An Average Movie-Goer’s Review
No spoilers! If you would like spoilers – check out the Spoiler post
I love horror movies and if I’m going to watch them anyway, why not write an entertaining/funny review from the POV of an average movie-goer and not a professional critic.
Today we’re looking at the Paramount+ exclusive, 2022’s Orphan First Kill the prequel to 2009’s Orphan starring Isabelle Fuhrman
After escaping from a psychiatric hospital in Estonia, Leena (Isabelle Fuhrman) cons a family into thinking she’s their long-lost daughter Esther.
Is it Scary?
While there are a few jump scares in the first half of the film, Orphan First Kill leans more into the suspense of how long before the family finds out Esther’s secret. There are a few creepy moments and some gore but overall you won’t leave Orphan First Kill scared unless you recently conned a family into thinking you’re their long lost relative.
Also don’t watch the trailer, one of the final scenes in the movie is in the trailer and a lot of big scenes are in it.
Review:
Orphan First Kill is way better than I expected it to be or thought it could be. The movie doesn’t attempt to be coy about who Leena is or what she’s about, it assumes you already know what the big twist of the first movie was.
This is what had me worried about this prequel, what could they do to make Leena/Esther’s story interesting when the main hook of the first movie was the twist? Well, turns out I had nothing to worry about. Maybe it was because I went in with low expectations but the way the story played out turned this eh movie into a good one.
Now for the usual, the acting by all actors was well done, nothing special about the dialogue but also nothing bad. Isabelle Fuhrman and Julia Stiles shine in their respective roles. Besides maybe one character, every character motivation made sense. There are one or two contrived scenes towards the end that felt out of place but other than that, no real complaints.
Overall I would recommend Orphan First Kill to anyone who was a fan of the first and even those who haven’t seen the first movie, although it will ruin the original.
Cast IMDB