She Got The Current In Her Hand, Just Shock You Like You Won't Believe, Sun In The Amazon, With The Voltage Running Through Her Skin

--"Electric Feel", MGMT

I watched Orphan yesterday night with high expectations. It hadn't drawn my interest when it first came out in theaters, but with each passing week I started to hear more and more about how over the top scary it was. Not gory or gruesome, mind you, which I tend to dislike, but out-and-out-we'll-toss-everything-at-you scary. Not to mention I kept hearing how the "twist" for Esther, the orphan in question played by Isabelle Fuhrman, was freaking batshit nutso that it made the film all the more a guilty pleasure for having known the twist right from the start. I had to buy the film the very first day it came out and watch it.

And it did not disappoint. I can honestly say that compared to any other demon child/bad seed thriller or horror films, Orphan truly pulls out all the stops. With every other film in the genre, you still get the impression there's a sense of decency or even innocence at what the children in question are doing. You are still left with the impression that, if they knew more about the consequences of their actions, that possibly they might think twice about committing the various horrifying acts they perpetrate throughout the course of the film. You still believe, like the axiom goes, that they are good at heart buried down below their complex upbringing and whatever forces twisted them into such sadistic creatures.

I believe the point where I knew I wasn't dealing with that kind of child in question in this film was when Esther asks her deaf seven-year-old little sister to help hide the body of the nun she had just smashed twice in the head with a hammer. At that point I was completely thinking to myself that there just isn't an ounce of innocence at all in this little girl. It's bad enough to kill someone... but a nun? And then to trick your truly innocent little sister into becoming an accomplice? There's a whole other level of evil in that scenario.

And what's worse is that's one of the more subdued acts of violence that occurs during the film. As the plot just goes from mildly disturbing to outright menacing and shocking, you as the audience begin to see why, because of her perfmance, Roger Ebert said Isabelle Fuhrman "is not going to be convincing as a nice child for a very long, long time."


do what you feel now

----

While not a box office success, I think the film succeeds on its merits because it plays upon the simple premise that adults severely underestimate the capabilities of children. Even setting aside Esther for a second, Max, as the younger sister who is put in peril constantly by the arrival of the older (much older it turns out) Esther, shows herself just as capable of being deceitful in order not to draw the suspicion of her sister. If anything, it's Max and her older brother Daniel who do the most effective job at stopping Esther before their mother ever gets involved. And their poor father still remains clueless as the Esther's true nature till the very end. For most of the story Esther preys upon all the second chances her family affords her. She uses the very nature of her small stature, the way she dresses, and carries herself to get away with murder, literally. Even her voice and her very inflections she manipulates to the situation. She's a different kind of monster, using the ribbons in her hair and the lack of strength to obscure the fact she is, without a doubt, batshit crazy.

I mean--I never killed anyone (that I'd be willing to confess to, at least), but I believe the same thing happened to me and my brother growing up. I was forever coasting on the fact I got good grades and pretty much stayed out of trouble to hide the enormity of how much trouble I caused when I set my mind to it. I never hurt anyone physically except my brother, but vandalization and stealing all sorts of other peoples' possessions were a lot of the ways I dealt with my frustration. My family still doesn't know how often my "taking a walk" really meant blowing off the steam by destroying or taking stuff.

And it's the same with most of my good friends. Breanne's parents never knew how far and what she did all those times she ran away from home. They didn't even find out about sleeping underneath her friends' old home until like five years ago and certainly have never been told the story of her almost accepting rides from perfect strangers. She's only told them half of what actually happened all those times. Most of the time they were content with her explanation of staying over at a neighbor's house or having one of her relatives hide her away. Rather than think the worse, adults are always more willing to find the more excusable and innocent explanation for what their kids do or say. Nobody wants to believe that their children are capable of deceit and cruelty on par with the rest of the world. Nobody wants to be the one who finds out that their kid is just not like the rest of the kids in their class.

They have these expectations that because they turned out fine, that their kids will as well.

I used to think the same way because none of the kids in my elementary school or even high school revealed anything I'd qualify as horrifying. It wasn't until I got into college and older that the sick and twisted childhoods of some people I knew started to make their way to the surface. From Ilessa being routinely beat up by her older brother for more than five years of her life to Jennifer's brother's own stories of being tossed down their well by kids in their neighborhood claiming to be his friend--I've heard too many stories of kids just being outright evil to think that we're all born good. While it's true that most kids fall somewhere between being good and evil, that doesn't mean there aren't just some bad seeds out there.

Not every kid can be little miss sunshine (or even Little Miss Chipper).

Somebody's kids have to grow up to be the Esthers of the world.

Yours Swimmingly,
mojo shivers