Orphan: First Kill (2022)
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2025-09 to 2026-08
The story
Set in 2007, the film follows Leena Klammer, a 30-year-old Estonian psychiatric patient who possesses the appearance of a 10-year-old child. After escaping a facility by killing a guard, she hides in the car of an art therapist and eventually murders her. While searching for missing girls, Leena discovers she resembles Esther Albright, a girl from a wealthy family who vanished in 2003. Leena assumes Esther's identity and manages to convince the girl's parents to bring her home to Darien, Connecticut, where she begins to manipulate the family dynamics.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
On January 26, 2007, Leena Klammer, a 30-year-old Estonian psychiatric patient with the appearance of a 10-year-old, escapes a facility and kills an art therapist. She discovers she resembles Esther Albright, a missing girl from a wealthy family, and assumes her identity. She is brought to Darien, Connecticut, by the girl's mother, Tricia, who is secretly covering up the fact that the real Esther died in 2003. Leena becomes infatuated with the father, Allen, and attempts to separate him from Tricia. When a detective discovers Leena's fingerprints do not match Esther's, Leena stabs him, and Tricia shoots him dead. Tricia and Leena dispose of the body in a cellar containing the real Esther's remains. Tricia and her brother Gunnar eventually plot to kill Leena, but after several attempts, Leena fights back, killing Gunnar. During a final confrontation in a burning house, Allen helps Leena, causing Tricia to fall to her death. When Allen realizes Leena is an impostor, she pushes him off the roof to his death. Leena then dresses as Esther again and is moved to an orphanage to wait for a new family.
- First release year
- 2022
- Runtime (minutes)
- 98
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- William Brent Bell
- Writers
- David Coggeshall · screenplay; David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick · story; Alex Mace · story
- Cast and characters
- Isabelle Fuhrman · Esther; Rossif Sutherland; Hiro Kanagawa; Matthew Finlan; Julia Stiles
- Genres
- psychological slasher; psychological horror
- Themes
- Identity theft; Family corruption; Deception
- Tone and mood
- Campy; Operatic; Gothic
- Premise and plot tags
- Prequel; Slasher; Psychological Horror
- Franchise connections
- Orphan
- Reception
- The film received mixed reviews from critics, with some praising its intentional camp and storytelling while others criticized its lack of originality compared to the first film.
- Reported review scores
- Metacritic · score: 54 · scale: 100 · review count: 27
- Production trivia
- The production crew used makeup and forced perspective shots to avoid CGI for Fuhrman's appearance.; The project was originally announced with the working title of Esther.; Isabelle Fuhrman played a key role in the project's green light following a real-life adoption scandal.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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