We Need Formulas
"Because there is sort of a formula for this kind of movie, you can sort of pretend to be going along with it, and I was consciously trying to, like, hit the points that would be leading you into a place of thinking you know where this movie is going, and then take a sharp turn and deviate from that. So the formula creates the expectation so that you're then able to get away with the surprise." great insight on the formulaic subgenre represented by the movie: The Orphan, written by David Leslue Johnson