Orphan: First Kill
Paramount Pictures | Release Date: August 19, 2022 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
54
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 27 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
13
Negative:
3
Watch Now
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
85
PolygonAusten GoslinAug 31, 2022
Orphan: First Kill is a tremendously clever slasher that has fun with, and lives up to, its absurd premise. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubCourtney HowardAug 15, 2022
Offering the winning combination of a subversive spin on a well-established villain, Orphan: First Kill is a gnarly, wild and absolutely demented ride. Read full review
75
IndieWireRyan LattanzioAug 19, 2022
Coggeshall’s script isn’t especially sharp, as the movie really does hinge around that big twist, but the visual approach and performances from the actors give Orphan: First Kill an edge that should satisfy fans of the original. Read full review
75
ColliderAlyse WaxAug 15, 2022
First Kill is a smart, tight film that fits perfectly into what the first Orphan film set up over a decade ago. Read full review
70
We Got This CoveredMatthew PejkovikAug 24, 2022
Plenty of blood splatter brutality throughout Orphan: First Kill will satisfy gore hounds looking for their next fix. Bell, who previously directed the similarly themed The Boy and grizzly werewolf film Wer, proves to be a deft hand at creating tension without resorting to cheap jump scares. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesNoel MurrayAug 19, 2022
The movie is equal parts clever and trashy, made for people who like to see very good actors play people who are very bad. Read full review
70
Paste MagazineJesse HassengerAug 16, 2022
Orphan: First Kill isn’t an especially scary movie, nor is its class-war commentary especially subtle or insightful. Through sheer force of personality, though, these elements are rendered immaterial. Like Esther, the movie has a keen sense of how to weaponize its own audacity. Read full review
70
IGNMatt DonatoAug 15, 2022
Orphan: First Kill doubles down as a prequel about Esther but manages to feel so uniquely standalone thanks to some supreme storytelling swings. Read full review
69
TheWrapLena WilsonAug 15, 2022
“First Kill” takes the best part of its predecessor — its camp value — and dials things up to 11, delivering a movie that demands to be seen at rowdy theaters and sleepovers worldwide. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerAug 15, 2022
What makes Orphan: First Kill worthwhile is that it acknowledges the original before taking a hard left turn into overblown soapy madness. The modern gothic of the first film transforms here into a perfectly fitting explosion of operatic schlock. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreAug 16, 2022
Stiles, who classes up everything she touches, had to see something in this. Julia won’t let us down. In Julia we trust. And damned if she doesn’t deliver, as this grim march through murder curdles from Grand Guignol to laugh-out-loud hilarious. Read full review
60
Screen RantFerdosa AbdiSep 2, 2022
Orphan: First Kill is a kooky romp, way too relaxed to be considered a psychological horror. Read full review
60
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeAug 22, 2022
The force of Fuhrman’s performance – as she demonstrated in last year’s The Novice, she can be a remarkable and unsettling presence in front of a camera – goes a considerable way towards reclaiming the role of the malevolent mini psychopath Esther. Even more impressive is Julia Stiles, a supremely talented yet underused actor who dominates this film from a gloriously unexpected midpoint twist onwards. Read full review
60
Little White LiesLeila LatifAug 19, 2022
Each time Fuhrman is obviously switched out or Julia Stiles is clearly stood on a box the B-movie hokeyness is utterly hilarious. That fun is only enhanced by the complete seriousness with which each actor is performing their part, particularly the cat-and-mouse duologues that Stiles and Fuhrman practically spit at each other. Read full review
60
EmpireKim NewmanAug 18, 2022
While still a lurid sequel to a ropey slasher movie, Orphan: First Kill is refreshingly clever, unpredictable and gruesome. Isabelle Fuhrman’s Esther deserves three more sequels and a ‘Versus’ movie with the Stepfather or Chucky. Read full review
60
The New York TimesBen KenigsbergAug 18, 2022
The sheer derangement of its plot and a bizarre casting gambit make it more interesting than standard straight-to-streaming schlock. Read full review
60
The IndependentClarisse LoughreyAug 15, 2022
There’s a surprising amount to enjoy here, with director William Brent Bell (behind The Boy franchise, with its equally ludicrous premise centered on a haunted doll), making the smart decision to turn the unintentional camp of Orphan into intentional camp, alongside adding a dose of satire about the corruptive pressures of the nuclear family. Read full review
60
SlashfilmChris EvangelistaAug 15, 2022
David Coggeshall's script has more than a few tricks up its sleeve, including some jaw-dropping twists that I will confess I did not see coming. It makes sense — the first film had a jaw-dropping twist too, after all. The twist feels fresh and exciting here, and changes the entire film in a way that's wickedly enjoyable. Read full review
50
Rolling StoneK. Austin CollinsAug 24, 2022
It’s funny to think of this new chapter, with all its mean twists and its tense character convolution, as a prelude to the story we already know. Orphan is the longer movie, but compared to First Kill, it’s a psychologically slim, unmessy affair in comparison. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoAug 19, 2022
There are opportunities wasted here to dig into family roles and class commentary, but that’s often overcome by how much fun Furhman and Stiles seem to be having in the film's second half. Read full review
50
Original-CinJim SlotekAug 17, 2022
There are moments where director Bell seems to be positioning Esther as an anti-hero, which would have been interesting. But it’s not a path to which he commits, and it’s back to bloody business as usual. The fact that this is a prequel drains even more suspense from the movie’s resolution. Read full review
50
ConsequenceClint WorthingtonAug 15, 2022
Orphan: First Kill is an almost impossible film to put your finger on, walking that incredible tightrope between chintzy direct-to-video schlock and purposeful, delightful camp. It looks like a BBC production shot for $5, but that leans even harder into its Lifetime-movie-on-crack presentation (and lets you grade its moments of visual grace on a massive curve). Read full review
42
The PlaylistMarshall ShafferAug 19, 2022
Orphan: First Kill only merits viewing if it is a viewer’s first exposure to the series. For anyone else, a rewatch of the original ought to do – it holds up remarkably well on repeat viewing. Read full review
40
The GuardianLeslie FelperinAug 15, 2022
The most disappointing thing about the film is that it has none of the spark or originality of the first one and just parasitically drains its source material, incorporating details like the creepy black-light drawings and the borderline paedophilic subtext without adding anything substantial. Read full review
33
The Film StageJared MobarakAug 15, 2022
It’s empty horror barely skating by on recognizable IP. Read full review
30
VarietyOwen GleibermanAug 19, 2022
Orphan: First Kill is draggy and suspense-free. Fuhrman, as before, invests her role with a cold creepiness, but the minimal, haphazard script sticks her with playing Esther as a one-note mascot of terror, somewhere between Freddy Krueger and Leprechaun. Read full review
25
Slant MagazineMark HansonAug 15, 2022
William Brent Bell’s film proves that not every horror concept has the potential to be franchised. Read full review
More From This Movie

54 Critic Reviews

6.1 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL