Director: Arkasha Stevenson
Released: April 2024
Run Time: 120 Minutes
Rated R
Distributor: 20th Century Studios
Genre: Horror/Thriller
Cast:
Nell Tiger Free: Margaret
Ralph Ineson: Father Brennan
Sonia Braga: Sister Silva
Tawfeek Barhom: Father Gabriel
Maria Caballero: Luz
Charles Dance: Father Harris
Bill Nighy: Cardinal Lawrence
When Disney bought 20th Century Fox, a lot of people were concerned that Disney was going to water down certain franchises to try and appeal to ALL audiences. Well, over the last couple of years, they’ve been letting the newly bought 20th Century Studios do their own thing. Because of that, we’re starting to see certain franchises being given new energy. The Predator franchise was on life support since Shane Black’s The Predator stumbled it’s way into theaters to mostly negative reviews. Well, Dan Trachtenberg’s Prey breathed new life into the franchise with a film that went back to its roots with a movie set far enough in the past to not actually be a direct prequel. While it was released only on Hulu, it garnered enough views and good reviews that a sequel is now in the works. Same thing’s happening with Alien. After the financial disaster that was Alien: Covenant, that particular series was also put on the back burner. Well, in August, we are getting Alien Romulus, directed by Evil Dead director Fede Alvarez. These weren’t the only IPs in 20th Century’s pocket. They also had The Omen. To be fair, there hadn’t been a good Omen movie since the original Gregory Peck movie in 1976. Nearly out of nowhere, we have a prequel called The First Omen. Horror fans have been eating good these last couple of years and 2024 is shaping up to be another one.
The First Omen is set in 1971, 5 years before the events of the original movie. Margaret, a nun who was orphaned as a child, arrives in Rome to begin a lifetime of service to the Catholic Church. She soon encounters a troubled young girl that she hopes to connect with, when horrifying things begin to happen. She soon encounters an exiled priest named Brennan who explains that a certain group of members of the Church are part of a vast conspiracy to try and scare people back into the arms of the Church by bringing forth the Antichrist. The original film from 1976 hinted at a vast conspiracy to put the Antichrist into a position of political power. The prequel puts a face to that conspiracy…and it’s the Catholic Church. If you’ve seen the original Gregory Peck film, you have an idea where this movie’s going, but there enough twists, turns, and surprises that you won’t see coming. Hey, David Gordon Green: THIS is how you make a legacy follow-up. You don’t cash in on the franchise name, you need to build a human story that happens to be SET in that particular world. First-time film director Arkasha Stevenson comes out of the gate full steam with a dark and twisted tale that not only widens the world of the original movie, but stands well enough on its own that you don’t need to see the original movie. You’ll probably get more out of it if you had, but it’s not required. This is an outstanding story and easily the best in the franchise since 1976.
Before I really get into why I love this movie, I want to talk about why the marketing for this movie flat-out sucks. Why does the marketing suck? It’s practically non-existent. The first trailer for the movie showed up merely weeks ago, but there had been nothing on social media about it. When it comes to horror movies, I like to think I’m on top of it with most movies, but The First Omen flew under my radar. I heard whispers about a prequel being made a couple of years ago, but I didn’t think any movement was being made. I found out about this movie only last weekend. On top of that, there was a review embargo that didn’t lift until about two days ago as of this writing. That’s never a good sign. That usually means the studio has no faith in the film(pun partially intended). I don’t know why. This movie is fantastic. I get that the Omen franchise isn’t exactly top-tier 20th Century Studios material, but this movie deserved better marketing than what it got. All I can hope is that word of mouth spreads far and wide about it.
The First Omen features some of the best acting I’ve seen in a horror movie in quite some time. Nell Tiger Free plays Margaret. The performance this lady gives is Oscar-worthy, in my opinion. Her character gets put through the ringer, but Ms. Free goes all in, especially during the more harrowing moments in the film. Ralph Ineson is no stranger to these kinds of movies, having starred in Robert Egger’s The Witch in 2015, and voiced the demon Asmodeus in The Pope’s Exorcist just last year. He’s such an underrated actor. His character, Father Brennan, was first played by Patrick Troughton in the original movie, but Ralph really makes it his own. Bill Nighy plays Cardinal Lawrence, a character that on the surface seems like a real stand-up kind of guy. Legendary actor Charles Dance makes an appearance at the beginning of the film, but isn’t really given anything. It feels like a wasted cameo.
The original movie relied more on atmosphere than special effects, and it absolutely worked, even though there were some pretty brutal deaths in that film. This one’s a bit more gruesome. The film is essentially an origin story for the Antichrist, so it ends up being pretty messy. It appears that most of the effects are practical, and the CGI that’s used is decent enough. Again, this is the kind of movie that relies on tension and characters rather than gore, even though there’s plenty there for the gore-hounds. Again, a part of why a lot of this works is because the actors really put in the work to make it believable. It also doesn’t hurt that the film feels like a 70s horror thriller because of the way it was shot. It is very clear to me that Ms. Stevenson is a fan of horror AND The Omen, because this really feels like it belongs in that era. It takes real talent to deliver that kind of feel in a movie, and Ms. Stevenson knocks it out of the park. Not bad for a first-time movie director.
Any issues that I have with this movie are more related to the marketing. Everything else though is phenomenal. It’s not going to be a movie for everybody, because it deals with subject matter that can be disturbing in a lot of ways. There are moments in this movie that truly are disturbing, so for those weak stomachs, you may want to give it a pass. It pulls no punches. For the horror fans, though, this is going to end up being one of the best the genre has put out in the last 5 years. The First Omen did what The Exorcist: Believer failed to do: Tell a compelling narrative that doesn’t rely on its name-sake. I absolutely recommend this one.