This may be the best prequel I’ve ever seen. Let me tell you about Esther.

Before I go any further, this is a spoiler review. Now that we’ve gotten that out the way. The release of Orphan: First Kill has just hit theaters and Paramount + with a plot twist bigger than the original movie.

A few months ago I seen the trailer to the movie and I remember thinking “this is just a cash grab” and it won’t be any good. Today, I pushed play reminding myself this won’t be any good. It’s a prequel, not many movies can do the original movie justice and while this movie starts off very slow in my opinion within a hour I was hooked!

The original movie the Orphan which holds a very strong place in my heart was released in July of 2009 with then 10 year old Isabelle Fuhrman breaking into the film industry with her GOAT acting role of Esther. I remember watching that movie because ANYTHING with Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard is much see cinema. I love those two and they can’t do any wrong. I fell in love with the original Orphan movie because it was original and I was caught off guard with that movies plot twist and reveal.

Fast forward 13 years later and we have the prequel to Orphan and now 25 year old Fuhrman is back in the shoes to play her role as Esther. This movie starts off with her being a patient in the Saarne Institute and I already tilted my head because I thought this entire movie was going to take place in the facility. That was the reason for my meh energy. Getting past her escape from the facility she finesses her way into the family home of the Albright’s in Darien, Connecticut

20 minutes into the movie and I’m still thinking “oh this is just going to be a repeat of Esther killing another family, how original” but by her acting as the missing daughter of the Albright family I found that to be interesting. The woman playing Esther is 25 years old, the camera work and practical effects in this movie are amazing! With the way it played out on film I completely forgot that this was a 25 year old woman re-acting the role she played when she was just 10 years old…

I wanna fast forward to the plot twist, without telling you the plot twist, I know I said this is a spoiler review but now that I’m explaining it I want to see if this shocks you as well. This movie finds a way to throw you off and turn Esther into somewhat of a hero. Esther makes the family pay for what they’ve done without her actually serving justice. It’s perfect, I went from being completely bored with what I thought was a simple story and now rooting for Esther to go finish the job.

When you get some time, open the Paramount + app and check out the 1 hour and 39 minute movie The Orphan: First Kill. I don’t wanna leave you with just a review, I’ll end this post article off with some fun facts.

Filmed from November through December 2020.
Isabelle Fuhrman was 23, which makes her closer to the age of Leena (the true identity of Esther) than when she appeared in the first film, where she had turned 11 during filming.

Similar to the first film, the poster is perfectly
symmetrical, this time with half of Esther’s back
mirrored (with the addition of blood splatter on one of her shoulders).

One of this film’s goals as a prequel was to cover up a much criticized plot hole in the first film, which was how exactly did Esther get from Estonia to an American orphanage without having been dropped off by anybody. Even with forged paperwork, Esther would not have been able to simply show up with it.

Some of the cast who were of the same height as
Isabelle Fuhrman while in frame had to wear tall platform shoes while standing next to her to make her appear shorter.

Check out the movie and let me know how you liked or disliked it by commenting in the comment section below. Or you can contact me on Instagram DJ PEST