ORPHAN: FIRST KILL:
ESTHER MAKES A TERRIFYING RETURN…AND WE ARE GLAD TO WELCOME HER BACK!
By Nico Beland
Movie Review: *** out of 4
PARAMOUNT+
Witness Esther’s beginnings in Orphan: First Kill
Esther (Isabelle Fuhrman-The Hunger Games, From Up on Poppy Hill, Escape Room: Tournament of Champions) is back to cause more terror in Orphan: First Kill, the prequel to the 2009 horror film, Orphan. Talk about a film that appeared out of nowhere and surprised everyone, I doubt many people were expecting a follow-up to Orphan in some shape or form especially not one all these years later.
I actually revisited the first film prior to watching this one and it’s a solid horror movie with a lot of effective scares, excellent performances from Fuhrman and Vera Farmiga, and a downright brilliant plot twist that I dare not ruin here for those with the desire to watch it. It’s not a perfect film and the critical reactions are divisive, but like Jennifer’s Body (Another polarizing 2009 horror movie), it’s a lot smarter and well-crafted than you would expect, especially given it was released the same year that gave us the Friday the 13th and My Bloody Valentine remakes, Final Destination 4, and Saw VI.
Now we have this prequel film released on Paramount+ and select theaters with Fuhrman reprising her role as Esther, but in the director’s chair this time is William Brent Bell-The Devil Inside, The Boy 1 and 2, Separation) replacing Jaume Collet-Serra from the first film, chronicling the events that led up to the first movie. I was interested, but also expressed some concern regarding the idea.
This is a prequel, not a sequel to a 2009 film that’s being released over ten years later with the same actress (Now an adult) reprising the role she portrayed as a child, how does this work? Why de-aging of course, but unlike films like Tron: Legacy, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, or Avengers: Endgame, they don’t use any CGI to de-age Fuhrman which is quite incredible.
So, is Orphan: First Kill a worthy follow-up/prequel to the first film? Honestly, yes! Granted, I don’t think it’s quite as scary or suspenseful as the first film, but in terms of pure chaos and craziness, I was very entertained by this movie and despite taking place before the events of the first movie, it shows that both Fuhrman and the Esther character have evolved a lot over the past thirteen years.
Set two years before the events of the first film, Esther orchestrates an escape from an Estonian psychiatric facility and travels to America by impersonating the missing daughter of the wealthy, Tricia (Julia Stiles-10 Things I Hate About You, Bourne franchise, Dexter) and Allen Albright (Rossif Sutherland-ER, Timeline, Reign). However, when an unexpected twist arises that pits her up against a mother who’s willing to do anything to protect her family, Esther realizes that maybe the family she’s staying with hides a much more terrifying secret than anything she could ever do.
The film also stars Hiro Kanagawa (Smallville, Godzilla (2014), The Age of Adaline) as Inspector Donnan.
Overall, Orphan: First Kill is the kind of film that shouldn’t have worked, and yet it totally does. It isn’t quite as scary as its predecessor, but it does a great job at establishing elements of Esther’s personality and backstory that would later be adopted (No pun intended…okay, a little bit!) into the first film while also exploring the character and making her more three-dimensional, basically humanizing a murderous child and it’s done extraordinarily well.
It’s like if Don’t Breathe 2 was done correctly where they turn a despicable villain from the earlier film into sort of an anti-hero, but even the movie knows not to turn Esther into a hero because of the events that are going to follow this movie. She is still cunning and deadly and will remain that way, but with little bit of humanity in the end.
Thirteen years later, Isabelle Fuhrman still knocks it out of the park as Esther and it’s wonderful that she retains the exact same level of commitment and energy in her mid-20s that she had when she was 10 in the original film. Also, the tricks the filmmakers use to de-age her such as makeup on Fuhrman, the supporting cast wearing platform shoes, raising the sets, and various camera shots are very effective and creative even though her true age does shine through, this was done entirely practically which blew my mind as I was watching it and that it puts several big-budget blockbusters with CGI de-aging effects to shame.
The film also does a great job tying back to the first film with a lot of callbacks and references. We see where Esther gets her interest in painting as well as an origin to her iconic blacklight painting, origins to that old book she carries around and her scars, and the film ends exactly where the first one starts.
This probably sounds very strange, but Orphan: First Kill succeeds at exceeding expectations in terms of its narrative. At first, you think it’s going to be a retread of the original film as it hits the same beats as its predecessor, but as it goes on, the film takes an unexpected turn leading up to an insane final act that’s nothing but blood-soaked fun and easily the highlight of the entire film.
Orphan: First Kill is significantly shorter than its predecessor which clocked in at slightly over two hours whereas with this, it’s just over 90 minutes. One of the few flaws I had with the first Orphan is that the runtime was unnecessarily long and felt a lot could have been trimmed down, this one is short and sweet but at times, some of the plot points and character motives seemed rushed or quickly glanced over, I felt they could have been developed further than what we got.
Orphan: First Kill stands among Ouija: Origin of Evil and Annabelle: Creation as one of the best horror movie prequels that nobody was asking for but ended up being a delightfully twisted surprise to everyone. Whether you’re streaming on Paramount+ or going to the theater, you’ll definitely want to pay Esther a visit.
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