"The First Omen" - Didn't expect this from the mainstream.

Josh
Jan 1, 2025
4 min read

Arkasha Stevenson (2024)

They really showed a vagina demon

We will never leave the era of remakes. They have been around… well, since the beginning of film itself as the pioneers of the medium would redo their work as technology evolved. The combination of remakes and reboots frequently hitting our screens for movies that aren't even old enough to drink, (*cough, Spider-man and Batman) it's no wonder people are complaining about them. Yet, what I find most criminal about the majority of reboots and remakes is the lack of soul. When the discussion switches to remakes worth a watch (the most common being The Fly (1986) or The Thing (1982) even a modern example being Suspiria (2018)), you can feel a love for the original or see the idea to approach the original from a new angle. They are few and far between. For example, the Oscar-winning Richard Donner film The Omen (1976) got a bland vanilla mid-2000s remake that doesn’t say or add anything to the original. It was pointless. Yet this sixth instalment of the Omen franchise, a soft reboot disguised as a prequel, The First Omen has enough style and creativity behind it that it’s elevated above the ocean of bad remakes.

Stylised and paced as a throwback to the 70s with plenty of slow build-up and long zooms (bring back long zooms), the opening is a homage to the death of Father Brennan played by Patrick Troughton in the original. This time, Father Brennan is played by the wonderful Ralph Ineson witnessing the death of Charles Dance. Although a beautifully executed sequence, my pessimism started to brew from deep within. Was this going to be a “remember this” style of reboot… kinda. Father Brennan is told about the birth of the antichrist with nothing but a photo he sets out to Italy to find the baby in the photo. Transitioning to Italy we are introduced to Margaret, played by the amazing Nell Tiger Free (well touch on her highlight scene in a bit), an American novice nun getting escorted through a riot by Cardinal Lawrence, Bill Nighy, to an orphanage for girls. She meets her roommate, Luz (Maria Caballero), a more reckless young nun who coerces Margaret into going to a club. Although uncomfortable for Margaret, it tests her faith.

And faith is the core theme being pushed. With the backdrop of the Italian class uprising workers and students are turning from the church to solve their issues, aiming their anger towards an institution that can make practical changes in their lives rather than holding out for something. When Margaret meets Carlita, the debut performance from Nicole Sorace, her faith in the institution is tested when she finds herself locked away from other girls. Relating to her as she was treated the same, she becomes fascinated with the girl. And it’s a great slow build-up and development of characters and power dynamics between everyone in the institution; as mentioned it feels like a 70’s movie. But when we got our first larger horror set piece, I found it pretty underwhelming when the prequel mask slipped and the soft reboot reared its ugly head. One of the most classic and iconic scenes from the first movie is the maid hanging herself at Damien's birthday party, shouting out to the guests “It’s all for you, Damien!” The need to recreate this scene felt like a studio note and to add to it, they needed to make it more “epic” so they have the Nun performing the act light herself on fire too. Even whispering the iconic words, “It’s all for you” before doing so. And it doesn’t stop there, another death later on involves a car accident reminiscent of David Warner’s death in the first movie. With all the new energy and creativity around the story and visuals, getting these pints of “remember this” thrown at my face during the larger set pieces was distracting.

Yet within the newfound creativity, Arkasha Stevenson explores female body horror. Body horror twists the ability to create life into the purpose of being a vessel for the ambitions of others. Using women's bodies, the church attempts to give birth to the Antichrist. Needing a boy, they will create a monster that will bring a new age of fear to get the sheep back into the church. Two scenes stand out and have not left my mind that enforce the role a woman's body takes. Margaret watches a woman in the middle of giving birth when we see a close of a demonic hand extruding from the woman's vagina. I would never have thought I would see something like this in a mainstream horror movie. Even during their first meeting, you can see curiosity about the female body as Margaret glances over to Luz as she changes clothing.

The other was a high-intensity physical performance by Nell Tiger Free, making reference to the possession scene in Possession (1981). We watch Margaret fight and push against this force as it enters her body, almost as if she’s fighting off sexual assault in the next scene we watch her give birth to two children. Again, utilising the capabilities of the female body to push horror, we watch vividly as a C-section is performed. The ending was strong, as it ties in with the beginning of the original Omen movie quite well, yet we’re slapped with this cringe Marvel one-liner at the end. Whereas Father Brennan just has to say the name of Daminen or we wouldn’t have been able to figure out that is who the child will grow up to be.

Arkasha Stevenson managed to pull together something all-around creative that had her voice shine through, managing to get sequences passed the board to hammer home her vision. Looking at this next to something like Alien: Romulant, it’s amazing to see the difference a strong voice can make. Taking a chance and not bending over to appease the smooth brain pop-corn munching majority. Although studio notes feel like they snuck in, the execution of everything around it helps this movie stand on its own.