Orphan
Rating: L (R)
NEW YORK (CNS) — The following is a capsule review of a movie recently reviewed by the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Atmospheric but ultimately exploitative chiller about a couple (Peter Sarsgaard and Vera Farmiga) who adopt a 9-year-old Russian-born girl (Isabelle Fuhrman) from a Catholic orphanage, only to find that her inexplicable, manipulative behavior is tearing their marriage apart, and may pose a physical threat to their two other children (Jimmy Bennett and Aryana Engineer).
Director Jaume Collet-Serra’s horror outing begins promisingly enough by relying on Fuhrman’s ability to unsettle the audience, but interludes of excessive violence and distasteful psychosexual complications soon take hold, leading to a conclusion that plays on viewers’ most visceral emotions.
A few scenes of gory violence, brief graphic sexual activity, fleeting images of upper female and rear nudity, some rough and crass language, and a couple of uses of profanity.
The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is L — limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R — restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.