The Devil once again gets his due with yet another prequel to a classic horror film. Director Arkasha Stevenson is at the helm of The First Omen, the latest Hollywood cash grab hoping to find box office gold through name recognition.
As witnessed in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, and Rise of the Planet of the Apes, prequels can sometimes be a good thing. More often than not, prequels are a barrage of bad ideas (Carlito’s Way: Rise to Power, Oz the Great and Powerful, 2011’s The Thing) that desecrate the good name of the films they are referencing. To take a beloved work such as Richard Donner’s 1976 smash The Omen and mess around with its well-established lore seemed to be a fool’s errand; a lesson hard-learned by the critical and commercial failure of last year’s The Exorcist: Believer.
The surprisingly great news is how screenwriters Tim Smith, Keith Thomas and director Stevenson (working from a story idea by Ben Jacoby) put serious thought into this work, assuring The First Omen to be one of the more effectively creepy horror films in years.
The picture is set in 1971 and tells the story of Margaret Daino (Nell Tiger Free), a young American woman who has come to Italy to “take the veil” and become a nun. Margaret has been called by her old friend and mentor Cardinal Lawrence (Bill Nighy) to spend time at the Vizzardeli Orphanage in Rome, a gloomy place run by a deadly serious nun (Sônia Braga) who doesn’t quite warm to the wide-eyed American. Full of creepy hallways and dark corners that hide demonic visions, the orphanage hides many devilish secrets that may give clues to the birth of the Antichrist.
Margaret becomes intrigued by a young orphan named Carlita (Nicole Sorace), who scribbles demonic pictures while being locked in a room like a prisoner, as the sisters feel she is a danger to others. The two find a bond in their upbringings, as Margaret had a rough childhood as well. It is in their relationship where the film finds its springboard to the many secrets and horrors that follow.
The audience gets to meet a younger Father Brennan (Ralph Ineson, owner of the best voice in films today). The character (played by Patrick Troughton in Donner’s original) was famously impaled in the 1976 film. Here, Father Brennan is a rogue priest desperately trying to unearth the secrets behind the gates of the Vizzardeli Orphanage and knows that the fate of the world is at stake.
As Margaret, Nell Tiger Free is quite good. Going all-in with her performance, the actress runs the gambit of emotions and makes her character’s plight believable through her dedicated work. In one disturbingly mesmerizing sequence, the actress stands on the street and has to fight the demonic presence trying to worm its way into her body and mind. As Margaret writhes and screams and fights back with her entire body, the moment becomes a dark performance-art piece that is unbelievably effective and could be experienced as an homage to Isabelle Adjani’s fearless work in Anderzej Zulawski’s 1981 horror classic, Possession.
The supporting cast does well and it is always good to see Sônia Braga in a major film, but it is Nicole Sorace who is Free’s acting equal. In only her first feature, the actress is in full command of Carlita’s emotions. The young orphan has a face that is at once menacing and kind and Sorace finds the fear, heart, and the humanity of a misunderstood child living in pure terror.
As for the frights, the film has many and succeeds where 99 percent of modern horror films fail. Cinematographer Aaron Morton and his director craft an unrelenting horror atmosphere that haunts the audience like a demon, holding its aural grip until the final frame. Maria Luigia Battani’s first-rate production design partners well with Morton’s camera, using the dark spaces and gothic Italian architecture to create a macabre visual palette of impending doom and inescapable evil that sometimes achieves a Giallo feel.
Of course, there are a few unavoidable jump scares, but those quick moments are perfunctory, as the real chills come from director Stevenson’s excellent cinematic eye and understanding of what scares you.
Mixing its hair-raising chills with a scene or two of extreme body horror, The First Omen finds itself with a moment that will shock and surprise even the most jaded of horror fans. As Margaret witnesses a seemingly crazed pregnant woman being tied to an operating table, audiences will experience one of the most grotesquely intense “birthing” sequences in film history. Showing his skills as a horror filmmaker, Stevenson teases viewers with quick glimpses of what iMargaret is witnessing, until unleashing the scene’s horrific payoff that will certainly have audiences gasping while David Cronenberg will be smiling with glee.
Horror cinema has long dealt with devil worship and the sinister Catholic Church and there are some elements found here that we have seen many times before. What makes Arkasha Stevenson’s film so special is its respect for the Richard Donner original and the director’s desire to actually frighten his audience. Stevenson proves himself a confident and skilled horror filmmaker.
Through unnervingly sinister imagery and some genuinely terrifying moments, The First Omen is a welcome surprise and the first great horror film of 2024.
The First Omen
Written by Tim Smith, Keith Thomas, & Arkasha Stevenson
Directed by Arkasha Stevenson
Starring Nell Tiger Free, Sônia Braga, Nicole Sorace, Bill Nighy, Ralph Ineson, Charles Dance
R, 120 Minutes, 20th Century Studios, Phantom Four Films
