The devil is all the rage these days. This year has seen the release of many supernatural horror films surrounding religion and cults. We’ve seen a ’70s talk show gone wrong in Late Night with the Devil, which supposedly earned $666,666 on its opening Sunday box office, and we’ve seen a woman forced to become a new Virgin Mary in Immaculate, which recently sold $6.66 movie tickets. Now, we have The First Omen, which serves as a prequel to Richard Donner’s 1976 horror movie The Omen. This horror film features an American woman, Margaret Daino (Nell Tiger Free), sent to work at an orphanage in Rome when she discovers a horrifying religious conspiracy.
The First Omen is a well-crafted horror experience with a strong directorial vision behind it. It’s a shame that this movie is coming out so soon after Immaculate, because this film contains many similarities to that film. I don’t believe there was any plagiarism, but these premises surrounding an American woman going off to a Catholic environment and finding herself at the center of a horrifying conspiracy surrounding a disturbing childbirth make for an easy comparison. But if I had to compare the two, The First Omen is more impressive to me as a film that goes for it. This movie fires on every level, showcasing graphic, disturbing content at every turn.
Arkasha Stevenson’s feature directorial debut is a stunner. She gets an opportunity that not many have. Her first feature right out of the gate is a franchise movie distributed by 20th Century Studios. You don’t get this opportunity without a hell of a pitch. Stevenson makes a case for herself as a horror filmmaker to look out for here. From the first scene, she quickly establishes the theme, atmosphere, and setting. She knows how to make certain moments stick in your head. For example, we have a character hyperventilating as she is put in a horrifying position. This common scene is enhanced by putting a bag over her head, meaning we can see the bag enter and exit her mouth the harder she breathes. Little things like this make the experience even more enriching.
Stevenson’s direction falters ever so slightly when she uses jump scares. Nearly every horror movie has them, and they’re very hard to pull off well. It’s fascinating here because there was a jump scare that I saw coming, but still nearly got me because of how loud it was. Every once in a while, we have our standard “character shows up behind protagonist” jump scare, which has been done to death. This movie’s attempts are not as pathetic as others, but these false scares do feel familiar. She excels when she’s crafting a creepy image because there is some imagery here that really lands from a horror perspective. It works less in one scene that begins extremely frightening but then morphs into a character shrieking towards the camera, which is more loud than scary.
What separates The First Omen from more straight-laced horror films like Immaculate is the fact that this movie has some lore. The film isn’t afraid to spend time developing certain backstories and intricate story details. Some horror movies touch on this briefly as a stepping stone for more scares, but this movie spends time on it. Another shining aspect Stevenson brings is a female perspective to a long-running horror IP. Childbirth is scary enough in real life, but in the circumstances of this movie, it’s unimaginable. Stevenson removes the need to imagine it because she shows you nearly all of it in graphic detail. In fact, the movie was initially given the NC-17 rating, and it needed to be cut down for an R. That’s a green flag if I ever saw one.
This movie features the best of body horror. You may find yourself wincing, looking away from the screen. Unfortunately, the story can sometimes get in the way of horror because there’s a lot of mystery-solving here and not a lot of suspense. But that’s not knocking the story, which goes to darker places than you may expect in the final act. Sometimes, the creepy imagery can feel more tailor-made for an audience than the characters in the movie, but it’s all quite effective nonetheless. Stevenson gives you a front-row seat to the terror, unrelenting and fierce. Once you go into this movie, there’s no turning back. Women who fear childbirth, beware.
Also, let’s talk about that lead performance. Free is operating on another level here. She’s fantastic, giving a showstopping presence in a movie that relies on her. There’s one particular sequence where Stevenson and cinematographer Aaron Morton essentially put the camera down and let her go for it. Her performance requires so much physicality, and she owns all of it. It’s the type of horror movie that understands that sometimes, the best horror comes from putting your protagonist through hell. And in this case, we’re not too far off. The way it ties into Donner’s 1976 movie is excellent, even if the very final scene doesn’t feel too necessary. With Stevenson’s fondness for extreme close-ups and imagery that may be burned into the backs of some of our brains, she should hopefully have an amazing career ahead of her.
SCORE: 7/10
As ComingSoon’s review policy explains, a score of 7 equates to “Good.” A successful piece of entertainment that is worth checking out, but it may not appeal to everyone.
Disclosure: ComingSoon attended a press screening for our The First Omen review.
