One of the few things on which pianist Kate Coleman (Vera Farmiga) agrees with her apathetic architect husband, John Coleman (Peter Saarsgard), is that a drastic change is needed to save their rocky marriage. With the burden of John's past infidelity, the emotional distance of their rebellious adolescent son, Daniel (Jimmy Bennett), and the helplessness of their deaf younger daughter, Max (Aryana Engineer), Kate's loss of her third baby in childbirth broke her sanity and drowned her in a sea of alcoholism.In an attempt to find an alternative outlet of love meant for their stillborn child, the Colemans take in a mysterious 9-year-old Russian orphan called Esther (Isabelle Fuhrman) into their family. Max, in her innocence, was ecstatic to finally have a big sister; Daniel was less than enthusiastic due to the bullying he receives at school due to her eccentricities.Polite and creative, Esther initially had a sensitivity and charm that began to thaw the frozen hearts of the Coleman couple... and that's when people around them started getting hurt.General Tropes
Ditto John. Perhaps not an asshole in the traditional sense, but his insistence on believing Esther's word over his freaking wife and his wilful ignorance of evidence staring him in the face loses him a lot of sympathy.
Downer Ending: Sure, Kate kills Esther Leena, but John is most likely dead, who knows what kind of brain damage Danny has from being smothered, and poor little Max...
The alternate ending is ten times worse, if you assume that "Esther" succeeds in fooling the police officers. Not only will she probably be adopted by another unwitting, innocent family, but poor Kate, the woman who stood in Leena's way of romancing John and nearly succeeded in killing her? Yeah, Leena knows where she lives. And considering Kate would have no proof in this situation that she wasn't a mentally slipping alcoholic like everyone around her believes, good luck convincing anyone that that sweet, innocent girl could decide to come murder her and her family.
It's highly unlikely that "Esther" would have fooled the police - she's covered in blood, smiling as happy as clam, despite the dead body and the house having been wrecked, not to mention the police were notified of an intruder. It wouldn't take take a genius for them to figure out the girl was off her rocker, it's more depressing in the fact that you realize this girl has really lost it.
Unless the police assume that the intruder wrecked the house and hurt "Esther". her demeanor could come off to the police as post-traumatic stress.
Esther would be taken by the police to be examined by a doctor as a matter of course. As soon as that happens all of Kate's allegations about Esther would be proven beyond all doubt
Executive Meddling: In the original script, Danny was supposed to die and Esther's backstory was supposed to be better explained, making her more sympathetic and her actions of pretending to be a child to seduce John make more sense.
Extreme Melee Revenge: Esther attempts to seduce John. When he turns her down, she stabs him with a kitchen knife and does not stop until well after he's dead.
Idiot Ball: Having sex in a part of the house that's meant to be used by the entire family. As a result, they get caught by Esther.
To be fair, they did assume Esther was in bed at the time.
They still have three kids, not just Esther. Any of them could have woken up.
Improbable Aiming Skills: Subverted when Max picks up the revolver that Kate had dropped earlier and aims it at Esther, but ends up shooting the ice they're standing on instead.
Kick the Dog: Esther cutting the flowers that Kate and John's stillborn child's ashes were scattered over and presenting them to the former in a bouquet.
Kick the Son of a Bitch: On Esther's first day of school, a girl named Brenda makes fun of her. Later, Esther comes up behind Brenda and shoves her off the slide, breaking her ankle.
Kids Are Cruel: The girls who bully Esther at school, and Danny and his friends.
Mirror Scare: Both subverted and played straight. The first time Kate goes to the medicine cabinet, she closes the door to find nothing, the second time it's John standing behind her in a fake scare.
Primal Scene: But don't worry, Esther understands.
Real Life Writes the Plot: The movie was supposed to take place in the fall, but a record snow fall hitting the filming location during filming changed this to the winter, in turn eliminating a scene in the script at a Halloween carnival at Danny and Esther's school. Some might say the winter atmosphere helped make the movie more creepy.
Replacement Goldfish: A tale of this trope in action, gone horribly, horribly wrong.
Too Dumb to Live: Sure, the first few results of Esther's psychopathy could be chalked up to coincidence. But John still refuses to believe Kate after Danny's treehouse mysteriously burns down, putting him in the hospital. When Esther just HAPPENED to be near it at the time. Must've been spontaneous combustion, right?
Kate earns some of this for not thinking to call the cops sooner, especially as she is fairly quick to realize that there is something wrong with Esther. Why on earth would she even let her come to the hospital?
Kate comes off this way a lot, she doesn't handle her paranoia against Esther rationally and comes off whiny and demanding.
Vanity Plate: Covered in glow paint to foreshadow Esther's secret layer of her paintings showing her sadistic side.
Tropes that concern Esther (or better said, Leena Klammer). Spoilers dead Ahead!!
The Fake Cutie: Could be the poster girl for this trope.
Fille Fatale: Or so you think, since you know, she's not a child after all.
Fridge Brilliance: After hearing about the twist and looking closely at the picture of Esther realizing "Holy shit she does have age marks!"
There's a lot that will make you say "holy shit!" on a second viewing. Why does she prefer to wear Victorian dresses over blue jeans? To hide her more "adult" figure. Her avoidance of doctor and dentist appointments. "I've had a lot of time to practice, I guess." "She's very mature for her age." There are even subtler moments like when Kate is yelling for Esther to hurry up on her first day of school...perhaps she was taking so long because she was putting on all her makeup.
Here's a subtle one: Danny notices Esther cuts her food into little pieces before eating anything. It could just be her style of eating, but it makes a lot more sense when you find out that she's wearing false teeth and eating with them in would probably be very difficult without cutting things very small.
Good Scars, Evil Scars: The collar and wristbands that Esther always wears are hiding very prominent scars that she got when struggling against being bound in a straitjacket.
Harmful to Minors: "It takes two to drag a body... Max, come and help your sister..."
Hilarious in Hindsight: An episode of Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist had Dr. Katz and his son humorously discuss horror movies where the killers were midgets. Titles (to the best of my memory) included "I'm Short, But You're Dead" and "Don't Step On My Toes, Or I'll Kill You!"
Murder the Hypotenuse: All of Esther's actions in this film have in mind the ultimate death of Kate, Danny AND Max so that she can have John all to herself.
Troubling Unchildlike Behaviour: Casually using the word "fuck" in everyday conversation is the least worrying thing about this young lady.
Vorpal Pillow: Esther does this to Danny. It doesn't manage to kill him, though.
Villainous Breakdown: After failing to seduce John, Esther runs to her room, removes everything she uses to pass herself off as a nine-year-old, while throwing a screaming fit and wrecking the room.
Wham Line: "The little girl in that picture is not really a little girl. She's a grown woman."
Wise Beyond Their Years: Esther knows far more about sex than a seemingly 9-year-old should ever healthily know.
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