Orphan: First Kill (2022) – Movie Review

Orphan: First Kill is a 2022 horror movie directed by William Brent Bell. Starring Julia Stiles and Isabelle Fuhrman.

It is a prequel to Orphan (2009), a great horror movie, by the way, where Isabelle Fuhrman’s talent as an actor shun through.

Synopsis

After escaping from an Estonian psychiatric hospital, Lena travels to the United States to pose as the daughter of a wealthy family, but there she meets a mother who doesn’t trust the not-so-young girl, and will do anything to protect her family.

Review

It is impossible not to venture into drawing comparisons with ‘Orphan’ (2009). The fist movie had a subtle construction, it was a good horror movie that had a sharp style and good narrative structure, full of suspense right till the end.

Orphan: First Kill comes across as sort of video-game (even the title itself evokes that association), and it would in fact be more entertaining as a video-game than it is as a movie.

It is no wonder this movie has received such negative reviews, although, we do not agree with all of them, obviously. This installment is filmed with a good visual style (at least an acceptable one), but we do agree with the critique that it takes a clearly unexpected turn in this series, and this turn has turned out to be disastrous, reducing this movie to being a crossover between Child’s Play (1988) and the original Orphan (2009), which clumsily iterates without any element of surprise the appearance of “the beast” and her machinations in the first scenes.

So, yes indeed, we do appreciate the visual style, the photography and the tones that add to the ambience of suspenseful sordidness. However, we are not convinced by the performances this time around, especially when it was the performances that carried the first installment to the successful horror movie it became.

This movie fails in the screenplay and dialogue, and it is not capable of making up for this lack with technical retouches. This movie will not go down in the history books of filmmaking, and it makes us wonder if perhaps it is best not to try to squeeze a good product for more content, as it will only tarnish the original one.

Our Opinion

It does not live up to the Orphan (2009), in any way, shape or form. It simply manages to tarnish it by trying to extract as much out of the story as possible, diluting it into something banal.

Other Reviews

«One hell of a startling and uncontainable experience (…) ‘Orphan: First Kill’ manages to feel so uniquely standalone thanks to some supreme storytelling swings» 

Matt Donato: IGN

“[This] film proves that not every horror concept has the potential to be franchised (…)”

Mark Hanson: Slant

Ant the Star is… Isabelle Fuhrman

Isabelle Fuhrman is an American Actress known for the movies, Orphan (2009) and The Novice (2021).

Isabelle Fuhrman was born on February 25, 1997 in Washington D. C., United States.

Isabelle Fuhrman made her debut in the 2007 drama movie, Hounddog.(2007). After that, she rose to fame thanks to her impressive role in the horror movie, Orphan (2009). She appeared in the black comedy, Salvation Boulevard and she played the role as CLove in The Hunger Games, the saga starred Jennifer Lawrence. She has a recurrent role in the series; Masters of Sex. She also appeared in Escape Room: Tournament of Champions (2021).

She starred in The Novice (2021), a tour de force for her and, in 2022, she will appear in the prequel of Orphan, Orphan First Kill (2022).

Movie Trailer

Cast

Isabelle Fuhrman / Leena Klammer / Esther Albright

Julia Stiles / Tricia Albright

Rossif Sutherland / Allen Albright

Hiro Kanagawa / Detective Donnan

Matthew Finlan / Gunnar Albright

Stephanie Sy / Flight Attendant

Lauren Cochrane / Officer Leahy

Jade Michael / Madison

Gwendolyn Collins / Anna Troyev

Kristen Sawatzky / Federica

See full credits >>