Character:
- Monster:
- The orphan, Esther, adopted by John and Kate was the boss.
- She is normal and natural in front of people. However behind she has some secrets.
- She was already 33 years old although her appearance looks 9 years old , has a hormone disorder that stunted her physical growth, and spending most of her life pretending a little girl.
- Esther has serious violent and previously she had already killed 7 people.
- Previously she lived in a psychiatric hospital.
- Victims:
- John, who adopted the orphan.
- John was killed by Esther
- The chile of John and Kate, son Daniel.
- Esther killed Daniel and he was in a great injury
- Moreover, the classmate of Esther was one of the victim, she was die because Esther push her down from the sliding board.
- Sister Abigail, the sister in the orphanage. Esther killed her with a hammer.
- Survivors:
- Kate, John's wife, Kate has lost her third baby because of miscarriage.
- The little daughter of John and Kate, death - mute daughter Max.
Plot:
- Show the setting was mainly in a isolated house, it is not threatening setting but with the snow, it feels that it was difficult to escape.
- Because Kate and John has lost their baby, they would want to adopted one from orphanage and they will forget the nightmare.
- A orphan called Esther have finally enter their house, become one of the family member, the daughter likes Esther a lot but the son Daniel was not welcoming at all.
- Later on, there are some weird things happened, Esther can tell about the sex knowledge in a calm way, besides Esther has hurt a girl in her class and the girl broke her arm.
- At this moment, the mother, Kate has already suspicious about Esther, she told her feeling to his husband but no one trust her.
- Esther further killed Sister Abigail and threaten Max don't tell others, or else Max will die.
- Daniel found out that and want to show the guilt of Esther, however Esther know his plan and arson to let him in great injury.
- While Kate warn John, John didn't trust her, and let Kate in a great danger
- Then, there are a dramatic slowdown, Kate go the do some research of Esther, and find out the secret of her.
- Esther tried to seduce John but not success, then she killed John with knife.
- Further, there are a fighting between Kate and Esther.
- At last, Kate kick Esther face, breaking her neck and then sending her sinking back into the pound.
Props:
- Gun and bullet
- Knife
- Scissors
- Hammer
- Fire for commit arson
- Bricks
- all of them are the tools for killing people.
- Scares on the monster's body, show the horrible appearance of Esther
Cinematography:
- A lot of shots are straight cut, and most of the shots are fast and sharp, just in a few second, the action have finished, it can create a shock and frighten effect on the audiences. The pace is very fast.
- Using a lot of extra low angel of the camera, it is showing the facial expression of the evil person, show the dangerous and terrify expression.
Mise en Scene:
- Setting:
- It was in the winter time, let the audiences feel the coldness of the atmosphere.
- At the beginning, it was in a orphanage, a very normal place which the main character, Esther appeared in a normal and natural way.
- The tone of the picture was dull and no brightness, create a sorrow mood, reflect the feeling of Kate.
- The other main setting was the house of the family, it was an independent house that no other houses besides, it was isolated.
- The house was isolated that show that it was difficult to escape from there, a very hostility environment without any neighbor.
- In the hospital is an important place, because in horror movie, there are always someone get injured.
- Custom:
- All character are wearing casual wear, jeans and t - shirt, however, the color are very dull and dark, no any bright color, its create a very sad and depress atmosphere
- The main character, Esther is wearing something different, she was always wearing dress, and necklace in black color, it may signifies the characteristic of Esther, she has a lot of secret behind
- Almost the end of the movie, Esther have a heavy makeup, that make her become a grown woman. This makeup also let the audiences knowing her secret and true age. Moreover, her makeup create a very horrible feel for the audiences, they can feel Esther's evil and anger.
- Lighting:
- Using hard light, show a sense of danger involved, many shadows were shown while Esther approach.
- A lot of time using low key, because there are showing the inside world of Esther was very dark, and also shown the audiences about the background of the story, the family was in a sorrow mood after the death of Kate's third baby.
Use of Sound:
- It has use a lot of sharp sound, for example sound of open the cupboard, laughter of the orphans, these sound are what Kate have heard, reflect Kate was very sensitive.
- Another diegetic sound was before dangerous approach, in the playground, there are sound of the seesaw, sound of footsteps, and swing, they are all high pitch.
- Thunder used often in this movie to show the dark and abnormal characteristic of Esther, and also thrilled the audiences.
- They are all very high pitch, and makes the audiences very uncomfortable, feeling a sense of horror.
- there are some off screen sound to create the horrible atmosphere before an incident happened. Mostly, they are low pitch music with a short end, the instruments they used may be cello.
- While Esther fell on the ground and do not have any movement, there are some peaceful music such as some flat string instrument, these music create a misconception that the people are safe.
- The non - diegetic sound also included some little tinkle sound, it was small and like water drops, but it makes the audiences feel careful and focus on the scene. it wasn't very scary but it affect your heart.