THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Orphan was one of the most horrifying movies of the 2000s for being a shocking story from top to bottom. The villainous Leena Klammer left such an impact that audiences started to wonder when did she adopt the persona of Esther? Eventually, we got a story to tell just that.
PLOT
The prequel First Kill begins in 2007, two years before she was ever adopted by the Colemans. At this point in time, Leena has been residing in Estonia's Saarne Institute due to her past crimes of brutal murder. She would then escape to continue a charade of posing as a little girl to get away with her crimes. She has been able to pull this off because she has a hormonal disorder known as 'hypopituitarism', which causes her to look like a girl but is really a dwarf. She dawns the new identity of Esther Albright, based on an American girl who's been missing for years. When approached by an officer, she plays her part that she's been on her own and that her parents are in the USA. The Albrights live in Darien, Connecticut, which includes a wealthy artist named Arthur, his wife Tricia and their teenage son Gunnar (Matthew Finlan) whose skilled at fencing. The family had felt emotionally distant after the disappearance, but seem to feel recovered when discovering this apparent return. Tricia picks up 'Esther' from Moscow and when returning home, she takes notice of how different she is from before: Has a Russian accent, is skilled in painting and has forgotten of the death of her grandmother. Because Leena is a legal adult in secret, she quickly grows fond of Allen, leading to them bonding over the use of UV paint. When he and Tricia go out to a charity gala hosted by the latter, Inspector Donnan (Hiro Kanagawa), who last investigated the case of Esther, takes a vinyl record from Esther's room to analyze her fingerprints. When he discovers that Leena is an imposter, she tries to kill him after following him to his home. Tricia arrives at the scene as well and chooses to finish off the inspector because she already knows that Leena is not her daughter. Four years prior, Gunnar accidentally killed her after rough housing with her. Rather than having her only son arrested, she chose to cover it up unbeknownst to Allen. After they bury Donnan in a cellar hatch and frame his disappearance as a vacation trip, they agree to keep up the charade for Allen's sake, knowing it'd be too suspicious for Esther to disappear 'again'. As both women try to remain on guard with each other, Tricia does try to get the upper hand by poisoning Leena's dinner. When she later feeds it to a rat that later dies, after being suspicious beforehand of her actions, she gets even by putting the dead rodent in her smoothie the next day. With Allen taking off for a potential art gallery, Leena does try to kill Tricia and Gunnar at a train station, but gets interrupted from a passing commuter. She tries to run away by stealing Tricia's car, but is brought back home by the police. At this point, Tricia and Gunnar decide to kill her and stage it as a suicide. But Leena is able to defend herself and kill Gunnar. When she fights Tricia, it gets so out of hand that it starts a fire in the kitchen. Their conflict takes them to the rooftop, resulting in both of them hanging for dear life. When Allen returns home after getting a call from the police of the stolen car, he sees the fire and the ladies in trouble. When he gets to the rooftop, Tricia ultimately falls to her death. Leena would then decide to kill him when he disowns her after accidentally revealing herself to him. With no proof on what started the arson, the film ends with 'Esther' scheduled to go to a new orphanage, hoping to be adopted by another family.
THOUGHTS
I've had such respect for Orphan when I first watched it, but I was not one of the fans that demanded to see another story of Esther/Leena. Nevertheless, I chose to be open minded when this came around. Because this is a prequel, I had an idea of what to expect, yet director William Brent Bell puts us through a whole new set of twists and turns that maintain the excitement. So whether or not you know how it was gonna end, you likely would’ve not guessed everything beforehand because I know I didn’t. With that feeling, I was on the edge of my seat once again in the best way imaginable. To me, this movie was able to work for showing how far people can go t keep what they most desire. As for the returning Isabelle Fuhrman, who pulls off still looking like a kid thanks to computerized de-aging and her body double Kennedy Irwin, she remains just as sadistic for thinking people will love her when knowing what she’s capable of. What truly spiced things up is that her true rival is someone who is just as selfish. Julia Stiles catches me off guard for being two faced as well, making everyone believe she is laid back and calm, but is downright despicable. Due to such a shocking secret, she loves her family so much that she puts their mistakes in denial. Particularly, it was Gunnar who had the least regret for what he did to his sister. So seeing her choose to defend him was goddamn sickening. I never like the concept to root for a villain, but considering how cold they showed themselves to be, I don’t regret saying she they had it coming. I put up with Leena’s actions because we know she is bound to get her comeuppance. The only thing that made this movie feel tragic was Allen. Rossif Sutherland portrayed him as a guy who just wanted to be self healed. He loved his daughter more than anything and knew having her back would save him from regret. While that was a great strength, that became a weakness as well when he chose to reach out for Esther instead of Tricia. I do think that he thought he had time to save them both, but I just can’t help wishing he thought it through, especially when they were egging him on. Whether or not there is an afterlife, I hope he finds closure finding his real daughter again. Even though I didn't mind this movie for what it is, there are a whole lot more issues I had that hold it back from being as good as the first. You're definitely setting up an intense opening when they build up Leena's entrance in the institute, but how did no one see her in the art room? I know she's small, but it's like they didn't even observe that room before scouting the rest of the place. And how come no one on that plane smelled the alcohol she drank? She may have had a sip of water in between, but she downed that thing so it's not like the smell goes away instantly. Donnan was indeed onto something when Esther returned, but was it really a good ideas snatching the vinyl when the kids are in the house too? Even if they weren't there, he would've lived off of luck with the fact that there weren't any freaking cameras in the house. The climax was pretty intense, but even as things started to come full circle, it had a few inconsistencies that drove me crazy. Tricia messes up big time by not planning out how to kill Leena. She may have winged it when it came to her daughter, but since she was going up against someone so psychotic, thinking it through should've been a key factor. I then wonder what happened to the cab driver who dropped off Allen? He may have called the fire department, but did he really leave the property just to do that? This is set in 2007, so it's crazy that he didn't have a cellphone to whip out at the moment. Had he had one, he likely would've saw the final action in the rooftop. And lastly, how come we don't see the autopsy for Gunnar? The guy was stabbed, so is that ignored when he gets burnt up? That really doesn't add up. Try to ignore these flaws and you'll be in for a ride. In short, Orphan: First Kill is a prequel worthwhile by finding new ways to get under your skin. If you have Paramount+ and love the first film, I hope you enjoy this one as well.
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