The First Omen (2024) Review: A Surprisingly Better-Than-Expected Prequel Led By Nell Tiger Free’s Nuanced Performance
Here we go again with another Omen movie. The franchise that refuses to die. Not especially after the style-over-substance 2006 remake famously known for its marketing gimmick (remember the 6.6.06 release date?) than the quality of the movie itself. Upon learning the franchise is resurrected in the form of a direct prequel, I was initially sceptical about it. The trailer looks as if this is going to be another typical religious horror straight out of the assembly line.
The prequel gets off to a fairly creepy start with Father Harris (Charles Dance in a cameo appearance) acting all weird and troubled. The movie then introduces Margaret (Nell Tiger Free), a young and orphaned novitiate from Massachusetts, U.S. arriving in Rome with Father Lawrence (Bill Nighy) eagerly awaiting her with open arms. The year is 1971, five years before the events of the original movie and the city is currently experiencing a widespread protest.
The story deliberately takes its time as we learn how Margaret is getting familiarised with her new surroundings in the orphanage overseen by Sister Silvia (Sonia Braga). She is particularly interested in a young girl named Carlita Scianna (Nicole Sorace), who spends her time isolated inside the “bad room”. This leads to Margaret attempting to investigate the matter with Father Brennan (Ralph Ineson, playing the role previously held by the late Patrick Troughton in the 1976 original) subsequently approaching her for cooperation. Apparently, it has something to do with a conspiracy related to the birth of Antichrist.
The First Omen marks the feature-length directorial debut of Arkasha Stevenson, previously a TV director for series like Channel Zero, Legion and Brand New Cherry Flavor. She does a good job for most parts of the movie, where she effectively incorporates the old-school look and feel of a 1970s horror film with a mix of stylish and macabre visuals. She even gamely combines the body-horror tropes with a notable homage to Andrzej Zulawski’s 1981 cult classic Possession. At one point, there’s a memorable scene of Nell Tiger Free’s Margaret channelling Isabelle Adjani that rivals the deeply disturbing subway sequence.
Not surprisingly, there are several callbacks to the 1976 original — some works, others not so much with one of the death scenes made me feel as if Stevenson is trying too hard to outdo the unsettling moment already executed perfectly by the late Richard Donner. The gore effects are a mixed bag with one of the curiously over-the-top scenes suited better for a Final Destination movie than a religious horror like The First Omen. Unlike the 1976 original, Stevenson favours some obligatory jump scares that I wish would work better if she omitted them altogether.
Stevenson, who also co-wrote the screenplay alongside Tim Smith and Keith Thomas, managed to find a fresh angle in what could have been a mere connect-the-dots prequel using the concept of sleight-of-hand storytelling. It certainly fits well with the underlying theme of the movie. It also helps that Nell Tiger Free of Apple TV+’s Servant delivers a subtly engaging performance as Margaret. It’s hard not to sympathise with her well-written character arc from a young and innocent nun-to-be to a slow descent into the darkness despite all her good intentions.
The First Omen also gets an extra boost from respectively strong supporting turns including Ralph Ineson and Sonia Braga as Father Brennan and Sister Silvia. Aaron Morton’s cinematography deserves special mention for his brilliant use of lighting regardless of the foreboding orphanage or the suggestively acid trip in a nightclub scene. Several shortcomings aside, this otherwise unnecessary prequel turns out to be the best Omen movie I’ve ever seen since the 1976 original, proving there is still life left in the franchise.
