Written by Old Bluffer 11th Aug 2009

Spoiler Alert - as you should have seen from the other two deaths before this, I advise watching the movie before reading this page.

And so we come to the climactic death of the movie, and honestly, it's not all that interesting.

Kate arrives back at her home, with the awful knowledge that Esther is a psychopathic killer, and is greeted with the gruesome sight of her husband shredded on the floor.

Her daughter Max is still somewhere in the house, so she has no choice but to move on.

Esther has armed herself with John's revolver, and after some stealthing around, she blasts Kate through the arm.

[Incidentally, during her fight with John, Esther has lost most of her makeup, and has also discarded her flawless false teeth (that's why she didn't want to go to the dentist earlier!) so now looks far less cute, as she is scarred and has disgusting, cracked, yellow teeth.  This was either done to make her look more scary, or so that it doesn't upset Sensitive Mothers when they see Kate hitting her - but either way it is a mistake. Esther is by far at her most creepy when she looks like a nine year old.]

The chase scene moves outside where Kate sees Max beneath the roof of her botanical glass house. Kate is walking on the roof, so can't get to her, but signs frantically to the deaf girl to hide.

This advice proves too late, and Esther looms into view, beheading the toddler with a pair of shears.

Well no, that doesn't really happen, the cute kid is of course invulnerable, and Kate saves her by smashing through the glass house roof and squashing Esther to the floor. They retrieve the gun and then succumb to the oldest horror cliche there is - they just walk off and leave her, assuming she is dead.

Of course this means we'll get another action scene in a moment or so, so why am I complaining? Well really just because the rest of the film was good enough that it deserved a more original ending.

What we get though is Mummy Coleman grappling with a knife wielding Esther over an icy lake.  Mom gets slashed to ribbons, but Max saves the day by awkwardly pointing the revolver in both of her tiny hands and shooting willdy at Esther.  She misses of course, but the bullet cracks the ice, dunking both women into the frigid water.  Esther is still stabbing away, but Kate gets to the surface first and hauls herself onto the ice.  Esther surfaces beneath her, almost frozen, and falls back on her charm to save the day.

"Please, mommy. Don't let me die" she pleads with an uncharacteristic lack of guile.

Kate's reaction is more in character:

"I'm not your f*cking mommy!"


She then push kicks her shoe with full force underneath Esther's chin, quite possibly breaking her neck.  Whether she does or not is moot - Esther sinks into the lake and the nightmare is at an end (well, not really, as Kate is now the lone parent of two seriously messed up kids!)



Old Bluffer's Thoughts

I'm not going to dwell overmuch on the formulaic nature of the last scenes, as the movie is honestly better than that.  The acting is good throughout and Isabelle Fuhrman is outstanding in the rather unusual role of a Russian mental patient posing as a child.  After the film I honestly had no idea how old the actress was - it turns out she is twelve, which is remarkable, she is definitely a talent to watch.

Max is also adorable and sympathetic, without ever being annoying, a difficult feat for a director to achieve in our experience.

The cinematography in this movie is often a real joy, with unusual angles and some very well thought out composition.  Yes, there are cliched moments, and they are somewhat jarring, but only because the bulk of the film is thoughtfully shot.

The pacing was also just about right. The twist ending was saved until the end - if we'd learned Esther was a grown woman earlier on it would have spoiled many of the scenes I feel.  It actually wasn't a surprise to Mouse and I that she was older than her years, but it turns out we were both expecting some kind of supernatural angle (I half expected her to be the cursed daughter of Vlad the Impaler at one point!). The medical explanation was far more satisfying, and makes for a much more insidious denouement.

Where the film really shines is in the power struggle of Esther and the Colemans. There is a lot of surprising subtlety in her actions and the tone is suitably dark without resorting to schlock horror (the bouquet of flowers given to Kate being a good example).  There is also something deliciously invasive about the idea of a mad adult posing in your home as a child, that ticked a lot of "horror boxes" for us.

All in all then, one of the best Creepy Child Killers we've had the pleasure of watching - highly recommended.