Orphan: First Kill ★★★
THE 2009 horror film Orphan included a terrific twist that greatly elevated an otherwise standard evil kid story.
To review 2020’s Orphan: First Kill is almost impossible to do without spoiling the previous film.
You can go into First Kill completely cold and enjoy an above average psychological horror with its own interesting twist.
Or you can watch the 2009 film first and enjoy that final-act reveal.
Up to you, but from now I will be spoiling.
***SPOILER ALERT****
Orphan told the story of an American family terrorised by an orphan girl they adopted from Estonia.
Leena is only 11 years-old but that doesn’t stop her from seducing her new father and seeking to get rid of the rest of the family.
Only in the final act is it revealed that Leena is actually a grown woman.
Orphan: First Kill takes us back two years to an Estonian mental institution where Leena is one of the most dangerous patients.
.it stars Isabelle Fuhrman reprising her role from the previous film, with Julia Stiles, Rossif Sutherland, Hiro Kanagawa, and Matthew Finlan also starring.
We quickly learn that The 31-year-old woman has a rare hormonal disorder called hypopituitarism that gives her the appearance of a 9-year-old child.
She’s also a psychotic who escapes by seducing a guard and bashing him to death against a cement wall.
She looks up missing American girls and finds that she bears resemblance to a girl named Esther Albright, who has been missing for six years.
In Connecticut, wealthy couple Allen and Tricia Albright are at first overjoyed by the discovery and welcome Esther back with open arms.
But, as the bond between Esther and Allen grows, Tricia starts to have doubts that eventually lead to another unexpected revelation and bloody confrontation.
Isabelle Fuhrman again does a good job in the lead role but the character is a little hamstrung if you are aware of the previous film’s events.
Even modest success will no doubt lead to another film in the series, but how many good twists can it produce?