Now this isn’t something that happens all the time, but prequels to classic horror films don’t always work. Unless there was a worthwhile story hinted at in the previous film that could be further explored, they almost seem redundant. I remember when they made the prequel to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning) which was released in 2006, I was like that GIF of Ryan Reynolds from Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle: “But why?” Having seen the film, there’s nothing interesting being explored, it’s just shedding light on the family and showing how they started. A very brutal and mean spirited film. It’s not great. The Thing from 2011 is another example, there was something worthwhile there, but it didn’t quite work out that way. I think the one that surprised me mainly because it was very creepy was Annabelle: Creation, which was far better than Annabelle released in 2014. I still need to see Ti West’s Pearl, the prequel to X. I have been meaning to. Hopefully I can see it before MaXXXine comes out and I pray for a Danish cinema release for that one. I guess one could say that often prequels to horror films often can be seen as cash grabs more than anything else. My expectations going into The First Omen were quite low and frankly I didn’t think it would amount to much. But after seeing all the positive reviews it was getting, I took a chance and bought a ticket. Though I kept my expectations very mid when I went to a slight late night showing.
Richard Donner’s The Omen is one of the most memorable and popular horror films from the 1970s. Influential and atmospheric with great writing and performances. Plus that Oscar winning Jerry Goldsmith score is amazing. The Ave Satani song shows up in Mark Korven’s creepy score. It’s been such a long time since I have seen The Omen and maybe my opinion on the film will change, but I do appreciate it and think it’s a strong film. Although I will say, I am more of a fan of The Exorcist and Rosemary’s Baby when it comes to classic satanic horror from the 1960s and 70s.
I didn’t realise that The First Omen was a thing until I saw people talking about it online and when the first trailer was released. But given what I said about trailers for horror movies in my review for Abigail, I didn’t watch it. I felt like that was the way to go and I am still going to do that. But I wanted to see this and see what people were raving about. And this was a surprisingly strong film and good fun. It has Charles Dance and Bill Nighy hamming it up as priests. What’s not to like? As it is a prequel, The First Omen takes place before the events of The Omen. Damien Thorn the Antichrist is not born yet, and our protagonist is Margaret Daino (Nell Tiger Free) who comes to Rome in 1971 during the Years of Lead. A time of political unrest and social upheaval in Italy. She comes to a school/orphanage as a novitiate (a beginner nun) and scary, demonic shenanigans ensue. Margaret has a troubled past and her present becomes even more troubled and foreboding when Father Brennan (Ralph Ineson) warns her that there is a conspiracy within the church to bring about the birth of the Antichrist. A lonely and emotionally unstable girl named Carlita (Nicole Sorace) might be a target of this conspiracy and has been chosen to be the mother of Satan’s child when other attempts had failed.
The First Omen is by no means a horror masterpiece and it’s got nothing on the original Omen. It’s surprisingly very good and even if you know where the film is going to go, especially if you have seen The Omen, it’s still compelling as hell (no pun intended). It manages to breathe life into a franchise that seemed dormant after that Gus Van Sant style 2006 remake of The Omen which was directed by John Moore. But director Arkasha Stevenson and her cast & crew found a way to make this prequel work and make it be worthwhile. On its own it’s a very good and effective horror film that kept me engaged. But it does make some small changes to the continuity that’s already been established in The Omen. I won’t say what it was, because I don’t want to spoil it. They find a way around it, however sticklers for film continuity may take issue with that. It’s not something that’s so glaring that it ruins the experience of watching the film. It’s just a minor thing. While we’re on Arkasha Stevenson, I just want to say that she is a filmmaker that I hope to see more of in the future. This is a remarkable feature film debut from her. She orchestrates some glorious shots and moments of pure uncomfortable dread and also moments of pure disgusting body horror, one of which involves something nasty coming out of the darkness and it is beautifully and frighteningly paid off perfectly. It’s not like The Nun which is just jump scare city. The First Omen is a horror film that is a lot less reliant on those cheap jump scares and relies more on a creepy atmosphere and has scenes that did make me squirm. Ones where I was too scared to look at the screen and used my hat to slightly block the view. The shots of Rome set in the 1970s seemed very authentic and they did a good job in recreating everything from that time. All the political and social unrest is good background for the satanic horror and elevates certain themes and plot points. There’s a little bit of Dario Argento’s Suspiria sprinkled into the film.
Nell Tiger Free’s performance as Margaret was incredible. The moment she comes on screen, you immediately empathise with her character. It’s a very committed performance which requires her to go through a lot of physical challenges and varying emotions, all of which she handles very well. At one point she channels her inner Isabelle Adjani in a scene that was an obvious homage to Polish director Andrzej Żuławski’s batshit crazy demonic horror film Possession. That film also stars Sam Neill who coincidentally enough did play an older Damien Thorn in The Omen III: The Final Conflict. I’m sure others who have seen will recognise the reference from Possession. Ralph Ineson is a welcome addition, and it was wonderful seeing him in this. He’s one of those reliable and great character actors. He was very well cast in the role of Father Brennan, a character originally played by Patrick Troughton. Both actors look very similar to one another. There’s scene when we are first introduced to Father Brennan which made me morbidly giggle as it is a clear reference to the first Omen and also a clever little bit of foreshadowing. For those who have seen The Omen, you’ll get what I mean.
I have to say, I very much enjoyed The First Omen. I wish Immaculate starring Sydney Sweeney came out in Denmark already, otherwise I would have made a demonic possession horror with nuns double bill. This is a brilliant and atmospheric horror film that may surprise you. I had a good time with it.
- Anders
4/5
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