A little boy named David (Mark Owens) loses both of his parents and goes to live with his aunt Martha (Peggy Feury) on her vast estate. The withdrawn David starts playing with Tarot cards and makes an altar to a stuffed monkey. He soon realizes he has more in common with the staff than his aunt, which pisses off the old battle axe. Naturally, she fires the help, which further drives a wedge between her and David. Tensions between the two grows intense when Aunt Martha accidentally kills David’s dog. Eventually, the already disturbed David snaps.
The behind-the-scenes story of The Orphan is more interesting than what wound up on screen. It was originally going to be called Friday the 13th but Paramount was able to finagle the title away from the producers. The posters still kept the picture of a bloody calendar with the date of Friday the 13th in full display though, making people think it was somehow related to the popular franchise. I’m sure anyone who watched this expecting Friday the 13th type of thrills were massively disappointed.
This is one of those slow burn kinds of deals. The stabbing murder sequence isn’t badly staged. It’s just that you have to wait over an hour to get to it. The generous helpings of flashbacks and dream scenes don’t do much to speed up the sluggish pace. Unfortunately, most of the suspense comes from Martha and David antagonizing each other. If you’ve ever had to spend a summer with a bitchy relative, you’ll probably be able to sympathize with David.
The Orphan is a mixed bag to be sure. Some scenes are more weird than effective, the atmosphere is offbeat rather than scary, and the ending is more WTF than effective. Sure, it doesn’t work as a whole, but it does have its moments. (Like the tongue scene.) Ultimately, the scariest thing about it is the awful love song by Janis Ian.
AKA: Friday the 13th… The Orphan. AKA: David. AKA: David (The Orphan). AKA: Killer Orphan.
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