“Orphan” (2009) is one of the all-time great “creepy kid” horror films, driven by an amazing turn by Isabelle Fuhrman and a skin-crawling final-act twist. Thirteen years later we have a prequel, “Orphan: First Kill” (on Paramount Plus, as is the original). It’s not bad in terms of production values and the story idea. But it has a major “Just Go With It” element (which I’ll reveal later, below the spoiler warning), and I couldn’t go with it.
The two films reside on each side of a plausibility line important to all horror films with weird scenarios. We’ll accept an oddity or two if it’s worth it for the creep-out factor. But there’s a point at which a film can go too far. This is why “Orphan” (which should be watched first, despite it taking place second) is great and “First Kill” is less than great.
A ‘creepy kid’ classic
Director Jaume Collet-Serra (“The Shallows”) builds “Orphan’s” narrative from a lesson in why you should never go into an adoption agency or a pet store – you might get “picked out” by the adoptee. (Just ask people with eight cats.) After their third child is stillborn, Americans Kate (Vera Farmiga) and John (Peter Sarsgaard) adopt 9-year-old Russian girl Esther (Fuhrman). She’s articulate, artistic and adorably polite, and they can’t resist.
“Orphan” (2009)
Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Writers: David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick (screenplay), Alex Mace (story)
Stars: Vera Farmiga, Peter Sarsgaard, Isabelle Fuhrman
David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick’s screenplay explores outsiderness, and illustrates that even those of us who resist conformity can only go so far. Seeing Esther ready for school in an unfashionable dress, Kate worries that her adopted daughter will be made fun of. But then Esther reminds Kate that she purports to believe it’s OK to be different.
Initially a bullying victim, Esther ends up running the show — first precociously, then creepily. Fuhrman, 12 years old at the time, nails both vibes. Another great child turn comes from Aryana Engineer, a hearing-impaired actress playing deaf youngest child Max.
Subtle horror comes from how the villain manipulates Max and her older brother Danny (Jimmy Bennett), so they can’t even tell their parents about the situation. Kate is vulnerable due to her past mistakes with alcohol. And John is targeted in the film’s most bizarre scene, where Fuhrman is asked to show incredible range for a young actress.
I guessed “Orphan’s” twist, partly because I knew ahead of time there was a twist, and also because I remembered the same scenario from a 2021 horror TV series. Even so, that looming jaw-dropper hangs over the proceedings and makes things intensely, sometimes perversely, watchable.
A less plausible prequel
“Orphan: First Kill,” directed by William Brent Bell (“The Boy” and its sequel), knows we now know that … (SPOILERS FOLLOW) … Esther is not 9 years old in “The Orphan,” but 33. She has a condition – loosely based on a real one but exaggerated for cinematic purposes — wherein she perpetually looks like a child.
“Orphan” was inspired by a real case wherein an adult woman successfully impersonated a teen boy. Judging by TV’s “Chad” — which plays such a scenario out in plausible fashion — this might’ve been the better play. Then again, I’m glad we have Fuhrman’s excellent turn.
“Orphan: First Kill” (2022)
Director: William Brent Bell
Writers: David Coggeshall (screenplay); David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, Alex Mace (story)
Stars: Isabelle Fuhrman, Julia Stiles, Rossif Sutherland
But I feel the opposite about “First Kill.” This is a prequel, so we start in 2007 with Leena (later to take up the Esther guise) in an asylum. Here’s “First Kill’s” not-so-great twist: She’s still played by Fuhrman! The actress is now 25, and she ages in typical fashion. So we’re told Esther appears to be 8, but we can see on screen that she does not.
Bell uses forced perspective and wide angles of a shorter stand-in to show Esther is the typical height of a child. However, Fuhrman’s face looks adult – there’s no avoiding that.
One twist too many
For people who can get past “First Kill’s” bizarre casting choice, decent family drama follows, with Julia Stiles showing range as the real Esther’s mom, Tricia. Her dark secret reinvigorates David Coggeshall’s narrative at mid-film.
“First Kill” repeats the original’s themes, except our perspective has changed so we know what Esther is doing. As with the original, we sometimes root for her, sometimes we don’t — that uncomfortable imbalance is always a good thing in horror.
Rossif Sutherland has a soft-voiced likability as Tricia’s husband Allen, but the screenplay does him no favors. In the prequel’s second-biggest WTF element, he thinks this adult-looking imposter is his true daughter! “Esther” has aged from 4 to 8. Yes, the imposter purposely chose a similar-looking missing girl to impersonate, but c’mon.
I wondered if “First Kill” might’ve played better as a sequel, wherein Esther somehow survives the original film then pulls another scam when she’s in her 40s but could pass as a teenager.
If you put “Orphan” and “First Kill” together chronologically, Esther looks like an adult at 8 years old and then looks like a child at 9 years old. It takes hutzpah to even consider trying it, so maybe the filmmakers deserve credit. But in my opinion, they blow their stash of verisimilitude with that choice.
“Orphan”: 5 stars
“Orphan: First Kill”: 2.5 stars