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Orphan

Orphan

Horror · Thriller · 2009

After losing their baby, a married couple adopt 9-year old Esther, who may not be as innocent as she seems.

Movie details

Orphan

“There's something wrong with Esther.”

2009 Horror · Thriller 2h 3m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

7.0 / 10

Community rating

After losing their baby, a married couple adopt 9-year old Esther, who may not be as innocent as she seems.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Orphan?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

Pin

Pin

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Blood Punch

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The Devil's Candy

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A struggling painter is possessed by satanic forces after he and his young family move into their dream home in rural Texas.

Cheat

Cheat

Thriller · 2023

On the surface it's believed to be another urban legend - a supernatural being from the afterlife is violently killing anyone who cheats on their significant other in the small college town of Silvercreek, Pennsylvania. But the town's unusually high suicide rate is finally convincing both locals and college students that everything is not as it seems. When Maeve - a female college student - sleeps with Charlie, the married man of the host family she is staying with, both sense the deadly curse is closing in on them. Unable to get anyone to believe them, Maeve and Charlie seek out a local history student to help find answers and figure out a way to defend themselves. It all comes undone, however, as several people are horrifically killed by the savage being - one-by-one at a rapid pace. Eventually, Maeve, Charlie and the few survivors band together in an attempt to defeat the monster once and for all.

Barbarian

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In town for a job interview, a young woman arrives at her Airbnb late at night only to find that it has been mistakenly double-booked and a strange man is already staying there. Against her better judgement, she decides to stay the night anyway.

Fright

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Horror · 1971

Young babysitter Amanda arrives at the Lloyd residence to spend the evening looking after their young son. Soon after the Lloyds leave, a series of frightening occurrences in the gloomy old house have Amanda's nerves on edge. The real terror begins, however, when the child's biological father appears after recently escaping from a nearby mental institution.

The Final

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The Home

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Curse of Chucky

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Horror · 2013

After her mother's mysterious death, Nica begins to suspect that the talking, red-haired doll her visiting niece has been playing with may be the key to the mounting bloodshed and chaos.

Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Jaume Collet-Serra

Written by

Alex Mace · David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick

Vera Farmiga

Vera Farmiga

Kate

Peter Sarsgaard

Peter Sarsgaard

John

Isabelle Fuhrman

Isabelle Fuhrman

Esther

CCH Pounder

CCH Pounder

Sister Abigail

Jimmy Bennett

Jimmy Bennett

Daniel

Margo Martindale

Margo Martindale

Dr. Browning

Karel Roden

Karel Roden

Dr. Värava

Court is in session

Put Orphan on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Big-Idea Head

“Its refusal to behave is the point.”

The strange choices create the kind of friction that follows you out of the theatre and into the argument.

The prosecution The Sentimental Softie

“Oddness is not depth.”

A film can break every rule and still leave nothing behind but the memory of how hard it tried to be singular.