Orphan: First Kill is a prequel to the 2009 creepy kid horror/thriller Orphan. That first movie is one I pretty much enjoyed as a movie of its sub-genre but it got a real kick from a bonkers (if not totally convincing) reveal. Spoiler alert for the original: the little girl ten year old Isabella Fuhrman was playing was actually an adult grifter with dwarfism.

This prequel brings back a now actual adult Fuhrman playing her younger self (as the con-artist adult). It tells the story of the first family in America that she scams prior to the events of the first film. So wo go into this movie already knowing the bonkers secret and it’s up to the film to convince us that it needs to exist at all.

And… well… for the first third, it really really begs that question. But there’s a nice set of surprises about half-way through that re-contextualizes what the movie is actually about and who our characters are. It was a nice surprise that promised some hammy fun. And the film ALMOST gets there… but it really loses steam in the final act before turning into a soggy mess in a lame, low energy finale.

What’s most curious about the film is that Isabella Fuhrman plays the same character thirteen years ago. She’s back in close-ups as herself – a little aged but not unconvincingly playing ten again. The performance is aided by a lot of in-camera tricks like a child body double in wide shots, slightly oversized sets and props, and actors probably on crates or in pits when standing next to one another. They do a reasonable job of pulling this off… though it is distracting if, like me, you spend most of the movie looking for the tricks.

Unfortunately, one of the tricks is a dimly lit, sometimes downright murky, image. I was watching this on my big-screen TV via Paramount+ so I know it’s the movie and not a problem with, say, a movie theater’s projector. I fiddled with the settings to make sure something wasn’t broken, but, no, it’s just a really murky film.

This is an interesting genre exercise and a pretty neat job opportunity for Isabella Fuhrman. I really dig the idea of the making of this film… and the fact Fuhrman can more-or-less return to a character she played at ten. But the idea of this flick is better than the flick itself. It’s got a little merit (it’s not a disaster) but the pacing and cinematography gets in the way of the fun.

Score: 74