Orphan: First Kill (2022)

I didn't see the first Orphan film until just before seeing this sequel even though I was aware of the twist, I still thought it worked quite well. Whether a film needs a sequel especially when 13 years have passed and horror has moved along a lot since then. Well this film proves that it can be achieved even if its slightly underwhelming. The film sees Isabelle Fuhrman return as Leena with Julia Stiles playing Tricia and Rossif Sutherland playing Allen.

The twist of the first film is that Esther is older than she looks. The thing is that with this being a prequel it means that she has to be even young whilst having grown up in real life which means there are some creative uses to get around the fact that it's not Isabelle Fuhrman. There are some shots where it's clear that its a body double and not Fuhrman. There are other instances where they have used creative angles to help with the illusion but it's a mixed end result.

The film does actually get good around the hour mark when we learn that the real Esther died years earlier and Tricia uses Leena to help continue the deceit and I will admit that I thought this was a creative if convoluted plot twist. It becomes an interesting film but I did find the final 10-15 minutes to be a bit of a letdown because it's clear they didn't quite know how to wrap things up whilst ensuring that Leena makes it to the end of the film so the events of the first film can happen.

Orphan: First Kill is an odd film. It isn't terrible enough to be funny or boring and it's not a great horror film. I think that the fact that it happened so long after the first film hurt it but I think that its worth your time cause there is an interesting 40 minutes or so. It is an underwhelming film but I have seen worse horror films.