‘The First Omen’ Goes There [Review]

The Omen and the franchise that follows is the horror series with the strangest history by a country mile, and also the nearest and dearest to my heart. The Omen has lived in the zeitgeist for almost fifty years now, and in my opinion, has the best premise in any horror movie ever, but is still not commonly treated as a franchise on par with other, more well-known horror franchises throughout the last fifty years. Oddly enough, the Omen franchise has maybe the most linear trajectory amongst its counterparts. The original Omen trilogy, The Omen, Damien – Omen II, and Omen III: The Final Conflict tells the story of the full life (and death) of Damien Thorn, the Antichrist, for those who aren’t familiar. I find the original trilogy to be deeply underrated and underappreciated as a whole. Now, on the other hand, I find Omen IV: The Awakening to be unwatchable, and The Omen (2006) to be more of an abomination than Damien himself. Notwithstanding, I had a great time seeing The Omen (2006) on its release date, 6/6/6. Get it? Yeah, I was pumped at the time, even organized a group of friends to join me, but then I realized I was watching a near shot-for-shot, definitely beat-for-beat remake. Ah, I was so naive. Also worth mentioning the franchise revival on television that ran in 2016, Damien, was decent enough, but needed so much more to work. Sadly, the IP seemed to run its course, due to comic mishandling of an amazing property, until now… 

The Omen is one of the darker, more insidious franchises out there, obviously with the villain being the literal Antichrist, of course the subject matter is going to be darker than most. But I am so numb to these legacy sequels/prequels because most of them lack the juice, have an overt obsession with legacy characters or hang themselves by being too overly referential to predecessors, and worst of all, annoyingly self-referential. In the case of The First Omen, which thank god, has the juice, it is appropriately referential, and figures out how to elegantly hang itself, so to speak. For a deeper Omen history lesson, check out this piece on the franchise as a whole. For now, let’s keep this to the best horror movie of the year so far, The First Omen. This one is all for you, readers…

The First Omen, directed by Arkasha Stevenson, is so bold, so elegant, and so f**ked up. A truly shocking feature directorial debut. Stevenson has only a few credits to her name, those being short films and episodes of genre television. Keep in mind, The First Omen is a 20th Century Studios movie with a $30 million dollar budget. A far cry from what most modern filmmakers are given for their feature film debut. In a landscape that oozes safe, sound, risk-averse decision making, there isn’t a single aspect to The First Omen that is risk-averse. The First Omen isn’t just a debut for Stevenson, but it is also the ‘starring in a feature film’ debut for its lead, Nell Tiger Free, playing Margaret. Nell Tiger Free has a similar filmography to Stevenson, guesting on television series’, including Game of Thrones, throughout the last ten years while also co-starring in a few feature films. Co-starring and guesting won’t be a thing for Nell Tiger Free much longer. Not only is she electric in The First Omen but that name is unbelievable. Names, lowkey important for movie stars. The First Omen is written by Stevenson along with her writing partner, Tim Smith, as well as Keith Thomas and Ben Jacoby, obviously all based on the characters created by David Seltzer. With genre stalwart David S. Goyer and his label behind the production, The First Omen seemed to be given the freedom to go there, and they went there…  

Like I had mentioned previously, The First Omen stars Nell Tiger Free as Margaret, a young, up and coming sister of God, traveling to Rome to take her vows. But before that, we open with Ralph Ineson (The Witch) playing Father Brennan, one of the main characters from the original movie. Father Brennan is just learning of an unnatural birth and was given a picture as a clue to prove it. Because it is the Omen franchise, bad things happen to people who learn things. A classic trope that was taken and then some by the Final Destination franchise in particular, amongst others. Not that The Omen created the trope, but it popularized it for sure. Back in Rome, Margaret meets the other sisters of the church where she will be taking her vows, this church, also an orphanage, is host to a very special girl, Carlita, played by Nicole Sorace. Carlita has all of the traits of a child of an unnatural birth, and weird occurrences begin to take place at the church, all involving Carlita in some way. Margaret’s whole life has been with the church, and was brought to Rome by Cardinal Lawrence, played by Bill Nighy (Love Actually), who knew Margaret back in the United States, specifically Massachusetts (Massachusetts stand up!), and helped to raise her, before bringing her to Rome to take her vows and continue a life with the church. Even though Margaret has lived for the church, she has a very dark and mysterious past, leading to visions and general discontent with the odd nature of this Roman church. Father Brennan, now excommunicated from the church, convinces Margaret to help him figure out who this child is, why the birth was unnatural, and what the church’s involvement with this birth is. Again, since this is an Omen movie, we understand that the antichrist is going to be born, but why? And what is Carlita’s involvement? Father Brennan and Margaret, amongst others, embark on a journey to find this out…

If you don’t appreciate light spoilers, please skip a paragraph, otherwise, let’s talk about it a little deeper. After Father Brennan enlists Margaret’s help to uncover the mystery of this child’s identity and parentage, the visions intensify for Margaret, leading to shocking discoveries of Carlita’s history, the church’s history and most of all, her own history. The First Omen is a very cynical look at the church and its hunger for power. Portrayed as a dark entity with an insatiable hunger for power, the true villain in The First Omen is the Catholic Church, those who are a part of it, and the supernatural powers that be, of course. In an era where the Catholic Church’s power seems to be dwindling by the day, I found the theme of the story of The First Omen to be incredibly interesting, but at the same time kind of undoes everything that made the original trilogy so great. The original Omen trilogy was a true battle of good vs. evil, God vs. Satan, man vs. Antichrist. The First Omen muddies those waters, and it becomes far more complicated of a war of good vs. evil. Not bad, just more complicated. By painting the church as the culprit behind the birth of the Antichrist, which writing out seems beyond insane, I now would have to go back and watch the original trilogy through a different lens, this is a canon prequel after all. Even though this plot twist muddies the waters in a sense, I still found it to be an aggressively bold storytelling angle and was very well executed.

Motive aside, I thought that the combination of the elegant set pieces, the killer score, beautiful cinematography, exciting pacing, and most of all, mixing fan service with originality was phenomenal. The legacy references are handled in a tasteful and fulfilling way. Each time a callback to the original movie occurred I didn’t find myself rolling my eyes, like I usually would, but more so emphasized how much I love this franchise, which is the whole point of those callbacks. I learned a lot from watching The First Omen, and I feel like now that I have seen it, I have a much better understanding for what makes a legacy prequel work. And for a first-time filmmaking team, first time movie star, and franchise that hasn’t seen a good movie in more than forty years, was an incredible accomplishment to achieve…

For whatever reason, there is a recent trend in the body horror genre focusing on nuns. The last few years alone saw the release of Rose Glass’ Saint Maud, as well as Paul Verhoeven’s Benedetta, the recent Sydney Sweeney movie Immaculate, which everyone saw for the plot, and of course, Valak the Nun from the Conjuring franchise. Of course, there are plenty of other nun-centric horror movies, but this recent trend is becoming less of a trend and more of a subgenre with a real history. The First Omen shares a lot in common with all of those aforementioned movies in some way. From the sexual repression to the horrors of pregnancy, the church’s influence over these sisters to the negative portrayal of the church and how these sisters are treated, all of these films share a lot of similar thematic elements. The original Omen trilogy covered the story of Damien Thorn enough to the point where it really wasn’t necessary to revisit his specific story, and with this recent nun trend becoming a thing, there was no better time for The First Omen to shift the character focus to nuns, priests, cardinals, and orphans in a Roman convent, amongst others. Although I will say it is not totally fair to lump The First Omen into the ‘nun horror’ subgenre. In the end, it is a tried-and-true prequel to The Omen, and an origin story for Damien Thorn. I love how there is an interesting, unpredictable, and scary story to tell, while also delicately weaving in fan service. I’ve mentioned this a few times, but that was my biggest takeaway…

The First Omen earned $17 million at the international box office, a moderate success considering the budget, but the accolades for The First Omen are more so about the positive reviews it has garnered, and in my opinion, 20th Century continuing to regain respect by allowing for more creativity and freedom for legacy prequels/sequels/reimaginings/remakes on major intellectual properties. By allowing filmmakers to tell the stories the way they see fit, no matter how dark and how commercially unappealing, the product has seen a serious uptick in quality. In recent years, legacy horror has been consistently entertaining at 20th Century Studios, with up-and-coming filmmakers at the helm. Examples include Prey (2022), Hellraiser (2022), and now The First Omen. Not to mention the original productions of Barbarian (2022), The Boogeyman (2023), and No One Will Save You (2023). With Alien: Romulus on the horizon, 20th Century Studios has quietly become a home for horror again. Real budgets, creative freedom (assumption), talented people, and appropriate marketing leading to critical and financial successes? Hm. Seems too good to be true. I’m afraid of bringing up the recent (!!!) lack of creativity and lack of quality at other horror houses (cough, cough Blumhouse) with the fear of being struck by whatever object upon leaving my house, Omen style…

On the technical side, it’s hard to overstate just how professionally made this movie is. All $30 million dollars are showing up on screen, and for a smaller scale horror story, seemed wildly unnecessary. But the filmmakers brought 1970s Rome to life, and the way the camera glided ever so smoothly across every set piece made The First Omen a really satisfying sight to see. The original Jerry Goldsmith score is brought back in key moments that made my hairs raise up. The quick Robert Thorn reference with the Gregory Peck picture is awesome. Everything technically is just so elegantly done. Elegantly entertaining is the perfect way to describe The First Omen. Any movie involving a plethora of church scenes can succumb to brutal pacing in spots and boring sections. The First Omen never succumbs to that, flips that on its head, and is wildly entertaining throughout. I can always tell how a movie is playing with a crowd, call it a sixth sense, and between the horrifying body horror scenes that made everyone, not just the squeamish, gasp, with one person in my theater literally saying “What the f**k!” at the end of one scene, in a silent moment, where we all were able to catch a breath, and then continued on at its consistently swift pace. I could just tell this movie was playing well with the crowd. And in my opinion, that’s the most crucial element to a horror movie, being entertaining and interesting, so that is one of the best compliments I can give. Credit to the filmmaking team for imagining and executing but also credit to the cast for delivering…

I highly recommend The First Omen for anyone and everyone. Did I mention the absolutely grotesque body horror sequences though? Goodness gracious. As a guy who shudders at the idea of witnessing a birth, the gnarly imaging in some of the birthing sequences solidified that fear. The First Omen is a Jackal’s fingernail away from being rated NC-17 by the MPAA. I had no idea going in, as did nobody else in my theater, and my first thought after some of the scenes, one in particular, was “Wow, they went there. F**k yeah!” …

Wicked Horror Rating: 8.5/10

From 20th Century Studios, The First Omen is playing exclusively in theaters as of April 5th, 2024.

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