For starters, “The First Omen” is actually the sixth “Omen” movie, for those keeping score at home, and that’s counting the woeful 2006 remake with Live Schreiber and Julia Stiles.
But is it really that good, as good as the critical blurbs and early audience reaction shots on social media might suggest?
No, it’s not.“The First Omen” lacks the iconic moments that defined the Gregory Peck original, meaning there’s no menacing hellhound, no tricycle of terror, no creepy little kid giving off creepy vibes.
It also lacks the audacity and cheesy camp of “Omen III: The Final Conflict,” which saw Sam Neill as a grown Damien Thorne trying to ascend to the highest seat of power in an effort to kickstart the apocalypse.
That doesn’t mean “The First Omen” isn’t worth seeing. This is just a gentle warning to keep your expectations reasonable.
For one, it’s directed by Arkasha Stevenson, whose name you should know, given she has helmed some seriously fucked-up and magnificent horror television, from “Channel Zero” to “Legion” to “Brand New Cherry Flavor.”
Stevenson does a good job making you believe that “The First Omen” takes place in 1971 by nailing the old-school horror aesthetic. This feels like a long-lost movie, dusted off for wide release.
She also trots out a handful of solid moments steeped in gory-good practical effects. There’s even a blink-and-miss-it devil’s dick on display.
The best and most frustrating part of “The First Omen” is the new mythology that Stevenson and co-writers Tim Smith and Keith Thomas slowly develop throughout. I am all-in when it comes to crafting fresh ideas that make you think, and the big twist here, the huge reveal about the origin of the antichrist and the holy church’s role in helping shape the apocalypse, is wildly fascinating and wholly original.
It also doesn’t make sense if you spend too long mulling it over and trying to apply this new information into the other movies in the franchise.
What “The First Omen” does do is make you almost wish this really was the first movie in a burgeoning franchise because it definitely leaves a lot of questions unanswered that could be explored in further installments, and it creates a thought-provoking gender conflict in terms of male and female antichrists that would have made for at least one good religious free-for-all follow-up.
Sadly, I don’t think we’ll ever get to see those movies.
But, for now, at least, horror fans can take solace that the genre is alive and well and experiencing a resurgence of religious-themed possession and proselytization terrors, as evidenced by “The First Omen” and “Immaculate” and the recently released “Late Night with the Devil.”
This article appears in Apr 4-10, 2024.
