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Parents' Guide to

Orphan: First Kill

By Jeffrey Anderson, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 16+

Blood and gore in surprisingly clever horror prequel.

Movie R 2022 99 minutes
Orphan: First Kill Movie - Poster

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

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age 16+

Based on 2 parent reviews

Hugh D.
Hugh D. Parent of 12 and 18+-year-old
February 19, 2023
age 17+

Just No!

Not a good movie, very disappointed , should not have made a prequel as the girl is obviously older and a teenager. Should hire a writing staff and think up a story and plot.
Fredrick Tinkles
Fredrick Tinkles Parent of 11 and 14-year-old
September 18, 2022
age 14+

14 and up should be okay to view

Orphan: First Kill was quite entertaining and kept us interested the whole time. I went to see this in the cinema with my 14 year old son and he could handle it fine. There was a bit of bloody violence where characters were stabbed and hit with objects but it was nothing horrifying and the violence was equivalent to all the shooter and fighting games that these kids are playing nowadays. There is one brief sexual encounter but nothing inappropriate is shown. Some swearing is present but it wasn’t excessive and some drug use was included where teens are drinking and smoking at a party. Overall, I believe that teens 14 and up should be fine viewing this film if they are mature enough to handle a bit of violence.

This title has:

Too much violence
See all 2 parent reviews

What's the Story?

In ORPHAN: FIRST KILL, art therapy instructor Anna (Gwendolyn Collins) takes a job at the SAARNE Institute, a psychiatric facility in Estonia. On her first day, the institute's deadliest patient, Leena (Isabelle Fuhrman), escapes. Leena is said to be a 31-year-old woman with a gland disorder that makes her look 10 years old. Leena finds the profile of a missing girl that fits her appearance and begins a new journey, impersonating "Esther," the daughter of the upper-class Albright family. Her new "mother," Tricia (Julia Stiles), is a philanthropist; her "brother," Gunnar (Matthew Finlan), is a fencing champion; and her "father," Allen (Rossif Sutherland), is a successful painter. At first she simply plans to rob them and move on, but Allen's kindness toward her makes her want to stay. Unfortunately, not everything is as it seems.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (2 ):
Kids say (8 ):

Thanks to a clever flip of the script, some inventive filmmaking techniques, and a ghoulishly strong performance by Fuhrman, this horror prequel surpasses the original. Orphan: First Kill shouldn't have been possible. The original Orphan was made when Fuhrman was 12. She played the 33-year-old Esther, stuck in a 9-year-old's body, and pulled it off with supreme creepiness. Here, she's 25 and shouldn't be able to play the role anymore, but director William Brent Bell and his crew came up with camera angles, make-up, and lighting, as well as some VFX, to make her look almost the same. It helps, of course, that Fuhrman has the skill to pull this off.

The movie asks viewers to believe that Leena/Esther would stay at the Albright house due to her feelings for her "father." It's a bit of a leap, but Fuhrman suggests how tenderly Esther might receive his kindness -- and how she might hunger for more -- and she bridges the gap. If Orphan: First Kill had been just another psycho-slasher movie, it wouldn't have been worth the bother, but writers David Coggeshall, David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, and Alex Mace cooked up a sly angle that tackles issues of White privilege and asks viewers to question what a monster might really look like. The original movie was a dull slog through horror clichés, but this prequel, while still somewhat conventional, is worth adopting into your video library.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about Orphan: First Kill's violence. How did it make you feel? Was it exciting? Shocking? What did the movie show or not show to achieve this effect? Why is that important?

  • Is the movie scary? What's the appeal of horror movies? Why do people sometimes like to be scared?

  • What does the movie have to say about White privilege? How do you think viewers are meant to perceive the Albright family when they first meet them?

  • How can a monster/murderer like Esther be the main character of a movie? Can you think of any other movies that are told from this point of view?

  • How does this prequel compare with the original Orphan? In what similar or different ways do they approach the character and the story?

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