The Orphan Killer

the film plays like a standard 80's slasher horror that tries to flesh out the character of the masked killer. the film is almost like a remake of John carpenters halloween with a heavy dose of Friday the 13th and whiff of nightmare on elm street.(creepy child singing the title over and over)though unfortunately not as good as any of these films that it is clearly inspired ripping off or a homage too.

the first act is a little too drawn out and has some truly terrible acting but has some fun kills. even if low budget kills effects are a bit ropey. the second act is where it becomes interesting and has some moments of discomfort but is mostly when we find out about what motivates orphan killer, unfortunately the third act becomes laughably predictable and badly thought out and hurts the rest of the film.

the film did have its moments and was not a complete waste of time and shows promise but largely has no new ideas and only cares in developing the orphan killer even the heroine is largely left without any depth or motivation other than trying to keep her extremely good looking body alive and in one piece.

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.

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.

Matt Farnsworth is a hack. I haven't got a clue who finances his movies but my guess he has entered into a Faustian pact with Satan. Nobody in their right mind would give this guy money to make a film. If you think I'm being harsh then go check out "The Orphan Killer" then come back and tell me I'm wrong. It is incompetently written with a poorly defined story and no characterisation so ultimately we don't care about anything or anyone we see on the screen. Most of the ideas have been cribbed from far superior genre movies and the camera work is shambolic. We've all seen "Shaky-cam" is the "Bourne" movies, Farnsworth appears to have invented "unintentional shaky-cam" for the "Orphan Killer." It looks like it was filmed by someone on a home video-cam after they'd drunk 50 cups of espresso.

I wouldn't have bothered commenting only there is nothing worse than a film maker who goes out of their way to pull the wool over their potential audience's eyes. This is what Farnsworth has done here. This IMDb page is littered with fake reviews and fake comments appertaining to what a great movie this is and most of them have been written by Farnsworth and his cronies. If you listen to this con-man then "The Orphan Killer" is the next "Halloween" or "Friday The Thirteenth" when in truth it's the next DVD straight to the bargain-bin @ $1.99 in Walmart.

A pair of young children, a boy and girl, survive a home invasion that claims their parents lives. They are sent to the standard "evil" Catholic orphanage, and the girl is adopted while the boy stays behind. As with all Hollywood movies, the orphanage is home to a lot of abuse in the name of God, and the young boy acts out violently to others around him. He also enjoys wearing masks, but hey, who doesn't? Years later, the young girl has grown into a woman who teaches dance at the local Catholic school. Im not sure how many practicing Catholics go to mass in a black micro mini and fishnet stockings - sans underwear. But hey shes pretty hot. Long story short, killer brother comes back to Church and starts offing people left and right, tracking down his sister. Lots of blood later, with the help of her police boyfriend, she has her final showdown with her long lost brother.

This isn't a badly made film, in fact, it actually is a lot better then most of the low budget slashers out there. The acting is above average and the gore special effects are also well done. One of the problems is the music, with consists of loud heavy metal blaring during the action scenes. The other problem is the story plot points. Characters who do dumb things at dumb times, etc. Lots of horror movies do this, so it can be overlooked for the sake of the movie.

The movie as a whole is watchable and even enjoyable for a bit. It is not however, anything you will remember as soon as the credits roll.