Director: William Brent Bell
Notable Cast: Isabelle Fuhrman, Julia Stiles, Rossif
Sutherland, Matthew Finlan, Hiro Kanagawa, Samantha Walkes, David Brown, Lauren
Cochrane, Gwendolyn Collins
When the shockingly effective and fun horror flick Orphan
didn’t get a sequel greenlit, the chances of seeing the conniving killer,
Ester, get a franchise seemed like more and more of a long shot. As the titular
killer kid, Isabelle Fuhrman was not getting younger and the story and
character required a young-looking antagonist to drive it home so as the years
passed, the rumors of a franchise seemed to dwindle. Yet, as those years
passed, Orphan only garnered a more die-hard fan base, including myself
and my own 4.5/5 blood drop review HERE, and the fans clamored for more - no
matter what.
Perhaps this is what led Paramount to purchase the rights to
the franchise from Warner Bros, to begin with, but what really surprises with
this long-awaited new entry, titled Orphan: First Kill, is that
the announced film was not a reboot. It would continue the story of Ester, in all
her horrific pigtailed glory, and Isabelle Fuhrman would be back in the role.
To make matters more complicated, not only would it be a now 25-year-old in the
role, but it would also be a prequel to the original.
As if the twist of the original wasn’t batshit crazy enough,
the path this franchise was taking seemed just as insane.
Yet, here we are with Orphan: First Kill, and
not only is this prequel a success, but it’s also shockingly effective at
replicating the B-movie madness of its originator. It’s such a fun and
delightfully twisted flick, leaning even further into its silliness as a story,
that fans of the original will consume it gleefully. Ester is back to deliver
the same fun, but she’s doing it in some all-new ways.