Film review: ‘ORPHAN: FIRST KILL’ by Nick Gardener from ‘Built For Speed’

The charmingly named Orphan: First Kill is the prequel to the reasonably tense and creepy 2009 psycho-child slasher flick, Orphan. Like that film, this one effectively plays on the unnerving juxtaposition of the central fiend’s sweet-looking, child-like appearance and brutal, murderous tendencies.

The film reacquaints us with the diabolical orphan Esther (Isabelle Fuhrmann) who, as the first film revealed and this film makes clear from the start, isn’t the 10-year-old girl she purports to be but Leena, a 33-year-old Estonian woman with a rare form of dwarfism that give her the appearance of a tween girl.  After masterminding a violent escape from a Silence Of the Lambs-style psychiatric facility, Leena claims to be missing American girl Esther Albright.  When she convinces the little girl’s parents Tricia (Julia Stiles) and Allen (Rossif Sutherland, son of Donald Sutherland) that she is Esther, she’s brought back to the US where she discovers they’re a super-rich Connecticut family who live in a sprawling mansion.   Thinking she’s hit the jackpot, Esther, is alarmed to discover there’s more to this seemingly squeaky-clean family than she first suspected and when it looks as if her plans for an easy, luxurious lifestyle and possible hook up with Allen will be derailed, Leena starts reaching for the cutlery.

Like the first film, this is once again a mostly entertaining mix of tension, violence and silliness.  Director William Brent Bell taking over from Jaume Collet-Sera captures a similarly menacing mood, largely through the film’s murky look, muted colour and ominous music.  The plot is really just that of a more intense, ‘I told you they were bad news’ midday movie but for the most part keeps us anxiously awaiting Esther’s next move.  A mid-point twist in this film, is at first impressively unexpected but quickly leads to some very implausible behaviour even for this sort of film.

As Leena/ Esther, Fuhrmann is a genuinely malevolent screen presence and will have many parents looking sideways at the youngsters.  The film does require an enormous suspension of disbelief, though, as Fuhrmann is now 25, having previously played Leena 13 years ago in a film set at roughly the same time.

As in the first film, the mother is the savvy one who’s not going to fall for Leena’s conniving tricks quite so easily while the dad is a complete dope.  As the mother, Julia stiles is impressively feisty and her performance, like Furhrmann’s, helps elevate this film above cookie cutter thriller level.

The idea of a person with a medical condition being cast as an almost demonic figure is pretty dubious in these more enlightened times but if we just go into this film to enjoy its cheap thrills it’s mostly worth the ride.

Nick’s rating: ***

Genre: Thriller

Classification: MA15+.

Director(s): William Brent Bell.

Release date: 1st Sep 2022.

Running time: 98 mins.

Reviewer: Nick Gardener can be heard on “Built For Speed” every Friday night from 8-10pm on 88.3 Southern FM.

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