Orphan: First Kill
Goofily entertaining horror flick gets a goofily entertaining prequel 13 years later.
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Jaume Collet-Serra’s “Orphan” was a big surprise to me upon its release in 2009. Collet-Serra had gotten my attention four years prior with the fun yet dumb “House of Wax” remake. “Orphan” propelled Collet-Serra into the Liam Neeson action-thriller movie machine with the duo collaborating on four such potboilers (“Unknown,” “Non-Stop,” “Run All Night” and “The Commuter”) … and rightfully so. “Orphan” is memorable for two primary reasons: 1.) The titular performance of Isabelle Fuhrman as Leena Klammer and 2.) That weird, wacky, whacked-out twist.
Thirteen years later we’ve been gifted the “Orphan” prequel “Orphan: First Kill” (available to stream on Paramount+ and in select theaters including Indianapolis, Ind.-area venues AMC Indianapolis 17, AMC Perry Crossing 18 and Regal Greenwood & RPX beginning Friday, Aug. 19). Collet-Serra didn’t return to the director’s chair this time out because he’s outgrown it and was busy making The Rock’s DC comic book flick “Black Adam,” but Fuhrman does crucially revive her role despite now being in her mid-20s with body doubles and camera trickery selling the gag. (Original scripters David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick and Alex Mace get story credit this time out with David Coggeshall (fresh off of “Prey”) receiving sole screenwriting credit.)
We open on Leena in an Eastern Bloc mental health facility having already run roughshod over a family with whom she inserted herself (rendering the title sorta stupid). Leena, as she’s wont to do, springs herself from the facility and assumes the identity of a tony Connecticut family’s missing daughter Esther Albright.
The Albrights are philanthropist mother Tricia (Julia Stiles), artist father Allen (Rossif Sutherland, son of Donald and half-brother of Kiefer) and douche-y fencer son (the name gives it away) Gunnar (Matthew Finlan). Leena makes like she was the victim of a Russian human trafficking ring, but Detective Donnan (Hiro Kanagawa, late of Amazon Prime’s “Upload”) – who investigated Esther’s disappearance – doesn’t buy the cut of her jib … especially as bodies begin piling up.
Director William Brent Bell is in the director’s chair this time out. The only movie of Bell’s I’d seen prior to this one is the Frankie Muniz video game horror flick “Stay Alive” … and it wasn’t very good. Bell’s reputation as a horror auteur isn’t the greatest between “The Devil Inside” (a movie that doesn’t so much end as send you to read about how it ends via weblink) and the dolly double dose of “The Boy” and “Brahms: The Boy II” (rocking 30% and 11% Rotten Tomatoes scores respectively … or not).
I was pleasantly surprised with the job Bell did on “Orphan: First Kill.” He was ably supported by “Possessor” cinematographer Karim Hussain to make a formally-striking horror picture. It’s cheese (much like its predecessor), but it’s classily-rendered cheese. Coggeshall’s script also has one doozy of a twist – it ain’t a mindblower on the level of the first one’s, but it’ll rattle ya (and call to mind a certain true crime case from the 1990s).
The acting is also pretty good by the primary performers. Fuhrman comes across as evil on screen as she does kind in reality (I had the privilege of interviewing her last year here). Stiles does some of the best work of her career here – I’d put the performance up against turns in “10 Things I Hate About You,” “O” and on Showtime’s “Dexter.” IMHO it’s the best Stiles has ever looked on screen too … being a brunette suits her. Sutherland lends the proceedings some much needed warmth.
“Orphan: First Kill” takes a while to warm up, but once that twist drops it’s on like Donkey Kong. It’s entertaining enough that I’d happily check out another Fuhrman-fronted “Orphan” installment 13 years from now.