Most families have the ability to have children the natural way, but that does not include everyone. Some women simply can´t give birth to a child, because of medical issues such as poor egg quality, your fallopian are blocked so sperm can´t get to your egg and many other reasons. That does not mean you can´t have a child at all, there are other options. You could get help from a surrogate mother, or perhaps adopt a child. Of course there are some things you need to think about, before you make your decision. As long as you feel that you make a decision that you feel comfortable with, there are possibilities to have your own family. But what if you are a child that is an orphan, or becomes an orphan? This is of course a completely different view on families, that not everyone may live in a traditional family. And that´s ok, since things may actually turn around and become better with time. Speaking of time and orphans, we actually have a film that combines both of these subjects, that is actually a good film. And the film that comes to my mind is the 2018 film The House With A Clock In It´s Wall. This is a film that is actually directed by Eli Roth, and it´s a family comedy with horror elements. I already knew that Eli Roth knows how to make good horror films, but that he actually could make a family comedy was a big surprise. This film tells the story of ten-year-old Lewis Barnavelt ( Owen Vaccaro ), who in 1955 lost both of his parents in a car crash. Lewis is sent to live with his Uncle Jonathan ( Jack Black ) in New Zebedee, Michigan. At first this may seem like a normal home, but Lewis is about to find out that this home have a lot of secrets, that are about to be revealed. The House With A Clock In It´s Wall is a fun film, that actually manage to bring in horror influences in a nice, and surprising way. If you just want to be entertained for the moment, this is a great pick for the whole family. Since i mentioned orphans earlier, i was asked if i could do a request review of the 2009 film Orphan. I have seen this film before, but that was quite some time ago. So it was time to revisit the film and see how i feel about this film now, 12 years later. Is this still a solid horror film, or have Orphan aged just as much as Victoria Beckham´s self titled pop album from 2001?
Kate Coleman ( Vera Farmiga ) and John Coleman´s ( Peter Sarsgaard ) marriage is strained after their stillbirth of their third child Jessica. Trying to deal with the grief, Kate is having a hard time with their loss, who is a recovering addict. So they make a decision, and that is to adopt a child, and they find 9-year-old Russian girl Ester ( Isabelle Fuhrman ), who seems to be a wonderful and intelligent girl. At first everything seems to be going fine, but it becomes clear that Esther is not the girl that they thought she was. She have a dark secret buried deep inside of her.
One of the things that makes Orphan especially interesting, is that this film bring up the medical term known as Hypopituitarism, wich means you have a short supply of one or more pituitary hormones. This could affect any number of your body´s routine functions. To have a character in this film who is living with this medical term, makes the character quite unique. And i am of course talking about the character known as Esther, played really good by actress Isabelle Fuhrman. I can honestly say that she is the strongest character in this film, and makes quite a powerful impact. The mystery that surrounds her is quite fascinating, and appreciate that we don´t find out much at all about her background, until quite late in the film. Since we have seen films with orphans included in films in the past, i have to say that this one stands out by using a different path. What about the plot itself? It is quite simple, and have been seen several times before. But it is the twists and turns that makes this film a much stronger psychological film, compared to the 1993 film The Good Son. You have especially two well known actors in this film, and they are Vera Farmiga ( The Conjuring ) and Peter Saarsgard ( An Education ). Both actors give solid performances, and give realitic characters. I specifically enjoy seeing Vera Farmiga as the mother Kate, as you can tell she wants to give Esther a chance to be a part of their family. She have a natural way to make you feel intrigued by her characters, especially in The Conjuring. Does the psychological horror work for the most part? I would say yes, and this is where we have to mention actress Isabelle Fuhrman again, since she is the one who contribute to the highlights, where she totally freaks out mentally. To show this level of insanity through acting is not easy, but she does a splendid job. Orphan is one of those films that clearly show that you can never trust anyone completely, no matter how good hearted you think they seem to be. Director Jaumet Collet-Serra ( who directed the 2005 film House Of Wax, worth checking out ) bring us a film that show the importance of staying together as a family, when something happens that could tear your life apart. I especially think that he have done a good job bulding up psychological tensions within the family, wich helps the plot to become more interesting. If you are into psychological horror, Orhan is definetely worth checking out. In fact, this film might make you more aware if you ever planned to help an orphan, to make sure of the child´s background. Who knows, some of them might not be the sweethearts that they pretend to be.
Rating: DDD
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