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Jaden Maldonado

Professor McCann

English 1301.129

22 October 2023

Orphan First Kill Poster Analysis

Movie posters have been a thing for years to help

increase the advertisement of these films. The movie

posters help directors show sides of the plot without

giving away the big secret. The Orphan: First Kill starts

the movie with introducing the girl as Lenna Klammer, Directed by William Brent Bell

31-year-old women who suffers from a disease called hypopituitarism and is a patient inside of a

mental institution. This disease gives her the appearance of a 9-year-old, which allows her to

escape from the mental institution and pose as a family’s missing child. The mother, Trica

Albright, reveals to the audience that she knows that Lenna is not her real daughter because she

had died years due to an altercation between her and the older brother Gunner Albright. The only

reason the mother keeps Lenna is to appease the father, Allen Albright. At the end of the movie,

the mother and older brother try to kill Lenna, yet they end up dying in the process. Lenna kills

Allen after he finds out Lenna is not his real daughter, which allows Lenna to be moved into an

orphanage at the end of the movie. The Orphan: First Kill movie poster emphasis to moviegoers

common horror movie tropes with the use of characters’ traits, strange color tones, background

design, and eerie text.

To begin with, the characters’ traits give the viewer a sense of a disturbing ambiance.

Lenna’s traits make viewers question as to why she looks that way. For example, the blood
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splotches on her body are terrifying because it makes the viewers ponder as to why she has blood

on her face and coat. The blood indicates that she has a disturbing backstory that forced her to

get blood on her. Lenna’s face also indicates that she is not mentally there. For instance, the way

she looks at the camera and smirks make the hairs on the back of the neck stand up. This makes

it seem as if she knows something that the rest of the viewers do not. Her face shows that she is

desensitized to death and blood, which means that she had done this before. As shown above,

Lenna’s traits give the poster a bloodcurdling atmosphere.

In addition to the character traits, the fade from white to red and color of the coats gives

viewers a sign of how horrifying Lenna is. The fade gives the perspective that the girl is going to

corrupt the women. To illustrate, the white represents the purity of Tricia that is letting Lenna

into her family. However, the fade to red shows that Lenna is foul, which ruins Tricia’s family.

The poster also has the two women wearing different color coats. The coats represent the feeling

that each character gives off. For example, Tricia is wearing a brown coat, and Lenna is wearing

a blue coat. Brown represents a sense of comfort and dependability while blue represents a sense

of sadness and isolation. Tricia gives off a sense of dependability because she brings Lenna into

her family. On the contrary, Lenna gives off a feeling of sadness and isolation to Tricia, which

can be why she decided to keep her in the family. As a result, the unusual colors in the poster

give the movie goers an ominous feeling.

Furthermore, the tears on the walls give viewers the perspective of how the Lenna’s

world is tearing apart. The tears mean many things that pertain to the girl. For example, the tears

on the walls represent Lenna’s mental health and how she is struggling to stay afloat. This gives

information as to why she is sinister and how being put into a mental institution affects one’s

mental health. The tears also pertain to how she is doing emotionally. For instance, the tears on
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the wall represent how her emotions are destroying her internally; however, she is trying to keep

that inside by not showing emotion. As shown above, the tears on the walls show viewers the

state of the girl both mentally and emotionally.

Moreover, the eerie text adds to the creepy feeling of the poster. Words can make viewers

feel a certain way. For example, the text, “She will kill to be part of a family” makes viewers

skin crawl. The text gives viewers the feeling that Lenna will do anything to be part of a family

even if it means killing someone. The text gives more information about the true nature of

Lenna. As a result, the creepy text on the poster gives moviegoers goosebumps.

In conclusion, the Orphan: First Kill movie poster is looked at as basic because viewers

cannot see the deeper meaning of the elements. This poster gives details that help set the plot

without giving too much away. Furthermore, the poster of the movie Orphan: First Kill can give

the audience that sense of foreboding with the use of the characters’ traits, the strange use of

color, the shredded pieces of the wall, and the disturbing text. This shows that movie posters can

be more successful in sending their message across than advertisements that are too long and

detailed.
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Work Cited

Poster for the film Orphan: First Kill. Impawards, 2022,

http://www.impawards.com/2022/orphan_first_kill_ver3.html