Worth: $13.50
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Cast:
Nell Tiger Free, Sônia Braga, Ralph Ineson, Bill Nighy, Tawfeek Barhom, Nicole Sorace
Intro:
If you’re in the mood for a Satanic yarn that’s gory and moody, and you haven’t had your fill of nuns on the run with Immaculate, then The First Omen might be just the occult classic for you.
The Omen franchise is a funny old series of movies, when you think about it. Beginning in 1976 with Richard Donner’s The Omen, the tale of a nice American family unknowingly raising the antichrist aka Damien, still manages to be remarkably effective all these years later. Damien: Omen II followed in 1978 and is definitely a solid flick with imaginative death scenes, but a step down from the previous entry. 1981 saw the original trilogy conclude with the oddly limp Omen III: The Final Conflict, which even a devilish Sam Neill couldn’t save. In 1991, the series got a reboot of sorts with the bland TV movie, Omen IV: The Awakening, which was forgotten in about the same length of time it took you to read the previous sentence. 2006 saw another reboot attempt, with The Omen, which confused style with substance and made little lasting cultural impact despite the stacked cast. There were also TV series’, 1995’s The Omen and 2016’s Damien, but neither were particularly notable. Point we’re making is … they’ve made a surprising number of these films before. And the idea of a prequel to the original? Not a bad one. And the result… is actually pretty strong, albeit with notable flaws.
The First Omen tells the story of Margaret Daino (Nell Tiger Free), a young American woman who wants to “take the veil” (officially become a nun) and is called to an Italian convent/orphanage for mysterious reasons. If that sounds familiar to you, yes, it’s exactly the same set up as Immaculate, which is an unfortunate coincidence but doesn’t affect much of the story after the first act. Margaret is shy and awkward, and perhaps because of this finds herself bonding with teen outcast, Carlita Skianna (Nicole Sorace). It soon becomes clear that both Carlita, and the various members of the clergy, are hiding a deep dark secret and it’s up to Mags to sort it all out before it’s too late.
The First Omen is a bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand, it’s all a bit silly. Adding to the backstory of the original Omen film is a risky choice and quite a lot of these new additions feel overwrought, melodramatic and inconsistent. On the other hand, the cast is absolutely superb with Nell Tiger Free doing excellent work (she was easily the best thing about AppleTV+’s Servant), Bill Nighy being extremely Bill Nighy, and Ralph Ineson just exuding gravitas… even if his dialogue is at times incomprehensibly gruff.
However, the big star of the piece is the gorgeous, gothic direction from Arkasha Stevenson who makes her feature directorial debut. Brimming with Grand Guignol allusions, it feels like a better remake of Suspiria than the Suspiria remake was, replete with a shrieking, haunting score and striking, disturbing imagery.
It does, unfortunately, drag on a bit in the middle section and the ending feels like it’s rather cynically trying to set up a brand new trilogy of rebooted Omen films. Still and all, this is beautifully shot, well acted and at times quite evocative stuff. It doesn’t stand shoulder to shoulder with the original film that it chronologically prefaces, but it’s certainly more ambitious and intriguing than anything we’ve gotten since 1978.
If you’re in the mood for a Satanic yarn that’s gory and moody, and you haven’t had your fill of nuns on the run with Immaculate, then The First Omen might be just the occult classic for you.
