Orphan: First Kill is actually a fantastic slasher prequel
Nothing about Orphan: First Kill should work. Paramount Plus’ new horror movie is a prequel to the 2009 cult-hit horror movie Orphan, but from a different director and writer. The primary holdover from the first movie is Isabelle Fuhrman (The Hunger Games), who plays the homicidal 9-year-old orphan, Esther, in both movies — in spite of the 13-year gap between prequel and original. But instead of the disaster it should be, Orphan: First Kill is a tremendously clever slasher that has fun with, and lives up to, its absurd premise.
[Ed. note: This review contains significant spoilers for 2009’s Orphan.]
Orphan: First Kill takes place several years before the events of the first movie, and starts with Esther, whose real name is Leena, in a hospital in Estonia. Viewers immediately get the explanation that the first movie saved for its surprise twist: While Leena looks like a 9-year old girl, she’s actually an adult woman in her 30s, with a rare condition that caused her body to stop developing. Also, she’s a homicidal murderer.
While the first movie teased at this twist in vague ways for most of its run time, it never really hit its stride until the last 20 minutes or so, when Esther’s secret, and her murderous intent, were out in the open. Fuhrman’s little orphan is a terrifying character, but one who’s ridiculously fun to root for, in large part because the whole concept is so silly. And the new movie retains every bit of fun you get from rooting for a villain.
Writer David Coggeshall (Scream: The TV Series) wastes no time getting into the mayhem, with an opening prison break that gives us a full unfiltered view of Esther as a coldhearted mastermind. After just a few minutes, Esther is already exactly where she should be:
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