MPAA Rating: R/Genre: Psychological Horror-Thriller/Stars: Isabelle Fuhrman, Julia Stiles, Rossif Sutherland, Matthew Finlan, Hiro Kanagawa, Samantha Walkes, Dave Brown, Lauren Cochrane, Gwendolyn Collins, Alec Carlos, Jade Michael/Runtime: 99 minutes
I think it is only appropriate to start this review off by letting you in on a little secret dear reader. That being that, it may have its fair share of flaws, but I do happen to have a wee bit of a soft spot for Jaume Collet-Serra’s 2009 horror slice of cinema Orphan. Indeed not only did he manage to get fairly good performances out of his cast especially in regard to Isabelle Fuhrman as the titular individual, but he also managed to do wonderful work behind the camera as well as providing it with one heck of a twist that I still can’t forget despite considerable time having come and gone since my last viewing of the entire film from beginning to end. As a result, we see that this was one entry in the “killer child” subgenre of horror cinema that was not likely to be forgotten anytime soon by either “professional film reviewers”, the general film-going community at large, or myself. With that said though, since the first film ended…. the way that it did (you can’t seriously think I was going to spoil that for you) a sequel wasn’t exactly an option for the powers that be to consider to keep the money train going. Of course, we soon see that they all got together and decided on another route altogether. Namely to wind the clock back and give us a prequel rather than wind the clock forward and also get Isabelle Fuhrman to come back to play her role from the original. A creative choice that proved to be a bit of a headscratcher on my part since I must admit I couldn’t entirely see this being completely convincing for reasons tied to the plot of the first film and because the actress herself was now 25 as opposed to 12 which she was when she made the first entry. Thus, could she really play a child with even an 1/8th of the conviction and skill that she did the first time around? Imagine my surprise to say that the answer, for this reviewer anyway, is actually a fairly solid yes. Sure, the tricks that the creative team deploys to give us the illusion that we are looking at a child playing a…child rather than a 25-year-old portraying a….child have moments where they don’t work as well as they ought to and along with that the visual flair on display here is a bit on the messy side. Even with those in mind though, there is no denying that with otherwise capable work engaged in on both sides of the camera Orphan: First Kill does prove to be a fairly engaging, genuinely surprising at points, and ultimately delightful comeback for one of horror cinema’s more distinct butchers of the past three decades.
The plot is as follows: Taking us back in time to the long ago year of 2007, Orphan: First Kill gets its intriguing saga underway by introducing us to a young woman who is currently a rather reluctant guest in a hospital in the country for Estonia for….reasons. Yet lest you worry that she’s going to be there for any extended period of time thus slowing the momentum of the film down to a painful crawl, I can safely say that is definitely not the case. Indeed, as we soon get to witness, this young lady is able to execute a fairly insidious, and quite brutal, escape from the hospital that leaves several of the staff there a bit worse for wear to say the least. At any rate we see that, in the aftermath of this chaos, our escapee needs to find a way to get the heck out of dodge and fast, but how exactly to go about this? We soon see that for our main character this takes the form of getting access to the Internet, look up kids that have been missing for a fairly lengthy period of time, see if she bears even a passing resemblance to one, and then pose as that child. To that end, we see that the young lady decides to assume the identity of a little girl who vanished over 4 years ago and whose name (get this) is Esther Allbright. Thus isn’t not long before little “Esther” has made her way to America and residing with the real Esther’s extremely well-off clan comprised of patriarch Allen, matriarch Tricia, and their teenage son Gunnar respectively. However, as cluelessly happy as the family is at being reunited with the child that they had long thought lost for good, there are other people who aren’t exactly so sure that she is who she claims to be. Of course, it is only a matter of time too before even mom Tricia starts getting suspicious and thus the stage is set for a showdown between a mother who is willing to do just about anything to keep herself and her family safe and the tiny yet still quite sinister nightmare that she herself is partly responsible for bringing into their lives….
Now I can’t lie to you dear reader: having watched this slice of cinema’s predecessor a fair number of times, I really had convinced myself that I knew exactly what this film was going to be all about. By that I mean that I thought this would simply be a run of the mill repeating of the first film with our pint-size terror making yet another family’s lives no more and no less than a living nightmare. Somehow though, this slice of cinema is very much aware that’s what people are thinking it’s going to be and instead gives us a film that yes is that to quite an extent, but also has a few wrinkles in that I can promise you I could never have predicted. Yes, the first entry does have a twist too so I guess I should have expected that this one would carry on that distinct tradition. Even so though, there is no denying that the twist here is not only quite intriguing and novel, but then flips this slice of cinema on its head in a way that makes the whole affair a heck of a lot tauter and riveting as a result. Now you are also probably wondering how in the world they manage to have the now-25-year-old Fuhrman portray the child “Esther” and I have no doubt that the first thought going through your head is “oh that’s easy Alan! They just used the same de-aging technology on her that they did Michael Douglas for the opening of Ant-Man and Samuel L. Jackson for the entirety of Captain Marvel!” Well surprise surprise dear reader because not once in this slice of cinema’s 99-minute runtime is that digital de-aging technology ever utilized. Indeed, instead of digitally making Fuhrman look younger, this slice of cinema’s helmer, one William Brent Bell, makes the creative choice to utilize camera wizardry to try and make her appear like a tiny butcher. As a result, for any wide shots for example where we don’t have to see Esther’s face, a child actress is utilized, but for the shots where we see her face, we get to see that the creative choice was for either have the other actors have their height increased off-screen or to have Fuhrman crouch down or walk on her knees to make herself appear smaller than everyone else. Suffice it to say that no it’s not always as convincing as it should be, but overall it does manage to get the job done. Yet for all of the visceral and twisted fun that this slice of cinema has going for it including the fact that this film is a tad bit bloodier than its predecessor so I’m sure you gore hounds out there are smiling with glee, there is one element that is most assuredly a detriment to the level of quality towards the overall film. That being that it doesn’t have someone like Collet-Serra at the helm. I mean don’t get me wrong: this is a fine effort from Bell at the helm, but he is not even close to bringing the style and flair that Collet-Serra does to his cinematic projects. Even worse than that is the fact that this film’s helmer and the head of the cinematography department make the “creative choice” to drench the film in a grotesque and downright nauseating haze that makes it appear like there’s a group of people off camera smoking some pretty big cigars. I mean be it a style decision or just another way to hide how old the lead actress really is there is no denying that at best it’s completely distracting and at worse makes you suddenly think about calling your eye doctor for fear that you’re going blind.
Of course, the other big component to a slice of cinema like this one working even remotely as well as it ought to do has a lot to do with the performances given by the cast in front of the camera. In that regard, it should be noted that the majority of this cast does do good, but most of them are tragically operating on such archetypes as the devoted and loving yet fairly clueless dad, the quite bratty older sibling, the hard-nosed law enforcement officer, and the suspicious psychiatrist despite the work of the respective cast members in those roles. As such, you can pretty much predict for them just where their arcs are going to take them in this slice of cinema’s narrative though some especially the bratty older sibling do get some exits in this slice of cinema that are quite memorable in their own right. With that in mind however, there are a pair of performances that I definitely feel are most assuredly worthy of mention. The first (to no surprise) is the work done here by the returning Isabelle Fuhrman who looks like she is having an absolute blast getting to reprise her role of “Esther”. Indeed, despite a solid 13 years having come and gone since her last time in the part, Fuhrman does a great job at slipping back into this role with a fairly high degree of ease that we can more or less get behind that this is the same iconic character from the first film. Not content though with just retreading the same old, same old we see that Miss Fuhrman does a fantastic job at also finding ways to push Esther’s wickedness in this one down some new and intriguing paths including bludgeoning a person to death before helping herself to a glass of their wine and usage of their laptop or making off with a car, putting on some shades, and lighting herself a cigarette before taking off in the car. Yet more intriguing than all of that however is the fact that this slice of cinema also provides us with some new dimensions to the character than we might have been expecting at first. Indeed I don’t want to say too much for fear of spoilers, but it might astonish you to know that there are at points in this movie where you might actually find yourself rooting for Esther more than the other characters. Matching the work done here by Fuhrman though is none other than Julia Stiles in the role of Albright family matriarch Tricia. Indeed, at first Stiles does a good job at playing this character like your stereotypical mom who’s nervous about reuniting with their long-lost child yet it isn’t long before this is thrown an unexpected curve ball and suddenly everything you thought you knew about this character is turned on its head and this character becomes a completely different character altogether. Thankfully though, not only is Stiles able to adapt to this change in character beautifully, but she brings the same fantastic degree of commitment to the character throughout. Suffice it to say that it is a truly twisted yet delightfully antagonistical performance and one that I hope we get to see Stiles play more of in the future because she definitely has the skill for it.
All in all is Orphan: First Kill a perfect slice and dice of cinema? Not even close, but the truth is that I don’t think it was ever aspiring to be one. At the same time though, is this a complete and utter cinematic trainwreck that should be avoided at any and all costs? Thankfully, I can say that is also definitely not the case. Sure, if you’ve seen the original then you have a pretty good idea of what happens to about 99.9% of the people in this slice of cinema, but that doesn’t mean this is a bad film by any stretch. Indeed the work done behind the camera is certainly more than capable especially in how they manage to de age its lead actress without even an ounce of computer technology assisting them (the aforementioned disgusting haze and a few other issues aside) and the work in front of the camera is also just as capable (though the work being done here by both the returning Isabelle Fuhrman and Julia Stiles does stand out just a bit more than the rest of the cast of players that have been assembled here). Thus if you are looking for a slice of cinema that is one that might find itself proclaimed an awards season favorite or even a critical darling…..then I think you really might want to turn your viewing attention elsewhere because this certainly is not the movie for you. On the other hand, if you are the kind of person who can find enjoyment out of a twisted, slightly visceral, and fairly engaging slice and dice of horror cinema that you can sit down for 92 minutes and make your way through in one sitting fairly easily then this might be more up your alley. Indeed, flaws aside, there is no denying that Orphan: First Kill is definitely one wild, crazy, and twisted cinematic voyage that you will want to embark on time and time again. On a scale of 1-5 I give Orphan: First Kill a solid 3 out of 5.
