Orphan: First Kill – Film Review

After escaping from a psychiatric facility in Estonia, Esther travels to America by impersonating the missing daughter of a wealthy family. Yet, an unexpected twist arises that pits her against a mother who will protect her family at any cost.

“There’s always been something wrong with Esther,” says the tagline on the poster for William Brent Bell‘s brand new psychological horror film Orphan: First Kill, which serves as a prequel to the 2009 film Orphan, which features one of the most insanely brilliant twists in film history.

The tagline of this film is absolutely true, as well. This tightly constructed ninety-nine minute thrill-ride is a gritty, thrilling, and chillingly dark exploration of Esther’s origins, brought to life beautifully by a sharp script and a powerful performance from Isabelle Fuhrman, who proves that after all these years, she can still pull off portraying a little girl.

To be honest with you, I was fully expecting this film to be colossal disappointment mainly because of it being directed by Bell, who has had a less than savory track record with horror. He previously directed the abysmally awful The Devil Inside as well as Brahms: The Boy II – two of the worst mainstream horror films of the 2010s.

But to my surprise, Bell’s direction here is actually… fantastic? Perhaps he went back to the drawing board on what to do on set or something because here, his direction feels so in control and stylish. This is a grimy and gross feeling movie that never skimps on making you feel so creeped out.

David Coggeshall wrote the script for this movie and he did such an excellent job. He consistently finds ways to make the story engaging throughout the ninety-nine minute running time. There’s truly never a dull scene to be found here. It’s a film that feels so smartly constructed because when you look back at it all, you realize that there really isn’t a scene that could be removed to help the film’s flow.

It’s always a great thing when a film utilizes every scene to its potential, and this film is one of them. We learn plenty more about Esther / Leena Klammer’s origins this time around, and boy is it ever dark and twisted. Coggeshall’s mind is definitely full of brilliant ideas.

Much like the predecessor, First Kill tries to inject some shocking twists midway through, flipping the entire movie on its head. Does it work? Thankfully, yes. The big twist this time around isn’t anywhere near as surprising as the first film’s big twist, but it’s still diverting and it’s something that you likely won’t see coming.

All of the kills here are wonderfully bloody and violent as well, which is always a good thing when it comes to a horror flick. You want to see these kinds of things executed well, and thankfully in this movie, they are. They took the violence in the first entry and dialed it up to eleven.

Isabelle Fuhmran is once again stepping into the shoes of Ester / Leena and, just like expected, she does a marvelous job. She’s unbelievably terrifying as the character and unsettlingly intimidating. One thing that I will say, however, is that she definitely doesn’t look younger than she did in Orphan.

The filmmakers likely tried their best to de-age Fuhrman seeing as how this is a prequel but unfortunately, they didn’t do that job well enough. You can tell in every single scene that the actress is considerably older than she was when she filmed the first movie which is a bit of a shame.

There are also some instances in which the film has a problem with painfully obvious body doubles, and some stiff performances from Julia Stiles and Matthew Finlan. Aside from that, however, this prequel impressed me tremendously. If you’re a fan of the first, you should definitely check this one out.