Movies
‘Orphan 3’ – William Brent Bell is Actively Developing a Sequel
William Brent Bell (The Boy, Separation) stepped into the director’s chair for Orphan: First Kill, a prequel film that solidified Esther’s killer icon status. The filmmaker revealed that he’s actively developing a follow-up, ensuring Esther’s killer hijinks will continue.
“We’re developing a third one now. The franchise’s rulebook has been opened up to where anything is possible,” Bell said in an interview with THR. “And knowing where we are in the process already, I’m extremely excited about the twists and turns that we have in store.”
The prequel, written by David Coggeshall, saw Isabelle Fuhrman reprising the role of Esther thanks to clever production trickery.
In Orphan: First Kill, “Esther’s terrifying saga continues in this thrilling prequel to the original and shocking horror hit, Orphan. After orchestrating a brilliant escape from an Estonian psychiatric facility, Esther travels to America by impersonating the missing daughter of a wealthy family. Yet, an unexpected twist arises that pits her against a mother who will protect her family from the murderous ‘child’ at any cost.”
Fuhrman faced off against Julia Stiles in the prequel movie, and Vera Farmiga in the original film. Who do you want to see Esther battle next?
While Bell didn’t divulge any plot details for the third entry, he did tease of its direction, “now that we’ve gone another direction with the second one, the franchise’s rulebook has been opened up to where anything is possible.” And, “knowing where we are in the process already, I’m extremely excited about the twists and turns that we have in store.”
After making $12.2 million worldwide in theaters in 2022 – the film only hit a maximum of 557 theaters at the height of its run here in the United States – it should come as no surprise that the franchise would likely return.
Stay tuned for more details as they arrive. In the meantime, Bell’s latest horror effort, Lord of Misrule, released on VOD and in theaters last week.
The trailer for Ti West’s upcoming adaptation of A Christmas Carol raised a lot of eyebrows when it dropped earlier this week. While plenty of folks initially dismissed Ebenezer as a derivative project meant to cash in on the recent wave of unnecessary prequels that expand the backstory of beloved characters (such as 2023’s Wonka), Charles Dickens’ original novel already made a point of exploring Ebenezer Scrooge’s origins in detail – meaning that this new film is likely just a particularly faithful adaptation of the source material under a different name.
Couple that with the fact that the movie is being helmed by a genuine horror auteur and I think it’s safe to say that the latest iteration of the first modern ghost story is in good hands.
That being said, one detail that immediately jumped out at me during the brief teaser (other than a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it nod to Johnny Depp’s iconic bedroom death scene from the original A Nightmare on Elm Street) is the fact that many of Ebenezer’s ghosts appear to have been directly lifted from the iconic John Leech illustrations that accompanied the first edition of Dickens’ novel.
Here are a couple of stills from the trailer compared to the original artwork:
The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come in ‘Ebenezer’ and ‘A Christmas Carol’
The Phantoms in ‘A Christmas Carol’ and ‘Ebenezer’
Marley’s Ghost in ‘Ebenezer’ and ‘A Christmas Carol’
Mainly working with old-school wood and steel engravings that would later be transferred to print, Leech was instrumental in crafting the iconic look of history’s most influential phantoms – especially since Dickens is said to have been deeply involved with the creation of these so-called “comic illustrations.”
And since the novel is commonly said to have popularized spiritualism in Victorian England, much of the ghostly iconography that we still see in genre media to this very day (including some of Ti West’s previous films) can be traced back to the author’s partnership with Leech.
Ebenezer won’t be the first A Christmas Carol adaptation to borrow heavily from these designs, but I can appreciate how Ti West is incorporating an important part of horror history into his latest film.
Ebenezer will be available in theaters starting November 13.
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