What actually happens
A thirty-year-old borrows a missing girl's life
On January 26, 2007, Leena Klammer, a thirty-year-old patient at the Saarne Institute who looks about ten, gets out by seducing a guard and killing him. She hides in the car of an art therapist named Anna, and after killing Anna at her home she looks up missing American girls. She finds that she looks like an age-progressed version of Esther Albright, who came from a rich family and vanished on May 2, 2003. She tells a Russian police officer that she is Esther and that her parents live in the United States. In Darien, Connecticut, the artist Allen Albright and his wife Tricia get a visit from Detective Donnan, who says their missing daughter has turned up. Tricia goes to Moscow and brings Esther home, and at the house Leena develops a crush on Allen and starts trying to separate him from Tricia.
Reading this instead of watching it is the correct decision. Scaredy Cat makes that decision automatic, for free.
The real Esther is in the cellar, and so is the detective
While Tricia and Allen are out, Donnan comes to the house and collects Leena's fingerprints. They don't match Esther's, so Leena, who has been tailing him, puts a knife into him. Tricia turns up, having followed Leena, and shoots Donnan dead. Then she tells Leena that the real Esther died in 2003 after a clash with her older brother Gunnar, and that Tricia covered it up. She let Leena pose as Esther only to keep Allen calm. They put Donnan's body in a cellar hatch that also holds Esther's body, and they forge an email to the police to make it look like he left on vacation. Leena soon proves too hard to control, so Tricia and Gunnar, who feels no remorse, plan to kill her. After two failed murder attempts from both sides, Leena steals Tricia's car to run, but a police officer finds her.
Gunnar meets a crossbow in the art room
After Leena is returned to the house, Tricia and Gunnar try again to kill her. This time Leena fights back and escapes. This is the scene people dread most. She lies in wait for Gunnar in the art room, shoots a crossbow at him, then kills him with his own fencing sword. After that Tricia and Leena fight in the kitchen, and they accidentally set the house on fire. They flee to the roof.
The ending, explained
Allen gets home to find Tricia and Leena hanging on at the roof edge and shouting for him. Leena says Tricia attacked her, and Tricia tries to tell him the truth. Allen helps Leena first, and Tricia falls to her death. Then Allen looks closely at Leena, her fake teeth begin to fall out, and he sees she isn't Esther. Leena tries to explain and says she loves him, and Allen calls her a monster. Enraged, she shoves him and he goes off the roof, which she did not mean to happen. Leena cleans herself up, dresses as Esther again and is moved to an orphanage to wait for a new family.
The post-credits ruling
Nobody has confirmed whether Orphan: First Kill has a scene after the credits.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: fine, though a rat is not.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is Orphan: First Kill scary?
Yes, Orphan: First Kill is a 5 out of 10 with low dread. It is a campy thriller with some jump scares and several stabbings, and the fear is gone when the credits finish.
How does Orphan: First Kill end?
Tricia falls to her death from the burning roof after Allen helps Leena first. Allen then sees Leena's teeth fall out, and she accidentally pushes him off the roof. She is moved to an orphanage to wait for a new family.
Does the dog die in Orphan: First Kill?
No dog dies in Orphan: First Kill. A rat does die, and its body is found in a sink.
Is there a post-credits scene in Orphan: First Kill?
Nobody has confirmed whether Orphan: First Kill has a scene after the credits.
Who is Leena Klammer in Orphan: First Kill?
A thirty-year-old Estonian psychiatric patient who looks like a ten-year-old. In Orphan: First Kill she escapes the Saarne Institute and poses as Esther Albright, a girl who went missing from Connecticut in 2003.
