‘The Orphan’ actress a star of the future

Director: Juame Collet-Serra

Cast: Vera Farmiga, Peter Sarsgaard, Isabelle Fuhrman

Cert: 18

We have had the sweet child from hell stories before, but in this latest version of a well-worked tale we have it with some style and a fine appreciation of decent character development and adult requirements.

The story concerns grieving parents Kate (Farmiga) and John (Sarsgaard) who, having lost a baby, are much taken with the sweet, if strange, little orphan Esther (Fuhrman).

She starts out, naturally, as every parent’s dream … until sinister things begin to inflict the household, setting mum to thinking that all is not well, if only people would believe her.

It’s a gripping, even gruesome, story with elements of very dark humour laced through it, but it is also willing to tackle adult themes about loss.

And in Fuhrman we are watching a very talented little lady.

Star Rating: 4/5