Film Review: ORPHAN: FIRST KILL (2022): Twisty Plot Undermines Isabelle Fuhrman’s Fine Turn in Horror Prequel

Orphan: First Kill Review

Orphan: First Kill (2022) Film Review, a movie directed by William Brent Bell, written by David Coggeshall and starring Isabelle Fuhrman, Julia Stiles, Rossif Sutherland, Hiro Kanagawa, Matthew Finlan, Samantha Walkes, David Lawrence Brown, Lauren Cochrane, Gwendolyn Collins, Kristen Sawatzky, Jeff Strome, Andrea del Campo, Alec Carlos, Alicia Johnston, Jade Michael and Sarah Luby.

You can’t improve upon perfection but filmmaker William Brent Bell tries his hardest to improve upon something that was brilliant with the new prequel, Orphan: First Kill. While the 2009 classic horror film, Orphan, ranked on my ten best films list of 2009, the follow up movie tries way too hard to impress. While its plot is successful in spurts, there is a sour feeling that the film is simply throwing offbeat plot twists at the audience hoping something sticks. On the other hand, Isabelle Fuhrman and Julia Stiles deliver performances that will keep viewers watching as their characters in the film face off with results that could make Orphan: First Kill a mildly popular hit with horror movie viewers.

Esther is the child role assumed by a grown woman from Estonia with dwarfism that makes her seem like she is a little girl. This brunette lady is in a mental ward as the film opens. She gets a guard to give in to her sexual advances and, as a result, escapes leaving behind a trail of blood. Esther is the name of a missing little girl that this woman somewhat resembles physically and Esther’s mother, Tricia Albright (Julia Stiles) takes the woman in as she initially seems to believe that this is really her child. So far, so good.

We meet Esther’s caring father, Allen (Rossif Sutherland) who genuinely cares for his daughter and is happy for her return to the family household. Gunnar Albright (Matthew Finlan) is “Esther”‘s brother. As an audience member, I recommend paying careful attention to his reaction to Esther’s return home. Gunnar doesn’t seem to care much about his sister and proceeds to enjoy a party when he should be babysitting his sister. My favorite scene is when “Esther” tells Gunnar to go f— himself in another language. Gunnar doesn’t know what she’s saying but the audience does thanks to subtitles. It’s brilliant.

There are some clever touches in the film. One is late in the film when Esther is driving on the road as the old school song lyrics, “She’s a Maniac,” are playing on the soundtrack. There is a detective on the trail earlier on to discover whether or not Esther is who she appears to be. He’s Detective Donnan (Hiro Kanagawa) and he soon learns that Esther’s fingerprints are that of a different person and that’s when the plot really starts to get heavy handed as the movie unleashes every potential trick in the book to try to keep audiences amused and entertained.

Another interesting character is that of Dr. Segar (Samantha Walkes) who has some suspicions early on that Esther is not correctly remembering things that happened years prior through their sessions together. Walkes is excellent in her role and her character here keeps the audience guessing as to just how much the girl posing as Esther can hoodwink those around her.

Fuhrman is solid once again here. She’s one of the most underappreciated actresses working today despite her Best Actress award from Tribeca last year for her work in The Novice. Fuhrman is more funny here than serious and it’s sort of a performance that’s a throw away but in a good way. Fuhrman isn’t taking the new prequel as seriously as she took her role in the first film and that’s OK. There’s a scene with her drinking liquor on a plane that is funny and “Esther”‘s responses to those around her are brief and to the point. There’s no need for complexity here as the role is what it is.

Stiles is astonishing in her best screen work since 2000’s Hamlet. Stiles sinks her teeth into the role of Tricia and isn’t ready to take any nonsense from Esther as the film really kicks into gear with a plot twist thrown into the film wily-nilly but interestingly. Stiles manages to overcome the ridiculous nature of this plot development and faces off with “Esther” in a terrific way full of fierce intensity. As Tricia’s son, Gunnar, Finlan is also effectively creepy while Sutherland as the only respectable character in the movie is first rate in a role which isn’t too developed but nevertheless satisfying.

A lot of this movie’s effectiveness rests on talking about the movie’s surprises (whether they work or not) but I won’t do that here to avoid spoilers. I will say that Orphan: First Kill is a nice segue into the original Orphan movie which is a horror film masterpiece. This prequel film is OK. I liked it but it’s way too wild. It’s hard to take it as seriously as the first movie which was a true work of horrific art. Orphan: First Kill is all in scary fun and thus is still recommended viewing.

Rating: 7/10

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