Film review: Orphan: First Kill is a pretty solid horror 

Opening in Estonia in 2007, Orphan: First Kill (16s) is a prequel that begins with Leena (Isabelle Fuhrman) locked up in an institute for the criminally insane, where an attendant helpfully informs a disbelieving visitor that Leena is 30 years old but suffers from a glandular issue that has arrested her growth at the age of 10. Having effected a blood-drenched escape, Leena googles ‘missing children’ and eventually arrives in Connecticut claiming to be Esther, the long-lost daughter of wealthy socialites Tricia (Julia Stiles) and Allen Albright (Rossif Sutherland).

But while Tricia and Allen swallow the story of their daughter’s abduction four years previously, their son Gunnar (Matthew Finlan) is less welcoming — and Detective Donovan (Hiro Kanagawa), who led the investigation into Esther’s disappearance all those years ago, doesn’t seem to be convinced.

Written by David Coggeshall and directed by William Brent Bell, Orphan: First Kill isn’t quite as effective a psychological chiller as its predecessor, but it’s a pretty solid horror all the same. That’s in large part due to the performance from Isabelle Fuhrman, who is creepily persuasive as a 10-year-old who eschews modern fashion in favour of hair-ribbons and Victorian-era dresses (or ‘dresses like Lizzie Borden’, as the hostile Gunnar scoffs, sealing his fate with an unwitting touch of foreshadowing).

Julia Stiles is in good form too, blending a wholly believable hint of scepticism into her character’s joy at Esther’s unexpected return, while Rossif Sutherland provides strong support as a father, previously broken, who is prepared to overlook all manner of filial improprieties to keep his fairytale bowling along.

David Coggeshall’s script is more surprising than we might expect, given that the big reveal about Leena / Esther happened 13 years ago, maintaining its tension until the latter stages descend into preposterous cliché.

(cinema release)