Orphan: First Kill

"There's always been something wrong with Esther."

2022 1h 39m EN

👍

6.6

SOLID

★6.6TMDB · 2,371

HorrorThriller

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

After escaping from an Estonian psychiatric facility, Leena Klammer travels to America by impersonating Esther, the missing daughter of a wealthy family. But when her mask starts to slip, she is put against a mother who will protect her family from the murderous “child” at any cost.

“There's always been something wrong with Esther.”

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Cast

Isabelle Fuhrman
Esther / Leena
Julia Stiles
Tricia Albright
Rossif Sutherland
Allen Albright
Hiro Kanagawa
Detective Donnan
Matthew Finlan
Gunnar Albright
Samantha Walkes
Dr. Segar
David Lawrence Brown
Dr. Novotny
Lauren Cochrane
Officer Leahy

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: William Brent Bell
Writers: David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, Alex Mace, David Coggeshall
Languages: English, Estonian
Countries: Canada, United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Earned back only 96% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 4 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Estonian.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: Canada, United States of America.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Orphan Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by William Brent Bell, shot by Karim Hussain. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Brett Detar. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Josh Ethier shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

William Brent Bell directs. Karim Hussain behind the camera. Brett Detar scores. Josh Ethier cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in Canada, United States of America. Dialogue in English, Estonian.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Earned back only 96% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
2Released 4 years ago.
3Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Estonian.
4International production across 2 countries: Canada, United States of America.
5Part of the "Orphan Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
6Directed by William Brent Bell, shot by Karim Hussain. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
7Original score by Brett Detar. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
8Editor Josh Ethier shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
9Isabelle Fuhrman and Julia Stiles and Rossif Sutherland carry the top of the cast.
10Marketing tagline: "There's always been something wrong with Esther.".
11IMDB entry: tt11851548 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
12Classified under 14 themes, including "psychopath", "family secrets", "prequel", "murder".
13Released under 11 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Karim Hussain
Original score: Brett Detar
Editing: Josh Ethier
Production design: Matthew Davies
Costume design: Kim H. Ngo
Makeup / hair: Doug Morrow
Sound: John Loranger
Stunt coordinator: BJ Verot
Runtime: 99 min · 1h 39m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $10,000,000
Box office: $9,572,765
Return: 96% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Orphan: First Kill (2022)

Part of

Orphan Collection

A series of horror-thriller films about a diminutive young woman who assumes a new identity as an orphaned girl named Esther.

Also by

William Brent Bell

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2022-08-29
★ 5/10
"Esther" (Isabelle Fuhrman) is the resident of an high security facility in Estonia where she is a distinct danger to anyone who crosses her path! Rather gorily, she engineers a daring escape and somehow manages to get to the United States where she convinces "Allen" (Rossif Sutherland) that she is his long lost daughter. Well whilst dad might be fooled, the wife "Tricia" (Julia Stiles) and her son "Gunnar" (Matthew Finlan) soon catch on - but it seems that they have secrets of their own to keep. Can an uneasy truce prevail between them? Well, no - of course not but frankly I really couldn't have cared less. She is all too readily accepted into the wealthy American family (no DNA tests with her father to verify?) and as the story plods along, it loses any grasp on plausibility. We are required to believe that "Esther" is this epitome of evil, but the plot has more holes than a Swiss cheese so I kept asking myself just how any of this could ever actually happen - even in cinema land. It does have the benefit of being quite short, and to be fair to director William Brent Bell, he doesn't hang around once what passes for the story gets going. I just found the whole thing too nonsensical and the lead character had more of a petulance to her than any believable sense of menace.

Production companies