- Directed by William Brent Bell
- Written by David Coggeshall, David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, Alex Mace
- Stars Isabelle Fuhrman, Julia Stiles, Rossif Sutherland
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 39 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uX6of3vBu0
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This is a prequel to Orphan, but it’s vital that you see Orphan before seeing this movie; if you don’t this will ruin it for you. That said, this one was quite good like the first movie was. Isabelle Fuhrman is twenty-three here, and they went to great effort to give the illusion she’s a pre-teen girl. She’s still excellent in the role, and the supporting cast is good, the script is entertaining. If you enjoyed the first one, you definitely should see this one as well.
Orphan: First Kill is now in theatres and on Digital and On Demand. Isabelle Fuhrman returns as Esther in this terrifying prequel to the original and shocking horror hit. Also starring Julia Stiles. Buy or Rent Orphan: First Kill and watch it today. Rated R. From Paramount Pictures.
Synopsis
In Estonia, 2007, at the Saarne Institute for the mentally insane, Ana, an art instructor, arrives for her first day. The orderly tells the doctor that Leena is not in her room. They set off the red alert and order lockdown; she’s their most dangerous patient. The doctor locks Ana into a safe room for protection. Except Anna finds a little girl hiding in the room with her. The girl says her name is Leena and when the doctor comes back in, they carry her away.
The doctor explains that Leena is no child; she’s a grown woman of age 31 with an unusual medical condition that has delayed her growth and aging. He warns to never trust her; she’s an accomplished con artist. The previous family that took her in all died. One of the security guards likes Leena and buys her a dress. She lures him into her cell, kills him, and escapes. Anna quits on the spot and later finds Leena in the trunk of her car. It goes poorly for Ana.
Leena does a Google search for missing children and finds one that resembles her; Esther Albright. She finds a policeman and tells her that she was kidnapped from America, and her name is Esther.
Back in America, Tricia and Allen Albright watch their son Gunnar at a fencing match. They talk about how Esther’s not coming back. Detective Donnan arrives, and Tricia thinks they found the body after four long years. Instead, they are called to Russia to pick up their long-lost daughter. Since it’s been so long, Tricia can’t tell that it’s not her real daughter. They fly back to America and meet the family. Nobody really asks about her Russian accent.
The next morning, they go to see Dr. Degar, a therapist with a parrot. Allen is an artist, and he shows Esther how he puts a “hidden layer” into his paintings. She draws him with charcoal, and we can see that she likes him.
Esther finds the diary of the real Esther hidden in the bed and hides her own in there too. She decides to rob the house and run away, but when she sees Allen painting, she changes her mind and goes back; she’s in love. Later, she watches from the shadows as Allen and Tricia have sex.
Allen and Tricia go to a big party, leaving Gunnar to watch over Esther. He then throws a party for his friends in the backyard. Esther wants to join the party, but he’s not cooperative. Detective Donnan stops by and searches Esther’s room, taking a vinyl record, probably to check for fingerprints. Esther watches and follows.
Tricia comes home and looks through Esther’s book that mentions the Saarne Institute. Elsewhere, Detective Donnan checks out Leena’s fingerprints that don’t match Esther’s, but before he can tell anyone else, he gets a surprise visit. Then he gets a second surprise visitor.
Esther ends up telling Tricia everything. Yes, everything. Turns out, Mommy’s a bit of a fixer-upper. Gunnar was always way too rough with his sister, and it went too far. Who’s crazier, mother or daughter?
Tricia wants to keep up the pretense with Esther for Allen’s sake; he’s much better since their lost daughter returned. When they get home, Tricia tells Gunnar everything too. The only one not in on the plot is Allen.
At therapy with Dr. Segar, Esther suddenly knows a lot more about the details of Esther’s young life, almost as if she’d been tutored. Segar says she’s mentally just fine now. Allen and Esther paint together quite often now, and Tricia starts getting jealous.
After an attempt to kill Tricia and Gunnar, Esther steals the car. She’s soon caught by the police and returned to her mother. Tricia and Gunnar grab Esther and get ready to make her “suicide” but she turns the tables and gets away. She quickly makes a bloody mess out of Gunnar.
Tricia and Esther wrestle, and the kitchen catches fire. They both climb up onto the roof of the huge house. Allen returns home and runs into the burning house to look for his family. Tricia falls to her death, but Allen pulls Esther up onto the roof. Allen finally figures out the truth, and Esther pushes him off the roof as well.
Esther gathers her stuff and walks out the front door as emergency vehicles arrive. Poor little girl. She’s probably going to be sent to an orphanage…
Commentary
They go to great lengths to make the now-completely-grown-up Isabelle Fuhrman look like a child. She was ten years old for real in the first film, and twenty-three here. There are lots of shots of a little girl from behind, and what appears to be the actress standing or walking on her knees in others. It’s done as well as it can be, but if you’re looking for it, it’s really obvious– to the point of distraction.
The first half of the film is pretty much exactly what you’d expect, but eventually things turn on a dime. We had Gunnar pegged as Esther’s murderer fairly early, but there was a whole lot more that we didn’t guess.
In the previous movie, we are told that Esther’s family died in an unexplained arson fire. Literally none of these characters actually died in the fire. Gunnar probably burned up in the fire, but it also probably would have been obvious to a medical examiner how he actually died brutally and repeatedly stabbed. Allen and Tricia were clearly well outside the house when they died. Like the title says “First Kill”, there may have been another adopting family after this one that died in a fire. She’s just getting started here.