Pint-sized killer Esther returns in Orphan: First Kill, an equally ridiculous and entertaining prequel to popular horror film Orphan that doesn’t skimp on the blood splatter.

2009 saw the debut of Isabelle Fuhrman as big-brown-eyed 9-year-old Esther, an orphan from Russia adopted by an American family. In a shock twist, it was revealed that Esther’s identity is that of a 30-something year-old grifter and killer who has left a pile of bodies in her wake. This twist in Orphan was a clever one that set it apart from other killer-kiddie horror movies. It is also a twist that can only be done once.

It is a pleasant surprise, then, to find that Orphan: First Kill has its own twists up its blood-stained sleeve. Directed by William Brent Bell (Wer) and written by David Coggeshall (The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia), Orphan: First Kill begins in the Saeme Institute in Estonia, from which Esther (a returning Fuhrman) escapes in a thrilling one-shot sequence.

Posing as the missing child of upper middle class American couple Tricia and Allen Albright (Julia Stiles and Rossif Sutherland), Esther is welcomed “home” only to find a fierce adversary in Tricia, a mother who will do anything to protect her family.

Orphan: First Kill wisely positions Esther in a different angle that allows her to be more than the typical “bad seed” character. The films’ varied twists and turns takes Orphan: First Kill to a new level of suspense and fun, and with it a good dollop of silliness as it embraces its B-grade plot.  

Fuhrman is excellent as Esther, inhabiting the character with more personality and cheekiness compared to the first movie, that makes this pint-sized psychopath a tad more human. Great too is Julia Stiles as the mother who has a mean streak of her own. Plenty of blood splatter brutality will keep the gore hounds happy, while Bell proves to be a deft hand at creating tension without resorting to cheap jump scares.  

It all works, making Orphan: First Kill a superior film to the 2009 original.