The Orphan Killer

A man in a hockey mask, much like Jason from Friday the 13th, swings an axe over a scantily clad, screaming woman; and this happens before the opening credits. A man in a convertible drops off a hot blonde in front of St. Michaels Catholic School. Dressed in a mini skirt and revealing tank top, blondie forays into the adjoining church, kneels at a pew and crosses herself, bless her heart.

Next up, teeny boppers are smoking in the girls room, discussing the legend of the orphan killer. Shortly thereafter, a man in an alley is the first victim. The madman drives a large machete into his forehead. The swordsman then, for no apparent reason, places a photograph of Pope Benedict into a fire.

Back to the good catholic lass. She visits the locker room and has the good sense to remove her clothes and take a shower; cleanliness is next to Godliness, after all; and her headlights are on.

The masked mad man continues his murderous ways, using a wire to strangle a young en' at the school. A flashback to nuns beating a young boy provides clues to the reason for his violent personality.

The church is then the setting for a man receiving oral sex from a sister, and a priest is mutilated; the writer seems to have some serious issues with the ancient Roman religion.

Now to the basement, where Jason, jr. ties the hot blonde, Audrey, to the ceiling with her arms up and thus begins the real fun; sick, sick, sick, and sacrilegious at the same time. Much like the "Saw" series, don't look for any redeeming value in the orphan Killer, it's just another torture film.

The Orphan Killer can best be summed up as a mixed bag of a horror film. It has some great makeup effects, but bad camera work. It has some great scenes, but overall isn't all that good. It has an interesting concept for a story, but plot holes and unbelievability derail your immersion while you're trying to enjoy it.

The story is about two orphaned siblings, Audrey and Marcus. Audrey is adopted while Marcus is left at the orphanage. While Audrey grows up and apparently has a normal life, Marcus grows up tormented for most of his life by the nuns that run the orphanage, and is made to wear a mask due to the fact that he is dangerous to the other children, and the staff. He goes insane and wants to kill his sister, as she left him there, and film gives you enough back story to make it clear.

The movie has several flaws that include, but aren't limited to; camera work, acting, sound, too much fake blood (to the point that it's laughable), plot holes that are huge, and no real character development beyond Marcus. There is no doubt that the film is low budget, so a few of these things can be over looked, and there are some really solid moments in TOK which makes you wish that more time could have been taken with the story and some of the camera work.

The scenes between Audrey and Marcus, while they are in the basement, are done quite well in parts. The camera work, while they are on the roof of the building, is pretty well done as well. Unfortunately these moments aren't enough to make you look past the flaws, but it's worth checking out if you're really in the mood for some low budget slashing. If you're prepared to lower your expectations, when it comes to everything needing to make since, and you may just enjoy it.

5 out of 10

The first thing that hit me with The Orphan Killer was the arrogance behind it. This is a Matt Farnsworth movie from his production company which is basically his name, it also stars him and the cover art for the IMDB page has his signature on it. Really?

It tells the story of a psychotic young man who grows up into a psychotic older man who *Shock horror* goes on a killing spree, aiming specifically for his sister.

Our killer wears ordinary street clothes but has a mask that would be right at home on a Slipknot set, it looks rather a weird contrast.

The film looks solid enough, money clearly went into it and it shows. In no way is the movie bad, it's just so incredibly unoriginal.

We've seen this before, near enough literally. It's just yet another slasher flick with no real character or identity, methinks Mr Farnsworth needs to come down off his high horse.

The Good:

Fairly decent looking killer

Okay soundtrack

Looks better than you'd expect

The Bad:

Certain pretentiousness about the whole thing

Devoid of originality

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

When bad things happen to you it's because God is out back having a cigarette

Everything about this awful excuse for a movie is trash: directing, acting, editing... you name it. Total nonsense. A truly and literally horror. Someone who knows how to make a movie (from the story, which has its moments up to a point) would make this film a least watchable. I still don't believe that I've endured until the end (even with fast forwarding). I was even trying to "connect the dots" but failed. Mr. Farnsworth should never again be allowed to waste someone's money and time in this business. Really, Ed Wood was a genius compared to this. On the other hand, maybe that was the point (or excuse) for letting this trash out in the open. Maybe this is a test of some kind. Who knows. Recommendation: avoid at all costs and whatever state of intoxication you may be. Don't insult your intelligence.

After reading the reviews about TOK on the IMDb board for a long time, it seemed to me that the movie splits the audience in two groups, lovers and haters. And because I'm a Horror-Movie fan, I decided to watch TOK and form my own opinion. OK, and here is my review:

"The Orphan Killer" focuses only on depiction of diverse bloody and gory effects. This fact separates TOK from the big mass of mainstream movies, but on the other hand only through splatter effects a movie will never become a masterpiece. The director should have set more on the plot-quality than on the murder-quality. TOK would have indeed potential for a sequel but without a story there is nothing unique in TOK. I've seen this and that in endless slasher flicks in the past.

There is no horror sound atmosphere in TOK. Every time Marcus grabs a "tool" the Metal Sound rushes in and kills the tense scenery. After a while the music starts to be annoying. In my opinion a creepy atmospheric score would do much better than this nerve killing Metal soundtrack. I felt never entertained throughout the movie. I was rather pushed from one kill to another, which was exhausting and boring. In the end I was glad the movie last scarcely over 80 minutes.

Conclusion: If you've seen various horror flicks in your life and have something to compare with, in addition you're not related to anyone of the film crew so that you are unbiased; you will never rate TOK with ten out of ten stars. I'll give it three stars out of ten. Why three? First because I'm generous and second because I've seen worse in my life.