Orphan: First Kill (2022) Review

 "Nothing is ever just one thing."

-Allen Albright

This prequel to Orphan tells the story of how Leena Klammer (Isabelle Fuhrman) became Esther Albright and the tragedy that unfolded as she arrived in America.

Spoiler alert.  If you are a fan of the first Orphan film, I think you will really like this one.  As far as horror prequels go, this one is very impressive.  Don't read any further if you haven't watched it and go into it unspoiled if you can.  You'll have a fun time.  Final warning.  Spoilers below!

What Works:

The first half of this movie feels like a pretty typical horror prequel.  It all feels extremely unnecessary and a bit like a cash grab off the success of the first film.  The movie shows how Leena escaped from the mental institution and took on the identity of Esther before settling in with a family and some familiar story beats.  It really wasn't all that interesting.  I assumed it would be pretty much the exact same movie as the first with Leena killing everyone at the end.  That's how most horror prequels play out.  But First Kill uses those tropes to its advantage to flip everything around on the audience and Leena halfway through the movie.  When the twist happened, my jaw actually dropped.

The second half of the movie goes off in a very different direction and it's a lot of fun.  Suddenly Leena becomes more of the heroic character, but they never make her an out and out good guy.  It's bad people vs. bad people, but it works because the conflict is so interesting.  I was laughing out loud and having a ball once the second half started.

I am not a fan of Julia Stiles and have never liked her in anything.  Again, for the first half of the movie, nothing she said sounded genuine and I just wasn't buying her performance.  It all felt phony.  And that's what makes the twist so good.  She was being phony for the entire first half of the film.  When she finally reveals herself for the monster that she is, we get the best performance I've ever seen from her.  She gets to chew the scenery as the film's antagonist and I loved it.

Finally, Isabelle Fuhrman is, once again, fantastic in the role.  It's been well over a decade since she last played this character and she hasn't lost a step.  She's incredible and gives a very complex and fun performance.

What Sucks:

I mentioned that the first half of this movie uses tropes to give the audience a false sense of security and that works wonderfully.  However, the second half does use a few more tropes that don't work so well.  Moments where you think someone is dead, but they disappear the second the other characters take their eyes off of them.  Stuff like that doesn't really work here.

Finally, the final climax of the film is a bit rushed.  They could have extended the final moments here and really taken the time to enjoy the ending.  It's over surprisingly quickly and isn't very satisfying.

Verdict:

There aren't a ton of good horror prequels, but Orphan: First Kill is an exception.  Isabelle Fuhrman and Julia Stiles both do a fantastic job, the twist is awesome, and I love how the movie lures you into a false sense of security.  The setup is absolutely brilliant.  The 3rd act has a few too many tropes and ends too quickly, but this movie has definitely got it going on.

 8/10: Really Good