The First Omen (2024)

By: Mike Ward on Friday, April 05

R Running Time: 118 mins

SHOULD I SEE IT?

YES

Though the premise of the movie is alarmingly similar to Immaculate, released just two weeks prior to The First Omen, I do think the films are different enough to stand alongside each other.
A breakout performance from Nell Tiger Free really does elevate this material.
Contains more than a handful of obvious and not-so obvious nods and winks and references to the 1976 starter film for this franchise.

NO

It aims high and doesn’t quite hit the mark, though it does contain a few moments that audiences may simply not be ready for and may talk about once the movie opens.
I have to imagine that even separating the movie from your personal beliefs, Catholics who see this movie, much like Immaculate, are probably not going to like what they see very much.
The deliberate slower pace is likely going to frustrate a portion of the audience who won’t get the suspenseful moments, jump scares and rated R content delivered to them fast enough.

OUR REVIEW

When released 48 years ago, The Omen terrorized audiences and polarized critics. Now, in 2024, we have a prequel that essentially introduces audiences to The Omen franchise all over again. With The First Omen, we are taken to Rome, circa 1971, where a young American nun is preparing to “take the veil” after being personally invited to an orphanage by Cardinal Lawrence (Bill Nighy).

Upon arrival, Margaret (Nell Tiger Free) finds herself consumed by nervousness and anxiety, amid the cavernous hallways and gothic-style church haunts surrounding her. Unassuming and unaware that anything strange or conspiratorial may be at hand, her bright-eyed enthusiasm, contrasted noticeably by a convent of grizzled and grumpy nuns, seems like an immediate stark contrast. The soothing reassurances of Cardinal Lawrence’s kindness brings a sense of welcoming which lulls Margaret into a false sense of security.

For those familiar with the original 1976 film, we recognize that a series of events will lead to the birth of Damien, the demonic young boy who exists within the center of the entire Omen movie franchise. This prequel shows us the events which led up to the fateful moment that Damien is born. As we know from the 1976 film, a newborn Damien is handed to Kathy and Robert Thorn, the married couple played by Lee Remick and Gregory Peck all those years before.

What director Arkasha Stevenson presents to us in this preamble is a far-ranging story of innocence lost and vulnerabilities exploited. Defiant in its presentation of organized religion, anyone connected to Catholicism is likely going to become outraged by what is depicted on screen. Having just watched Immaculate, starring Sydney Sweeney, which arrived a couple of weeks prior to this movie and also tells the story of a young, naive American nun invited to Italy to “take the veil,” The First Omen treads into similar controversial themes like immaculate conception, blind faith, and, in this instance, a church scrambling to rectify what they perceive as an overall decline in the belief of a higher power.

Margaret first observes a teenage girl, Carlita (Nicole Sorace), routinely isolated from other girls and placed in “The Bad Room.” Making a breakthrough connection with her, Margaret later finds herself observing a young, teen girl undergoing an alarming and frightening C-section birth procedure that not only symbolizes a woman’s fear and anxiety around childbirth, but also provides a few gnarly visuals for the horror fans in the audience.

For much of The First Omen, Margaret is our vessel, showing us this strange and mysterious world through an innocence and uneasiness captured by cinematographer Aaron Morton. Through a use of wide shots to evoke the unknown and tight close-up shots which feel almost violative in key moments, Stevenson utilizes a variety of tools in her cinematic toolbox to draw us into this intoxicating labyrinth of sights and sounds.

Yet somewhere along the way, The First Omen starts to sputter and spin its wheels. A storyline between Margaret and her roommate Luz (Maria Caballero), whose carefree, secretive lifestyle away from the church becomes enticing for Margaret, never truly pays off. Margaret shares that sometimes she sees things that are not actually there. And while Stevenson flirts with the idea that Margaret could be the proverbial unreliable narrator - a detail that could have given ample room for creativity and unpredictability in the story - we get a couple jump scares and the tried-and-true scene where someone appears to be in the room until we realize they are not.

That there is something of a fumbling with the storytelling is a bummer because there are intriguing ideas at play in The First Omen. In addition, Free is completely committed to her performance and there are nice supporting turns from Ralph Ineson, as Father Brennan, the priest who seems to have an ability to foresee danger while keeping an eye over Margaret in her journey, and Sorace’s Carlita, evolving from someone hiding in the corner of the room to an individual just beginning to grow and mature as Margaret settles into the orphanage.

Those aforementioned jump scares may jolt you to attention, but outside of introducing us to the orphanage and Margaret’s eventual realization as to what may actually be happening there, much of the film labors along. It’s never boring per se, but the film never quite builds to the terrifying levels it hopes to obtain.

For a portion of the audience, that deliberate slower pace will work in their favor, providing the potential for something akin to a cinematic funhouse vibe - that notion that at any moment someone, or something, may pop up and make you audibly react. Stevenson is really perceptive in knowing how to attempt to create anticipation for these moments. There just seems to be an inconsistent delivery of them.

As the terror increases, so does the bloodshed and the chaos, eventually providing the viscera that binds The First Omen to the 1976 film. On the heels of Immaculate, having two films released within two weeks of one another about American nuns, in Italy, enduring surprise pregnancies and potentially being connected to the birth of the Antichrist might seem like a secretive, devilish marketing tactic. Neither film shies away from controversial subject matter and both are designed to creep audiences all the way out.

Though creepy and unsettling moments do exist within Stevenson’s film, and Nell Tiger Free may emerge as a breakout star with her performance, The First Omen mostly reminded me that it might be time to go back and revisit the 1976 film.

CAST & CREW

Starring: Nell Tiger Free, Ralph Ineson, Sônia Braga, Maria Caballero, Bill Nighy, Tawfeek Barhom, Nicole Sorace, Ishtar Currie-Wilson, Charles Dance, Andrea Arcangeli, Eugenia Delbue

Director: Arkasha Stevenson
Written by: Tim Smith, Arkasha Stevenson, Keith Thomas (screenwriters); Ben Jacoby (story)
Adapted from characters created by David Seltzer
Release Date: April 5, 2024
20th Century Studios

Though the premise of the movie is alarmingly similar to Immaculate, released just two weeks prior to The First Omen, I do think the films are different enough to stand alongside each other.

A breakout performance from Nell Tiger Free really does elevate this material.

Contains more than a handful of obvious and not-so obvious nods and winks and references to the 1976 starter film for this franchise.

It aims high and doesn’t quite hit the mark, though it does contain a few moments that audiences may simply not be ready for and may talk about once the movie opens.

I have to imagine that even separating the movie from your personal beliefs, Catholics who see this movie, much like Immaculate, are probably not going to like what they see very much.

The deliberate slower pace is likely going to frustrate a portion of the audience who won’t get the suspenseful moments, jump scares and rated R content delivered to them fast enough.