The 1976 film «Omen», which tells the story of the coming of the Antichrist, has long been considered a classic of modern cinema. It, along with «The Exorcist» from 1973, established a distinctive subgenre of religious horror films in which questions of faith and its ambiguities are brought to the fore. «The «Exorcist» has recently made a comeback with The Exorcist: The Believer» in 2023. And now modern cinema has reached «Omen».«The First Omen», as the name suggests, is a prequel to the original movie. In our review, we tell you how it turned out.
Genre horror
Director Arkasha Stevenson
Starring Bill Nighy, Nell Tiger Free, Ralph Ineson, Charles Dance, Sonia Braga, Nicole Sorace
Premiere movie theaters
Year of release 2024
Website IMDb
A young American woman, Margaret (Nell Tiger Free), arrives in Rome to dedicate her life to the service of the church. But before her initiation, there is still time to spend getting to know the city and the traditions of the local religion. At the orphanage, she meets a girl named Carlyta (Nicole Sorace), who is considered mentally ill. But she may be connected to a large-scale church conspiracy aimed at bringing the Antichrist to the world.
The original «Omen» was attractive because of a combination of its two strong qualities. The first one is quite obvious and has to do with religious themes. The film did not reveal the horror of the Antichrist directly, but through hints and unfortunate coincidences. In other words, the story reverently adhered to an important element of horror: horrors don’t need to be explained once again, just let them happen. And the second quality is the strong, almost viscous atmosphere of 70s cinema, multiplied by European scenery.
In the case of «The First Omen», we can say right away that there is no trace of the second. The film seems to be trying to show the beauty of Rome, but it does so without style or emphasis. In addition, most of the movie takes place in the standard scenery of a monastery and an orphanage. So the aesthetic part of the movie is less.
Last year’s «The Vatican Exorcist» did a better job with the visual part of religious motifs. «Omen: Inception» is generally modestly shot, almost tastelessly. This is despite the fact that it does give you a few unusual and vivid scenes. But they only emphasize how bland the rest of the movie is.
Perhaps the point is that this is the first feature-length film for director Arkasha Stevenson. Prior to that, she worked on short films and TV series, and as for the latter, she is remembered for her participation in «Legion» and «Channel Zero». These are great shows with strong horror elements and general competent confusion. But here we have a typical situation when a novice director who has shown himself to be excellent in compact stories cannot cope with a full-fledged movie.
For its first half, the movie stumbles along, throwing strange, but not strange enough to be good, scenes at the audience. And in the second half, the story tries too hard to be tied to the original «Omen». At the same time, all the classic tropes of modern Hollywood scripts are present here. Unexpected revelations, good leads, a competent coincidence — everything is in place, just like a template.
However, what the film really succeeds in doing is revealing the role of women in the context of religion and childbearing. It is shown here through existential, almost primitive horror. This tone makes «The First Omen» feels like a more personal and uplifting story than «Omen» from 1976. It also looks appropriate in the current social environment.
But talking about such ideas seems more like an attempt to justify a movie like this. And yes, this is another horror movie that is not scary at all. However, there are some creepy and vile scenes here, but they do not enter the territory of pure fear. The movie also doesn’t work as a psychological thriller, precisely because of the lack of «psychological» component.
This is not to say that the film’s story seems far-fetched, as is often the case with many prequels and «return to basics». But it is also impossible to find any particular reason for its existence.
«Omen» as a franchise generally rests on the strengths of the first film, which gradually faded due to unsuccessful sequels and reimaginings. «Omen: The Beginning» doesn’t seem like an outright failure when viewed from this angle. But it also doesn’t bring anything valuable or truly new to the franchise. The script revolves around familiar elements, images, and even entire scenes. They look good, but they are somewhat sterile and precise, even without a fraction of the charm of the source material.