excruciatingly overdone as others of its ilk (Devil Times Five, I'm talking to you). Read full review
40
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Teasingly enjoyable rubbish through the first hour, Orphan becomes genuine trash during its protracted second half. Read full review
40
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
There’s something creepy, and not pleasurably so, about watching children pantomime so much malice and fear. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsJoe Neumaier
Orphan doesn't add much to the genre except, disturbingly, a fetishistic bent that's creepy in the wrong way. Read full review
40
EmpireKim Newman
Predictable and been-there, seen-that, but entertaining nevertheless at times. Read full review
38
New York PostKyle Smith
The film mangles its twist and fails to deliver an interesting coup de grace or a sharp line of dialogue. Read full review
38
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Orphan is being marketed as a horror movie, but that's misdirection. It's more of a standard thriller in the "evil amongst us" mode, about a group of people who inadvertently admit a psychopath into their midst. Read full review
33
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
If director Jaume Collet-Serra (House Of Wax) set out to make a parody of horror-film clichés, he succeeded brilliantly. Read full review
33
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Orphan isn't scary -- it's garish and plodding. Read full review
30
Village VoiceChuck Wilson
Silly, overlong, and bloody as hell, Orphan is likely to turn a sweet profit, money that Leo (DiCaprio), the renowned do-gooder, should spend with shame. Read full review
0
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
Depraved, worthless piece of filth. Read full review
0
Chicago ReaderCliff Doerksen
Screenwriters David Johnson and Alex Mace deliver one of the stupidest "twist endings" in the history of storytelling. Read full review
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