Orphan: First Kill
**There will not be spoilers for this film, but there will be spoilers from the original "Orphan" film released in 2009 - but if you watch this first then that twist will be spoiled for you anyway, plus it's over thirteen years old by now so if you haven't seen it yet you should watch it before the prequel anyway**
Throughout history there's been a few stories of families who have been reunited with long-lost children, only to find out that those children aren't who they said they were, and the most notable of these cases was that of Christine Collins. In 1928, Collins' nine-year-old son Walter disappeared and the police force was under intense scrutiny for not finding him, but five months after he disappeared a boy who claimed to be Walter was found, and he was reunited with Christine. Christine, however, knew that this "Walter" wasn't her child, but police captain J.J. Jones - who would've received even more negative publicity if it turned out "Walter" wasn't Walter - told Christine to "try him out," but after she kept persisting, he had her arrested and committed to an insane asylum. She was released after the fake Walter revealed himself to be runaway Arthur Hutchins Jr., who faked being Walter so he could get to Los Angeles to meet his favorite celebrity. What does this story have to do with "Orphan: First Kill?" Well, read on to find out.
In 2007, psychiatric patient Leena Klammer (Isabelle Fuhrman) plotted her escape from the Estonian Saarne Institute, playing off the fact that she suffered from a rare hormonal disorder called hypopituitarism, which made the 31-year-old woman look like a 9-year-old child. After escaping she discovers a missing girl named Esther Albright that looks similar to her, and she claims to be the missing child to get to America. Esther's parents - wealthy socialite Tricia (Julia Stiles) and her husband Allen (Rossif Sutherland) - are over the moon that they got their little Esther back, while Esther's older brother Gunnar (Matthew Finlan) has his doubts. Soon after "Esther" arrives, she shows cracks that she's putting on a show, drawing the suspicion of Tricia as well as Inspector Donnan (Hiro Kanagawa), who both believe that Esther isn't who she claims to be - and her intentions could be more dangerous than just robbing the wealthy family blind.
So the basic premise of "Orphan: First Kill" is the same as that of the real-life Christine Collins, but of course it being a fake horror movie there's much more sinister motives than just a kid's desire to meet his favorite celebrity. Here, the "kid" is a homicidal maniac who sets out to destroy the family to maintain her secrets, and she'll stop at nothing to make sure anyone who has any inkling of a suspicion is silenced permanently. The first "Orphan" movie wasn't exactly one of the best horror films ever, but it did have one of the best twists: that the kid Esther was actually a 31-year-old woman, and that really cemented the small horror film to cult status. Still, with the ending, no one expected a sequel to be made, let alone thirteen years later. So instead of a sequel (which wouldn't had made sense) we get a prequel story that we hear in the first "Orphan" about the first family she lived with. With this being a prequel, we already know how it'll turn out, but it's one heck of a crazy roller coaster ride nonetheless.
A prequel, as I said earlier, is trapped by its story. It can't exceed the boundaries of what's already been established, and as such they often suffer the consequences of it: it's merely a set-up for the future that we already know about. We know Esther survives. We know the family dies. What we don't know is how it all goes down, and much credit has to be given to writer David Coggeshall who managed to take "Ophan's" crazy twist and tell it to "hold his beer" as he gives another outlandish twist that works tremendously to make this more than a forgettable prequel that follows the similar patterns and instead breaks the mold and crafts something truly unique, and oddly darkly humorous. It could've sent the film spiraling out of control if not for the committed, sincere performances by the two female leads who takes this zany twist and makes it something that actually works.
Isabelle Fuhrman returns as Esther, and having been thirteen years since the original, it seemed almost impossible to make her look like the 9-year-old from back then, considering her obvious age increase since 2009. Foregoing CGI effects (surprising since it worked so well for other de-aging characters like Superman in "Justice League"), director William Brent Bell relied on classic makeup effects and digital de-aging to make her appear younger. To contrast her height with the height of her co-stars, Bell implemented ideas given by the likes of Peter Jackson in the "Lord of the Rings" films by having the co-stars walk on tall platform shoes and use forced perspective to make her appear smaller. To her credit, Fuhrman re-enters Esther's headspace like she never left, and made her character surprisingly more likable than her first outing in certain respects.
Likewise, Julia Stiles gives a great performance as Tricia, the mother of the family who knows something is wrong with her little Esther, and it's her role that's the most crucial to the story. More than just an investigative mother, Stiles' Tricia showcases more prowess and ruthlessness to protect her family than Farmiga's mother did. Stiles was supposed to be the next Hollywood "it" girl with films like "Ten Things I Hate About You" and "The Bourne Identity" in the late nineties an early oughts, but she left the Hollywood scene to focus on personal goals, only returning here and there when a script caught her fancy. It's a good thing, because her talent in "First Kill" shines through what many thought was a prequel no one wanted, and turned in a performance that's very compelling and multi-layered.
The film could've been a cookie-cutter of the original, as at first it
seems to follow the same pattern: the mother (Vera Farmiga in the first,
Julia Stiles here) is at first excited to get Esther into their home,
but are the ones who discover that something isn't quite right with her.
The father (Peter Sarsgaard in the first, Rossif Sutherland here) is
the dim-witted optimistic father who bypasses Esther's strange quirks,
while the brother (Jimmy Bennett in the first, Matthew Finlan here)
receives Esther's ire and violence. Yet the twist. The twist saves
"First Kill" from retreading old ways, setting the film up for its fiery
conclusion so well.
The Score: B+
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