The First Omen

The whole thing is so provocative, beautifully cinematic and in touch with its head-decapitating roots.

The film is also bold and clear cut about the way women’s bodies are made into objects of both reverence and shame – but its pièce de résistance is the shot of a vagina during birth, an entirely natural part of human existence that, in America, caused such a fuss that The First Omen was nearly slapped with an extreme NC-17 certificate. What a way to prove this film’s point.

Kudos to the suits for backing a horror film this provocative and spine-chilling.

With skin-crawling scenes and a surprising discussion about the control of women's bodies, 'The First Omen' finds a new angle to explore the well-established franchise. The prequel doesn't always manage the tricky balance between reverence to the original and new ideas. Still, there's a lot to love, both for newcomers and returning fans.

For veteran viewers who’ve seen it all before, it’s not exactly the Second Coming. But novice nunsploitation audiences might find this habit-forming: a stylish enough entry-level initiation.

As punishing as some of The First Omen’s terrors are, they are quickly forgotten in service of answering questions about Damien (and leaving the door open for further sequels) that undercut Free’s gripping turn.

Stevenson has configured her tale as female body-horror fit for a dissertation, without giving it much of a spine: while slick, the set pieces are few, far between, and over too fast.

The First Omen is a fantastic film full of twists and impressive acting. With the current, reused, horror tropes in every film lately, The First Omen breathes new life and is both exciting and shocking. A truly incredible watch.

An impressive, if familiar, effort in "The Omen" saga, Arkasha Stevenson's "The First Omen" isn't looking to reinvent the wheel or even reinvent the circumstances of the 1976 horror classic. That doesn't mean boundaries aren't pushed here, though. In fact, there a few images one might not only classify as disturbing, but downright transgressive considering this was distributed by effing Disney. Nell Tiger Free delivers some decent horror protagonist lifts here and there, but outside of the horror conspiracy, you reckon there's not much to this person on the page. The whole tabula rasa/ingenue persona is unfortunately kind of baked into who this character is, so a lot of the scenes ultimately boil down to her reacting to messed up stuff happening around her. This is very similar to that movie "Immaculate" in both concept and execution. Pretty well-made. Fine lead performance. Gross imagery. Not "scary" in an explicit sense, but definitely horror. Not bad.

The original Omen came from a crop of "serious horror" that bloomed in the late sixties and early seventies, drinking directly from the source of Rosemary's Baby and existing in the same context as The Exorcist. It was a commercial hit, and like most successful horror films, sequels were unavoidable. Most of them were dismissed, and the franchise laid dormant for a while. They tried a remake in 2006, and while it made some money, it wasn't really well-regarded. And with Hollywood's current obsession with remaking and reviving franchises, it was only a matter of time until The Omen rose from the grave once again. But with the industry's track record of failures (the most recent example being Exorcist: Believer), most horror fans were apprehensive with the announcement of The First Omen. I'm glad to say there's not a lot to worry about. While it doesn't do anything unexpected with the franchise (if you know Donner's film you can predict most of the beats this is going to follow), this prequel is surprisingly respectful. It does change some key points like the Jackal (which might upset some purists), but other than that it's pretty solid. I see a lot of potential for Arkasha Stevenson in the horror genre. Her directing is the highlight of the film, even if there are still a lot of derivative/referential moments like the callbacks to the deaths of the original (that might be studio interference) and scenes lifted directly from Rosemary's Baby, Possession and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The obligatory jumpscares are also here, but thankfully they're few and far between. What dominates is the thick atmosphere built with candlelight and shadows, characters engulfed in Catholic imagery and Roman architecture. It adopts the 70's slowburn as a motto, and the pacing is perfect to create this sense of dread. The soundtrack also attempts to build a 70's atmosphere, with one track feeling like Italian lounge and the rest being built around the vibe of Goldsmith's Ave Satani. There is a needledrop of the original theme towards the end, and it's pretty appropriate. I mean, it's one of the best horror themes ever composed, so it's hard to go wrong with it. It's so rare to see a new entry to a classic franchise that doesn't feel like studio vomit that I might be a little too optimistic, but I think this has the potential to revitalize The Omen and build interest in making more sequels (unlike the whole debacle with Believer).

I found this film boring and not that scary. I know it's difficult to do a horror film based around Christianity (much more than in the 80's when that genre went big) but man was the plot and the reasoning behind the evil church silly. I found it more funny than unsettling. Combine that with plot twists that you see coming a mile away and it's just not a very good film. The most annoying thing is that Bill Nighy, Charles Dance and Ralph Ineson are all amazing actors who are given nothing to work with in this film.

The First Omen on first glance looks like a promising prequel to the original 1976 classic film The Omen, but it ultimately resorts to standard horror cliches and offers very little of anything new and it certainly isn't anything we haven't already seen.