Warner Bros. and Dark Castle are hoping "Orphan" brings a fresh and creepy twist to the often reliable "spooky kid" run amok tale.

Taking a cue from "The Omen" and the always enjoyable Grady twins from "The Shining," director Jaume Collet-Serra ("House of Wax") adds a fresh terror tyke to the mix with Esther, played by Isabelle Fuhrman.

In "Orphan" John and Kate (Peter Sarsgaard and Very Farmiga) suffer the tragic loss of an unborn child and decide to adopt, choosing a seemingly angelic girl known as Esther. However, it's not long after they bring her home that a strange series of unnerving events unfold.

"This movie will speak for itself," Collet-Serra said recently in an interview with ShockTillYouDrop.com at Fangoria's Weekend of Horrors. "There's a lot of uniqueness about it. I can't talk about just yet because it will give it away. Just to put things in perspective, when you have such quality actors, like Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard, that are willing to do a genre. They didn't do it for the money, it was because of the script. They saw something that was fresh, new and worth doing. They will bring a lot of credibility to the movie.

"It was just an excellent script and that was basically what got me. It's not a sequel, it's not a remake and it's very fresh even though you might see a lot of things you think you've already seen, but the movie is very different."

One of the key aspects for a success interpretation of the script was the casting of Esther. Collet-Serra found Fuhrman ideal for the role.

"We just went through the process and we wanted to find someone who was unknown," he explained. "Her face is fresh, new and creepy. We just cast pretty much everywhere. When I saw Isabelle Fuhrman, she just had a great intensity to her performance. In places where kids had to over-act to get there, she was very natural. She just had that very strong presence. And it made us change the concept of Esther. In the script, she's blonde, curly hair, blue eyes. A different image. Fuhrman blew away the competition and we were very surprised to find her."

With "House Of Wax" marking his first foray into the horror genre, Collet-Serra sees his experiences on that film as a springboard for enhancing "Orphan."

"I learned a lot. Specific to the horror genre, creating tension, I think in 'House of Wax,' the nature of that movie was different, it's a slasher film. I've learned a few tricks to creating tension. In 'Orphan,' it's more psychological, a bit more thriller-like. Those tricks came in handy for the tension where there's no real serial killer."

"Orphan," written by David Johnson and based on a story by Alex Mace, hits theaters July 24.