A truly hysterical (in both senses) horror thriller that starts off as a pretty routine "evil child" movie, until a third act twist sends the film into truly ridiculous overdrive. You have to give the writer some credit for having the audacity to write such a twist, it's pure trash cinema gold! Holding this increasingly distasteful, bloody film together is an excellent performance by Farmiga, and to a lesser extent Sarsgaard, the dynamic between them helped by a surprisingly detailed and nuanced back story and relationship. The score and sound effects are distractingly excessive, and could've used a lesson in 'less is more', and let's not even get started on the clichéd finale or the blatant xenophobia. But amidst the hysteria are genuinely creepy touches, the best being Esther's personality disorder being mirrored in her artwork, all sweet and innocent on the surface but with a shocking, twisted adult hatred simmering underneath.
