Esther has a secret. Maybe she should see a priest.

I don't even know if a priest could help Esther, she's so far gone. How can a nine-year-old have that many problems, you ask? Well, therein lies the secret, and I'm not going to divulge it to you. You'll just have to see the movie. Which was kind of fun- a little bloodier than I expected, and a little less eerie than I'd hoped (I was thinking more "The Sixth Sense" or "The Others" type thrills). "Orphan" is a decent movie, although it falls victim to far too many horror movie cliches- Violence towards animals? Check. Drives mommy crazy while plays little angel for daddy? Check. Runaway car with helpless child trapped inside? Check. You get the idea.
I began to suspect Esther's secret a little before it was about to be revealed to the audience. Yeah, it's kind of far-fetched. But, duh, this is a horror movie, so everything gets stretched a little thin.
I'd also like to mention the abusement of product placement. When you are more focused on the Lexus SUV than what the character is doing, that's not good for the movie. Good for the product maybe, but mostly I'm just annoyed by Lexus, and I like their cars!
Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard, who play the troubled couple seeking to adopt in order to move past a family tragedy, are solid in their roles, except that I don't know what happened halfway through the movie to Sarsgaard's John. He's likable and fatherly, and then becomes kind of a jackass, distrusting his wife, making her think she's crazy, almost forcing her to go into a locked rehab ward... I guess this really isn't his fault, but that of the writer.
There are a few shockers that you don't quite expect, but all in all, it follows pretty much standard horror procedure. You know, like when you start to relax a little, and then there's another jolt to the system to remind you of where you are.
As for director Jaume Collet-Serra ("House of Wax"), who lingers long enough on certain objects to make you think they might come alive, he could heave cut at least 15 minutes from the film and for the better. It drags, especially towards the beginning, which is where you're really trying to hook your audience. Just because you are developing a story in suburbia in order to lull the viewer into an artificial sense of complacency doesn't mean they are going to jump higher when that first splatter of blood comes along.