How many times does one have to watch the Omen to learn that oversees adoptions have their risks? While Madonna and Brangelina have made adoption seem cool, this movie does not. Esther is from Russia and is a precocious little girl that parents Kate and John (Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard) feel they need to add to their family of a young girl, Max and a slightly older boy, Daniel. As their familial story unfolds, so does Esther and her particular habits and inclinations start to get more aggressive. Soon we learn that Esther can be a handful and that is the understatement of the year.
The story isn’t original or terribly clever despite the plot twist at the end (and yes, there is an alternative ending). If you watch closely, the director has fun with his audience and at the usual interludes where you hear the music swell and expect a fright, there is nothing; funny how if you turn down the music the movie gets lots less scary. There are certain Freudian elements and just out right sexual scenes that aren’t for younger viewers unless you want to have “that” talk. The actress who plays Esther, Isabelle Fuhrman, does a great creepy job right down to the core. It is interesting to add the element of the younger daughter’s deafness into the film which gives Esther an in. Not a typical slasher flick, despite the violence and blood, this story has meat and luckily for us, Esther is a carnivore.
Bite: Not my favorite, this film kept my attention and held more than a usual horror flick.
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