10 Horror Reveals Nobody Was Ready For

2. Esther Was Really A Middle-Aged Woman - Orphan

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Warner Bros.

The big reveal of 2009's Orphan was somewhat of a double whammy for horror hounds.

First and foremost, we found out that the titular young orphan at the centre of the movie was actually a 33-year-old woman with a hormone disorder. That in itself was a startling revelation, but before that knowledge we had to watch the extremely uncomfortable moment that this supposed 9-year-old tried to seduce the man who had adopted her.

Thankfully, Peter Sarsgaard's John spurned the advances of the deranged Esther - although not so thankfully for him, this pint-sized psycho then stabbed John to death.

A broken neck and an icy demise were in the future of Esther - or Leena Klammer, as is the character's real name - but Orphan had done more than enough to make audiences sit up and take notice way before its closing act saw its headline act killed off.

What started off a disturbing tale of a child who likes to kill animals and torture other children, was flipped on its head and turned up to a whole other level of shocking by the time Orphan's second half kicked into gear.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.