In Estonia 2007, Leena Klammer (Isabelle Fuhrman) is a 31 year old mental patient at the Saarne Institute who is criminally insane and suffers from Hypopituitarism that gives her the appearance of a 10 year old child. When Leena orchestrates her escape from the institute she assumes the identity of a missing child who looks close enough to her named Esther Albright. Esther is brought to the Albrights in Connecticut consisting of Allen and Tricia (Rossif Sutherland and Julia Stiles) and their teenage son Gunnar (Matthew Finlan). As Leena assumes her role in the Albright home, growing particularly attached to Allen, she finds her lies under ever increasing scrutiny from multiple parties.
Orphan: First Kill is the belated prequel to the 2009 horror film Orphan which opened to decent reviews and healthy box office and became a cult hit due to a particularly shocking third act reveal/twist as well as Isabelle Fuhrman's creepy but nuanced performance as Esther. Needless to say it was more than a little eyebrow raising that not only would we be getting a prequel to this cult hit, but it was also going to feature Fuhrman reprising her role despite 11 Years having elapsed between the first film's release and this sequel (filming was done in Winter of 2020). Given all those circumstances, Orphan: First Kill had fairly low expectations, but surprisingly the movie is quite fun and functions as a trashy darkly comic thrill ride.
Much like the first Orphan the movie belongs to Furman as Esther/Leena. While the actress is certainly no longer a child, the filmmakers do a good enough job of conveying the illusion of Fuhrman playing this role through a mixture of forced perspective, elevated shoes and furniture, and various body doubles to give the idea Fuhrman is shorter than she actual is. While this does run the risk of being distracting or unintentionally humorous, the movie reframes the story so it's told from Leena's perspective so it does kind of work in context especially when you consider the performance as a counterpoint to Furhman's role in the first film where she was a child who had to pretend to be an adult and now playing the same character dials more into those adult aspects while attempting to look like a child.
Storywise the movie follows a similar setup with Esther infiltrating a family and of course developing attractions towards the father figure in that family and while the first half does follow the framework setup by the original, it's the second half that throws everything you expect from a movie like this out the window and gives some truly jaw-dropping revelations that lead the story to some unique directions. The level of conniving and backstabbing (sometimes literally) is an absolute joy to behold and the performances by Stiles, Sutherland, Finlan, and others help to seel you on this situation just enough to keep you engaged.
Orphan: First Kill is a welcome companion piece to the original film. While it doesn't quite match the provocative and shocking third act from the 2009 film, it goes in a different direction from its predecessor and gives some bloody good fun to its audience. Assuming there's a third Orphan (and discussions have been had) I'd be more than okay with seeing Fuhrman tackle this character again.
Orphan: First Kill is the belated prequel to the 2009 horror film Orphan which opened to decent reviews and healthy box office and became a cult hit due to a particularly shocking third act reveal/twist as well as Isabelle Fuhrman's creepy but nuanced performance as Esther. Needless to say it was more than a little eyebrow raising that not only would we be getting a prequel to this cult hit, but it was also going to feature Fuhrman reprising her role despite 11 Years having elapsed between the first film's release and this sequel (filming was done in Winter of 2020). Given all those circumstances, Orphan: First Kill had fairly low expectations, but surprisingly the movie is quite fun and functions as a trashy darkly comic thrill ride.
Much like the first Orphan the movie belongs to Furman as Esther/Leena. While the actress is certainly no longer a child, the filmmakers do a good enough job of conveying the illusion of Fuhrman playing this role through a mixture of forced perspective, elevated shoes and furniture, and various body doubles to give the idea Fuhrman is shorter than she actual is. While this does run the risk of being distracting or unintentionally humorous, the movie reframes the story so it's told from Leena's perspective so it does kind of work in context especially when you consider the performance as a counterpoint to Furhman's role in the first film where she was a child who had to pretend to be an adult and now playing the same character dials more into those adult aspects while attempting to look like a child.
Storywise the movie follows a similar setup with Esther infiltrating a family and of course developing attractions towards the father figure in that family and while the first half does follow the framework setup by the original, it's the second half that throws everything you expect from a movie like this out the window and gives some truly jaw-dropping revelations that lead the story to some unique directions. The level of conniving and backstabbing (sometimes literally) is an absolute joy to behold and the performances by Stiles, Sutherland, Finlan, and others help to seel you on this situation just enough to keep you engaged.
Orphan: First Kill is a welcome companion piece to the original film. While it doesn't quite match the provocative and shocking third act from the 2009 film, it goes in a different direction from its predecessor and gives some bloody good fun to its audience. Assuming there's a third Orphan (and discussions have been had) I'd be more than okay with seeing Fuhrman tackle this character again.