When Margaret (Nell Tiger Free) comes to Rome to finish her apprenticeship at a nun-run orphanage and move into finally taking her own vows and joining the brides of Christ, she is understandably thrilled. This will be the culmination of the hard work she has been doing thus far and it will lead to good works ahead. The gent who meets her at the airport, Father Gabriel (Tawfeek Barhom), is sweet enough, Cardinal Lawrence (Bill Nighy) is cheery and kind, the head nun Sister SIlva (Sonia Braga) is all hugs and welcoming sunshine. Margaret makes a friend with fellow novitiate Luz (Maria Caballero), who is a little wild—she goes out partying in the evenings because she wants to experience what she is giving up before hiding her body under a habit for the rest of her life—as well as one of the more troubled girls in the orphanage. Carlita (Nicole Sorace) is a loner, drawing darker things than her classmates, and through her Margaret makes a connection to her own troubled past. You see, Margaret was also a disturbed young girl who wound up getting into regular trouble with the order who raised her …
However, when the priest Father Brennan (Ralph Ineson) corners her with wild stories about a secret order who is not doing God’s work but trying to breed the Antichrist with screwy but “good” intentions, Margaret finds herself caught up in an occult mystery that will draw up paranoid concerns about those seemingly nice people she’s come to know and love. As well, it will cast darker light on her own upbringing.
To prove what he is saying, she must first locate secret files divulging the sinister plan and those involved. Will she find these files, and what secrets will they really expose? Arkasha Stevenson directs and co-writes a prequel to the second most successful “fear the devil” religious horror franchises to come out of the 1970s with The First Omen (2024).
When the trailer for this picture dropped, I was charmed. In addition to footage played in reverse, the moody sounds of Fever Ray’s “If I Had a Heart” matched up with the atmosphere and eeriness quite nicely. It did not make me really want to see the flick in theaters since the “beware the devil” school of religious horror is not necessarily my preference, but it was eye-catching, nicely done, did not give away the entire plot, and left me wondering. It was actually Immaculate (2024) that convinced me to give it a go, so imagine my surprise when The First Omen comes across like a mirror reflection of Sidney Sweeney & Michael Mohan’s film, a more traditional approach to the stuff of religious horror than that other 2024 film’s delightfully gonzo mishmash of religious horror, science fiction, and giallo genre elements.
The First Omen is a bigger budgeted flick than Immaculate, to be sure. It has all kinds of lovely technology and a terrific sense for images captured by cinematographer Aaron Morton. There are several moments of wonderful poignancy, moving sequences executed and captured beautifully. I was moved no less than three times while watching the picture. As well, there are also some wonderfully eerie moments across the picture, including a witnessed birth scene that goes wildly wrong, a scene of street level violence interrupted by creepy lascivious visions, as well as a prologue scene introducing Father Brennan (and featuring a cameo from Charles Dance) that builds to a lovely yet chilling final shot.
However, there is also a lot of regurgitation of familiar elements in Tim Smith, Arkasha Stevenson, and Keith Thomas’s screen story (which builds upon early efforts from Ben Jacoby and characters created by David Seltzer), which are intended to appeal either to fans of the original flick or to newer viewers to the horror genre in general and therefore haven’t seen such things done before. Because this movie gleefully borrows things from all kinds of sources. Sure, it takes that “All for you!” hanging death from The Omen (1976) and redoes it (one upping it with a fire effect that many won’t find terribly convincing), it uses befogged and shadowy exteriors like trying to repurpose the arrival of the titular character in The Exorcist (1973) with its own quirky characters, there’s an overhead shot passing through Rome accompanied by ghostly voices on Mark Koven’s musical score that brings to mind Suspiria (1977), there’s a moment where a guy heads into the street only to get hit by a passing vehicle, a sudden ballooning belly in a “surprise!” pregnancy ala Warlock: The Armageddon (1993), and water breaking in the street ala Possession (1981) … You know, a mix of deep cut nods and a few cheap shots.
So, while I greatly enjoyed the deeply unsettling expression Charles Dance wears in the finale shot of the prologue, the almost fetishistic application of a new nun’s wimple (tugging the thing on and tying it in place resembles nothing so much as applying untried bondage gear for the first time and builds to an exquisite moment of ecstasy in submission that might not be out of place in a Clive Barker flick) midway through the picture, or the surprising chance to sympathize with a strange, shrieking presence during the film’s climax, such moments are too few for me.
And yet, those moments of poignancy and depth, which rise above everything else, kept me going. I was put in mind of Sir Ian McKellen’s bit in Extras (2007), where he describes the acting process as a lot of carrying on as yourself punctuated by moments of BEING IN CHARACTER, which then taper off back to being yourself again (if you haven’t seen it, check it out on YouTube). The First Omen carries on in low gear punctuated by far too seldom moments of beauty, heart, pathos, dread. It’s a mediocre picture which also happens to include rare sequences of pure horror cinema bliss.
There are many things to appreciate about the movie despite the lackluster elements.
I do love a story that finds historical nooks and crannies to plant itself in. The picture paints 1971 Italy as a nation on the brink of riot and self-destruction. The young people are challenging all kinds of established tradition and seated authority. The church itself is bleeding members to secular idealism. Will the appearance of an antichrist signal the final death knell of the world, or will it instead call the unbelieving back into leading God-fearing lives? Intriguing questions that take full advantage of the historical period and country backdrop.
As well, there are some top notch performances:
Whenever Bill Nighy is on screen, he steals the show, as we might expect. There’s a savvy and charm, a coolness quotient to his cardinal that is inspiring. And Ralph Ineson’s voice is made to be heard pumped through theater surround sound as loud as possible, it’s smoke and gravel in all the right proportions, made even more attractive by the Irish lilt. Whenever he’s on camera, it’s impossible to look away from him for hope that he will speak again, please. Luckily, he and Nighy share no scenes together, or the film would have melted in the projector (I am aware it’s all digital these days, but mere logic cannot stop magic of that magnitude).
Nell Tiger Free balances both the vulnerability and the grit to see the mystery solved and an oppressed girl removed from her dangerous territory. Maria Caballero is a treat as the saucy best friend who is both confidant and temptress. Nicole Sorace is great as the young woman oppressed by the patriarchal church.
So, in the final analysis, The Final Omen is a fright film that will appeal strongly to a core audience, hit a few bells with a general horror crowd, and probably wind up on one of those retrospectives that dissect the good parts out of a movie in order to convince the audience to seek out the otherwise uninspired flick. When it’s good, it is amazing. However, it is seldom good and typically falling into the midground of beautifully shot images accompanying a mediocre story.
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The First Omen is currently playing in theaters. It is not yet available for pre-order in DVD, Blu-ray, and VOD editions.
On Wednesday, we will take a look at the first Amicus portmanteau film. Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors is available in DVD, Blu-ray, 4K UHD/Blu-ray combo, and VOD editions.
Writing for “The Miracle of Life Is Messy: The First Omen (2024)” is copyright © 2024 by Daniel R. Robichaud.
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