OUT NOW: Orphan - First Kill

Taking place before the events of the original Orphan (2009), First Kill covers Leena’s (Isabelle Fuhrman) journey to America, disguised as a missing child, Esther.

Once stateside, she joins the grieving but wealthy Albright family: Mother Tricia (Julia Stiles), father Allen (Rossif Sutherland) and son Gunnar (Matthew Finlan).

As Leena settles in with her ‘new’ family,, it becomes clear that her scheme may be more difficult than she thought…

Orphan is a neat little thriller with a nasty edge. It is an evil kid movie that manages to ride the right side of silly while also managing to create a legitimately terrifying antagonist in Esther/Leena, played by the great Isabelle Fuhrman.

After over a decade, Fuhrman is back in a story which takes place before the original movie.

Fuhrman's return was welcome but somewhat puzzling since the character Esther is meant to be 10 years old (at least in appearance).

Could the filmmakers (led by director William Brent Bell) pull off Esther's return?

Well...

...It turns out the answer is YES. 

Not only is First Kill a worthy follow-up, I think it might be a little better - and part of the reason is that the movie feels like its own beast.

And this beast has its forked tongue firmly in its cheek and one bloody talon wrapped tightly around your funny bone.

It might be the lack of competition, but First Kill might be the funniest movie I have seen so far this year. And the laughs are intentional.

Orphan is an enjoyable movie, but it is not particularly fun. There is something funny to how bleak it gets, but it is a rather earnest picture.

Not so with First Kill. Its darkness is laced with a deep vein of irony.

First Kill manages to find its own tone but also finds its own way to be weird and f-d up that does not feel derivative of the original. 

Considering it is a prequel, that is something of a surprise.

This movie never feels like it is straining to bend itself to fit the start of the original movie.

The filmmakers do not try to hide Esther’s true identity - that info is dropped right at the start and the movie turns into a suspenseful black comedy, as we follow Esther ingratiate herself into her new family.

This works fine for the first half of the movie - it feels like a rough re-run of the original, except here we are party to Esther’s perspective.

And then midway through, there is a narrative turn which elevates First Kill and wrenches it away from feeling like Orphan Origins: Esther.

It solves two problems, the first being the sweaty plot syncing a lot of prequels fall victim to.

The second is that it shifts the audience from being an ambivalent observer of Leena’s machinations to cheering her on.

As Esther finds herself caught in a conspiracy not of her making, the film becomes suspenseful in a completely different way.

Esther is disoriented and scrabbling to escape, and the audience is similarly on new ground. First Kill is not focused on reaching the next movie, and it becomes more exciting. 

The movie also feels like it is stepping into more overt gothic territory - not just in terms of the primary setting (the old dark house), but in terms of the nasty surprises Esther uncovers in her new family.

This is also where Julia Stiles makes her presence felt.

Playing Esther’s distraught mother, initially Stiles comes across as a little stilted and one-noted. Her performance is a perfect distillation of the movie - a familiar cliche that is suddenly upended.

Midway through the movie, Tricia suddenly drops the act and reveals that she knows Esther’s secret. 

When it is revealed what really happened to her daughter, Stiles gets to throw off her morose front to reveal the vicious, selfish monster hiding underneath. Stiles is having a great time as this film’s antagonist, spitting venom and matching Fuhrman’s ferocity beat for beat.

Their conflict is also sexual, as the pair clash over Tricia’s oblivious husband Allen (Rossif Sutherland). There is no subtext to this conflict - Tricia is constantly ridiculing Esther for her height and even her infertility. 

The new power dynamic between Esther and Tricia shifts the tone fully over into farce, as our anti-heroine has to juggle being under Tricia’s thumb while maintaining her facade for the outside world. This new conflict also recasts Esther as an underdog, as she tries to dodge Tricia’s various attempts to kill her.

While there is tension, the last half of First Kill is a riot. 

Esther and Tricia’s bickering and schemes is genuinely hilarious. 

Back in the lead role after 13 years, Isabelle Fuhrman never misses a beat as the diabolical Esther. There is a relish and wit to her performance that is always entertaining - the scene where she excuses herself to chug a bottle of vodka and decompress is hilarious.

And despite the age gap since her last performance (she is now 25 years old), Fuhrman does not jostle in the lead role.

The filmmakers decided to use in-camera effects to de-age the actor (including using two child doubles and makeup), and after the first couple of minutes I was so immersed I completely forgot about the behind-the-scenes trickery.

In fact, because Fuhrman is playing an adult pretending to be a child, her age works for the movie.

The effort put into ageing Fuhrman backwards is not even the best element of the picture.

As previously stated, First Kill is a great black comedy.

There are some great cruel one liners, and various attempts at murder, a great needle drop and a finale which directly references one of Orphan’s predecessors in the ‘evil kid’ sub-genre.

Orphan - First Kill is a terrific picture. It is not a masterpiece, but it is a hell of a good time. I actually hope they figure out some way to create a Part 3.