*This review includes spoilers of Orphan and Orphan: First Kill.
Jaume Collett-Serra’s 2009 family drama horror Orphan had mixed reviews on its opening: Roger Ebert loved it, and Entertainment Weekly gave it a D+. In the years since its villain, Esther/Leena (Isabelle Fuhrman) has become an iconic addition to the scariest children on the screen of all time. But Esther isn’t actually a kid. She has hypopituitarism that causes her to present as a child when she’s actually in her 30s. That shocking twist in the original was masterfully brought to life by a 10-year-old Fuhrman. A real-life surprise was finding out that a child actor had brought such nuance and depth to an extremely complex, full-grown woman character and a serial killer.
Orphan was also unexpected in many ways.It was a moving portrait of a family post-trauma and a horror film with its fair share of jump scares, gore, and assorted violence against children. Collett-Serra’s unique vision took what could have been pulp storytelling into another director’s hands and made it not just realistic, but framed in gorgeous cinematography and set design for maximum emotional effect. Its prequel, Orphan: First Kill, a Paramount+ original feature, takes an entirely different approach to the subject material, and it’s not for the best.
Orphan: First Kill opens in Estonia in 2007, two years before the events of Orphan, where we meet “the most dangerous patient” at Saarne Institute for the criminally insane. Because Leena is already a killer with at least four victims, the institute has implemented rigid security protocols for her. They still do not stop Leena from a fresh murder spree and an escape. There is a major tone shift from Collett-Serra’s serious family drama with horror themes woven through, to First Kill’s straightforward campy slasher horror.
Gone is the multilayered Esther whose madness only emerges when absolutely necessary. Instead, we have a caricature villain who might as well be rubbing her hands together before she crimes like a cartoon character. After murdering her new art therapist and using her apartment as a staging area for her next moves, Leena finds the profile of a missing Connecticut girl named Esther Albright. Esther looks just like Leena, and Leena steals her identity. She concocts a story to authorities that she was trafficked to Russia. In a lucky turn of events, Esther’s parents Tricia (Julia Stiles) and Allen (Rossif Sutherland) are super wealthy and bring who they think is their daughter back to the US — in a private jet no less.
From the first moments of Tricia reuniting with her 4-years-missing daughter, something feels off. The sensation worsens when Esther’s brother Gunnar (Matthew Finlan) keeps side-eyeing her with glances that suggest he already knows she’s an imposter. Anyone who has watched enough Law and Order can guess what’s coming next. The real Esther was killed in an accident by her roughhousing brother, and her mother helped cover up the crime.
It’s here that First Kill reveals that the meaning of its title actually refers to Gunnar’s killing of his sister. It’s also here that the plot goes off the rails in some outrageous ways that would be at home in one of those made-for-TV murder mysteries of the 80s and 90s. The over-the-topness of these plot developments has some weird but grotesquely fun slasher-movie moments. Julia Stiles seems to be having a blast in this role as doublecrossing Tricia. Her scenes with Fuhrman take on a noir quality as these two incredibly talented actresses work off each other with some pretty rad chemistry. There are moments where First Kill almost has telenovela-esque shades of Paul Feig’s cult melodrama A Simple Favor, and those interactions between Stiles and Fuhrman are weird, wrong, and yet somehow darkly delightful. The Orphan cinematic universe is a strange one.
But some disturbing narrative themes detract from the campy slasher fun that this film could have been. The original Orphan came under fire from adoptive parents for its portrayal of a demonic adopted child. The Daily Beast noted: “The movie Orphan comes directly from this unexamined place in popular culture. Esther’s shadowy past includes Eastern Europe; she appears normal and sweet but quickly turns violent and cruel, especially toward her mother. These are clichés. This is the baggage with which we saddle abandoned, orphaned, or disabled children are given a fresh start at family life.”
Unfortunately, this dynamic has only worsened with Orphan: First Kill and much of it is because we already know Leena/Esther’s secret. Her hypopituitarism has not caused her psychopathy and mass murdering tendencies. Yet, in First Kill, her appearance and disability are continuously linked to her evil deeds, as if being different automatically makes you a killer. The number of times other characters call her “freak,” “deformed,” “mutant,” and worse cement the connection between her appearance as a disabled person and her sociopathic behavior. This is ableism pure and simple, and it’s a really cheap way to have expanded on Leena/Esther’s story without offering anything else about her background or personality development.
There is also an undercurrent of xenophobia in First Kill that wasn’t at all present in the original, adding to the ableism of the story in associating a foreign woman with monstrousness. Tricia, at one point, says, “This family came over on the f*cking Mayflower and built this country,” when defending her actions in covering up her daughter’s death. Later, her son Gunnar calls Leena an “illegal immigrant dwarf freak,” and follows it up with the jaw-dropping statement: “I’m an American. People care what happens to me.” Okay, colonizer. Go off.
Because First Kill is a prequel, we know that the Albright family all die in a housefire that leaves Esther to be adopted by the Colemans in Orphan. By the end of First Kill, the only family member we feel sad to see die is tenderhearted artist Allen. Tricia and Gunnar proved themselves to be depraved in their own unoriginal ways underneath all their fancy clothes and behind the walls of their enormous mansion. They become stock villains themselves when adding their xenophobia into the mix, and it’s a strange twist that packs none of the punches of the original film’s surprises.
For hardcore fans of the original Orphan, First Kill’s major tone shift from serious to campy might be more than just jarring, it might feel even exploitative and borderline offensive when taking the ableism into account. Where Collet-Serra took on the story’s themes thoughtfully and compassionately, First Kill director William Brent Bell has done the exact opposite. However, depending on your perspective, Bell’s version might be a fun horror romp that doesn’t require a whole lot of discernment, just a silly, gory, slasher movie at home in a spooky season watchathon.
Still, Orphan: First Kill was an opportunity to develop more insight into Esther/Leena’s psychology and history: the hows and whys of how a monster was created by circumstance and economics — like Lifetime did with a similarly difficult character Grandmother Olivia in Flowers in the Attic: The Origins. I’m still hungry for a proper origin story about Leena. Unfortunately, though, the three-dimensional Esther of Orphan has been reduced to a stick-figure sketch in First Kill. It’s a shame to see such an iconic horror character diminished so thoroughly into a parody of herself, especially when there was built-in space for so much more. There’s definitely an audience of horror fans for Orphan: First Kill. But if you were hoping for a prequel that matched the mood of the original and deepens the storytelling, First Kill isn’t for you.
Orphan: First Kill is streaming on Paramount+ starting from August 19, 2022.
*This review includes spoilers of Orphan and Orphan: First Kill.
Jaume Collett-Serra’s 2009 family drama horror Orphan had mixed reviews on its opening: Roger Ebert loved it, and Entertainment Weekly gave it a D+. In the years since its villain, Esther/Leena (Isabelle Fuhrman) has become an iconic addition to the scariest children on the screen of all time. But Esther isn’t actually a kid. She has hypopituitarism that causes her to present as a child when she’s actually in her 30s. That shocking twist in the original was masterfully brought to life by a 10-year-old Fuhrman. A real-life surprise was finding out that a child actor had brought such nuance and depth to an extremely complex, full-grown woman character and a serial killer.
Orphan was also unexpected in many ways.It was a moving portrait of a family post-trauma and a horror film with its fair share of jump scares, gore, and assorted violence against children. Collett-Serra’s unique vision took what could have been pulp storytelling into another director’s hands and made it not just realistic, but framed in gorgeous cinematography and set design for maximum emotional effect. Its prequel, Orphan: First Kill, a Paramount+ original feature, takes an entirely different approach to the subject material, and it’s not for the best.
Orphan: First Kill opens in Estonia in 2007, two years before the events of Orphan, where we meet “the most dangerous patient” at Saarne Institute for the criminally insane. Because Leena is already a killer with at least four victims, the institute has implemented rigid security protocols for her. They still do not stop Leena from a fresh murder spree and an escape. There is a major tone shift from Collett-Serra’s serious family drama with horror themes woven through, to First Kill’s straightforward campy slasher horror.
Gone is the multilayered Esther whose madness only emerges when absolutely necessary. Instead, we have a caricature villain who might as well be rubbing her hands together before she crimes like a cartoon character. After murdering her new art therapist and using her apartment as a staging area for her next moves, Leena finds the profile of a missing Connecticut girl named Esther Albright. Esther looks just like Leena, and Leena steals her identity. She concocts a story to authorities that she was trafficked to Russia. In a lucky turn of events, Esther’s parents Tricia (Julia Stiles) and Allen (Rossif Sutherland) are super wealthy and bring who they think is their daughter back to the US — in a private jet no less.
From the first moments of Tricia reuniting with her 4-years-missing daughter, something feels off. The sensation worsens when Esther’s brother Gunnar (Matthew Finlan) keeps side-eyeing her with glances that suggest he already knows she’s an imposter. Anyone who has watched enough Law and Order can guess what’s coming next. The real Esther was killed in an accident by her roughhousing brother, and her mother helped cover up the crime.
It’s here that First Kill reveals that the meaning of its title actually refers to Gunnar’s killing of his sister. It’s also here that the plot goes off the rails in some outrageous ways that would be at home in one of those made-for-TV murder mysteries of the 80s and 90s. The over-the-topness of these plot developments has some weird but grotesquely fun slasher-movie moments. Julia Stiles seems to be having a blast in this role as doublecrossing Tricia. Her scenes with Fuhrman take on a noir quality as these two incredibly talented actresses work off each other with some pretty rad chemistry. There are moments where First Kill almost has telenovela-esque shades of Paul Feig’s cult melodrama A Simple Favor, and those interactions between Stiles and Fuhrman are weird, wrong, and yet somehow darkly delightful. The Orphan cinematic universe is a strange one.
But some disturbing narrative themes detract from the campy slasher fun that this film could have been. The original Orphan came under fire from adoptive parents for its portrayal of a demonic adopted child. The Daily Beast noted: “The movie Orphan comes directly from this unexamined place in popular culture. Esther’s shadowy past includes Eastern Europe; she appears normal and sweet but quickly turns violent and cruel, especially toward her mother. These are clichés. This is the baggage with which we saddle abandoned, orphaned, or disabled children are given a fresh start at family life.”
Unfortunately, this dynamic has only worsened with Orphan: First Kill and much of it is because we already know Leena/Esther’s secret. Her hypopituitarism has not caused her psychopathy and mass murdering tendencies. Yet, in First Kill, her appearance and disability are continuously linked to her evil deeds, as if being different automatically makes you a killer. The number of times other characters call her “freak,” “deformed,” “mutant,” and worse cement the connection between her appearance as a disabled person and her sociopathic behavior. This is ableism pure and simple, and it’s a really cheap way to have expanded on Leena/Esther’s story without offering anything else about her background or personality development.
There is also an undercurrent of xenophobia in First Kill that wasn’t at all present in the original, adding to the ableism of the story in associating a foreign woman with monstrousness. Tricia, at one point, says, “This family came over on the f*cking Mayflower and built this country,” when defending her actions in covering up her daughter’s death. Later, her son Gunnar calls Leena an “illegal immigrant dwarf freak,” and follows it up with the jaw-dropping statement: “I’m an American. People care what happens to me.” Okay, colonizer. Go off.
Because First Kill is a prequel, we know that the Albright family all die in a housefire that leaves Esther to be adopted by the Colemans in Orphan. By the end of First Kill, the only family member we feel sad to see die is tenderhearted artist Allen. Tricia and Gunnar proved themselves to be depraved in their own unoriginal ways underneath all their fancy clothes and behind the walls of their enormous mansion. They become stock villains themselves when adding their xenophobia into the mix, and it’s a strange twist that packs none of the punches of the original film’s surprises.
For hardcore fans of the original Orphan, First Kill’s major tone shift from serious to campy might be more than just jarring, it might feel even exploitative and borderline offensive when taking the ableism into account. Where Collet-Serra took on the story’s themes thoughtfully and compassionately, First Kill director William Brent Bell has done the exact opposite. However, depending on your perspective, Bell’s version might be a fun horror romp that doesn’t require a whole lot of discernment, just a silly, gory, slasher movie at home in a spooky season watchathon.
Still, Orphan: First Kill was an opportunity to develop more insight into Esther/Leena’s psychology and history: the hows and whys of how a monster was created by circumstance and economics — like Lifetime did with a similarly difficult character Grandmother Olivia in Flowers in the Attic: The Origins. I’m still hungry for a proper origin story about Leena. Unfortunately, though, the three-dimensional Esther of Orphan has been reduced to a stick-figure sketch in First Kill. It’s a shame to see such an iconic horror character diminished so thoroughly into a parody of herself, especially when there was built-in space for so much more. There’s definitely an audience of horror fans for Orphan: First Kill. But if you were hoping for a prequel that matched the mood of the original and deepens the storytelling, First Kill isn’t for you.
Orphan: First Kill is streaming on Paramount+ starting from August 19, 2022.
I didn’t know it at the time, but my life forever changed on August 18, 2021. That’s the day I learned about the Girl Scouts Adventurefuls, an original brownie-inspired cookie. Why was that so important? Because those wondrous snacks did the unimaginable and replaced Thin Mints as my all-time favorite favorite Girl Scouts cookie. That’s why I’m making note of today’s date just in case it ends up being as important. Because in 2023 the Girl Scouts are adding adding another option to its lineup, and it’s inspired by my old favorite. Raspberry Rally is just like a Thin Mint, but with a fruity flavor instead.
Like white smoke from the Vatican, only with far greater implications, the Girl Scouts have announced their official new 2023 cookie. The group says the thin, crispy Raspberry Rally is a “sister” cookie of Thin Mints. The only difference is instead of mint flavor inside the chocolate-coated cookie has raspberry.
There will only be one place to grab them, though. You’ll have to grab Boxes of Raspberry Rally exclusively online with direct shipment to you. You’ll still need to find a scout to place your order. That way proceeds will still go to your favorite member and her group. Why the extra step? The organization says this method will enhance “girls’ e-commerce sales and entrepreneurial skills.”
Can you say Raspberrylicious?! Say hello to Raspberry Rally
— Girl Scouts (@girlscouts) August 16, 2022
, the newest addition to the Girl Scout Cookie family.
https://t.co/B6cewTe9jZ #RaspberryRally pic.twitter.com/MUZK364ukw
What it won’t do is help us wait to try them. As of this writing we’re still more than 149 days away from actually eating any. In the meantime, if you want to know the latest on Raspberry Rallys you can sign up for updates at the Girl Scouts official site. But also jot down the date you read this post, too. If Raspberry Rallys are as good as I hope, this will be a day we all want to remember.
The post Girl Scouts’ New Raspberry Rally Cookie is Thin Mint’s ‘Sister’ appeared first on Nerdist.
There may be a whopping eight human Green Lanterns, but if you were born in the ‘90s, the one you probably hold near and dear to your heart is Green Lantern John Stewart. And if you don’t, you’re wrong.
John Stewart is one of the coolest, most confident Green Lanterns, and out of all of them, has the most leadership qualities. In the confines of DC Universe, he’s regarded as one of the best Green Lanterns. But in our world, we don’t see much of him. He may be around a lot, but most of the time, he’s just that: around.
Despite a fifty-year history in the comics, he’s rarely had the spotlight. That is until fairly recently And given that, he’s been able to shine. It’s my hope that DC can give other non-traditional main characters the opportunity to flesh out some of their nuances and shine bright as well. If John Stewart can do it, anyone can.
Created in 1972 by Dennis O’Neil and Neal Adams, as a backup for Hal Jordan and Guy Gardner. He’s since been a main staple of the Green Lantern Corps, and if you are a religious reader of those books, you’ll see him quite a bit, often in important moments in the DC Universe.
So why am I wasting my time complaining about his lack of visibility? Because we can always do better, that’s why. And if Batman and his merry band of nocturnal vigilantes can have a plethora of books on the shelves giving a myriad of characters detailed focus, so can the Green Lantern Corps and the heroes in their ranks.
Don’t get me wrong, John Stewart has had a few pillar moments since 1972. After failing to save the planet Xanshi, he dealt with the weight of failure on a massive level for quite a while, spinning into his first solo title Green Lantern: Mosaic, where he took care of the Mosaic World, which had large sections of cultures from multiple planets trying to coexist in one setting, working through his inability to save Xanshi along the way.
From there he spent some time with the Darkstars, another intergalactic police force, but he ultimately decided to rejoin the Green Lantern Corps, getting in the thick of things as one of Sector 2814’s main Green Lanterns. He’s even been a core member of the Justice League a few times.
John’s been the main dude on occasion. He’s been in them trenches, but from a narrative standpoint, we haven’t seen a lot of development for the character since Xanshi blew up, and that was in the late ‘80s, early ‘90s. That is until this past year, in Geoffrey Thorne’s Green Lantern series. But we’ll get into that a little later.
If you’re my age, which is mid to late twenties, or even a little older, you mainly know John Stewart from the famed Justice League cartoon that we all grew up watching on Saturday mornings. The roster for this show had the Trinity, as well as The Flash, Hawkgirl, Martian Manhunter, and Green Lantern. But it wasn’t your dad’s Hal Jordan Green Lantern, we got John Stewart. And let me tell you, getting John over Hal at such a formative age, as a young Black boy, meant that I was never gonna mess with Hal in the same way that I messed with John. And I don’t think I’m alone in that.
Justice League soared where the comics often failed John. It developed him as a character, not just within conflict, but as a person in his regular life as well. We got to see him spend time at home and interact with his community. We got peeks into his background as a Marine and an architect, and we got to see him explore his complicated relationships, often as one corner of the love triangle featuring him, Hawkgirl, and Vixen. It was a golden era for sure.
A lot of this was because of the late, great Dwayne McDuffie, who undoubtedly brought a lot of lived experience and authenticity to the fleshing out of John’s character.
As I got older and ventured into comics more, I yearned for more John Stewart content and found that it was really lacking. As I stated before, he’s always around, but the comics never seemed to focus on the rounding out of his character in the same way the show did. This would be fine if no comic characters got that treatment, but Hal Jordan being the golden child of the Green Lantern Corps in the comics meant that all that nuanced development went to him.
This made me mad. The blueprint was clearly laid out by Justice League, why weren’t we getting more John Stewart content injected into our veins on a monthly basis?
Honestly, while John Stewart is a part of every main DC event, and often part of some flagship books, it wasn’t until Geoffrey Thorne’s Green Lantern series from last year that I felt that John Stewart finally got some shine in the comics the way I’d been hoping for.
The series shared two protagonists: John Stewart, and Jo Mullein, and each issue told seemingly isolated stories in the aftermath of Oa’s central power battery exploding. John Stewart, newly appointed leader of the Corps was on a mission in space when the battery exploded, stranding him and many others lightyears away from any way to get home. Jo Mullein, on Oa with Simon Baz when it all went down, is now the sole Lantern with any juice, as her ring has a different source of power.
Over twelve issues, we see both protagonists painstakingly grow and evolve without the structure of security they’ve grown accustomed to. John in particular has to grapple with who he is outside of being a Green Lantern, and away from anyone he knows. It was a must-read comic for a full year, and I’m so happy we got it.
It’s not done either, as John Stewart’s story is spinning into another book coming out later this year, a one-shot called John Stewart: The Emerald Knight.
Look at my boy shine. He’s really out here. This is the type of growth I’m talking about. It’s not enough to simply be around. It’s not enough to have cool double-page splashes with sparingly cool moments. We want growth for our characters. We want change. We want ups and downs. I know it’s a lot to ask for when, at the end of the day, these characters are run by a company whose sole goal is always to make money, and being safe and consistent with what works is the option that promises the most money. However, when you take a chance and give a character the spotlight who normally doesn’t get it and give a creative team with the passion to give that character some nuance the reign to do so, you are normally gonna get something special.
Now that we’ve seen how there can be success with a character when you give them a chance to shine, I’d like to talk about a few others who I think deserve this same treatment. They’re characters that we see all the time, but you can look at their storied history and not find much of a change since their inception.
With the Tantu totem, Vixen is able to conjure the spirit and abilities of any animal, giving her a myriad of powers. Tied to her Ghanian heritage, there’s a lot of potential to flesh out a culture that many comic readers may not know about, as well as see how African Americans grapple with the loss of their culture in relation to the slave trade. Mari McCabe, Vixen’s alter ego, is an American, and her connection with the totem not only gives her an immense powerset but a tie to her past. Learning about the culture through her eyes would be an interesting read. I’d read that twelve-issue series in a heartbeat.
This is one I can talk about forever. Cyborg has the potential to be one of DC’s most important characters, and I won’t shut up about it until it happens. This is part rant, part manifestation.
After a horrific accident left most of his body obliterated, Victor Stone was grafted to an alien alloy that was able to not only keep him alive, but rebuild his body, and grant him superhuman abilities.
Cyborg has been given a lot of runway in the past decade or so, so I don’t want to sound ungrateful. But I want us to push farther. Cyborg is presently seen as the guy who can boom tube anyone anywhere, as well as being in a never-ending conversation about whether he’s more man than machine. I want better for my bro.
Cyborg is a Black man from Detroit. I want to see what that looks like in the 21st century. How he grapples with being a Black man that survived his traumatic experience and what that does to him internally.
This is the age of the internet, and technological advances are being made every day. Cyborg can and should be at the forefront of that. He’s from the city of industry, and he’s a physical manifestation of that. I know they call Superman the “Man of Tomorrow,” but I really think it’s Cyborg. Superman isn’t even from here.
Alright, I’m gonna shut up now. I just want to see my dog eat like John Stewart, that’s all.
All and all, I’m saying that when you give characters the limelight and put the right people behind them, it can yield some pretty fruitful results. John Stewart is proof of that. I hope they continue to let dude shine.
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The post I Want What He’s Having: The Centering of John Stewart appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.
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