The Big Picture

The First Omen
masterfully builds tension with an unsettling and dread-filled approach, rarely relying on jump scares.
Nell Tiger Free delivers a haunting performance that keeps viewers guessing about her character’s morality.
While impactful tying into the original’s mythology, the film struggles to maintain cleverness with predictable reveals.

Only four months into 2024 and it seems safe to say this is the year of nun horror. Coming off the heels of Michael Mohan’s Immaculate is the prequel/franchise reboot The First Omen from Brand New Cherry Flavor and Legion director Arkasha Stevenson. While Immaculate borrowed from films like the original The Omen and Rosemary’s Baby, The First Omen shows Immaculate how it should be done, crafting an unsettling, strange, and disturbing film that manages to surprise, despite us knowing where this story ends up.

The First Omen follows Margaret Daino (Nell Tiger Free) in the early 1970s, as she goes to work at an orphanage in Rome before she becomes a nun. Margaret is brought over to Italy thanks to Cardinal Lawrence (Bill Nighy), who knew Margaret when she was growing up at an American orphanage. While there, Margaret rooms with Luz (María Caballero), another soon-to-be nun who wants to live freely while she still can, and meets Carlita (Nicole Sorace), an older girl at the orphanage who is known for being a bit of a problem child. Strange things start happening at the church once Margaret arrives. She is reminded that as a child, she used to have visions and she couldn’t figure out if they were real or not, and it seems as though Carlita has this same issue. But most disturbing is Father Brennan (Ralph Ineson), who asks for Margaret’s help with the church. He believes, with church numbers dwindling and young people living a more secular life, that the church is attempting to birth the Antichrist in order to scare faith back to the people. As Margaret starts to put these pieces together, she begins to see horrific truths that could alter the world forever.

The First Omen A young American woman is sent to Rome to begin a life of service to the church, but encounters a darkness that causes her to question her faith and uncovers a terrifying conspiracy that hopes to bring about the birth of evil incarnate.Release Date April 5, 2024 Director Arkasha Stevenson

‘The First Omen’ Relies More on Unsettling Moments Than Jump Scares

Unlike many modern horror films,Stevenson’s approach to The First Omen is far more in line with that of early ’70s horror—especiallyThe Omen. This isn’t a film that relies on jump scares, but rather, Stevenson wants us to sit in the terror and let it seep in under our skin. Take for example the opening scene, in which Father Harris (Charles Dance) comes to Father Brennan to reveal the Antichrist plot that the church has hatched. What follows is a moment that seems like it should be right out of aFinal Destinationfilm, as a stained-glass window above the two priests breaks and the shattered pieces fall on them like rain. We expect the result to be a nightmarish drizzle of slicing and blood, but Stevenson doesn’t give us that. Instead, she makes us wait, wondering what the result of this moment is, and the anticipation makes it far more uncomfortable than simply surprising us with gore.

23:38 Related ‘The First Omen’ Director on the Joys of Making a Disney Movie with a Vagina Arkasha Stevenson recaps her journey to making her first feature, a studio horror movie that addresses autonomy over the female body.

It’s this dedication to a disconcerting tone which feels in line with those early ’70s horror films that makes The First Omen more than just a cash-in on a known horror property. Some scenes are very much inspired by Rosemary’s Baby, but it’s the restraint in these moments and what we don’t see that makes them so effective. In maybe the film’s most horrifying sequence, Margaret is left in a dark room, where Stevenson shows us her vantage point. Like Margaret, we’re left to simmer in the dark and wait for the horrors in the blackness to reveal themselves. After a few seconds, a figure starts to appear, and as we begin to formulate what is coming directly at us, this reveal makes us feel just as confined and terrified as Margaret is. This gets even worse in the final act, as we also often have our viewpoint restrained to what Margaret can see and feel, as the culmination of evil starts to take over. The First Omen could’ve easily gone for jump scares, but letting us languish in the dread is far more potent.

Nell Tiger Free Makes the Horror Feel Real in ‘The First Omen’

This also works because of an unnerving performance by Nell Tiger Free, as we watch her transform throughout the film—sometimes in a single scene. The screenplay by Stevenson, Tim Smith, and Keith Thomas, from a story by Ben Jacoby, holds its card close to its chest, so once again, we are put in the mindset of Margaret, who has no idea what the hell is going on around her. Is she once again losing her mind, are these visions actually a reality, or is something even greater at play here? We don’t know the full extent of what is occurring, and Free is able to present that fear of potentially losing her mind in a haunting way. In one scene, Free even presents an admirable homage to Isabelle Adjani’s stunning performance in Andrzej Żuławski’s Possession—a fitting tribute given the nature of the story. Throughout the film, Free gives a performance that always makes us unsure if she’s the hero, the villain, or a mixture of the two, and it’s a delight to watch as we figure this out.

However, the biggest issue with The First Omen is that it’s not entirely as clever as it believes itself to be. The film is building to a reveal that the audience has likely already figured out within the first act, which leaves the viewer waiting for the characters in the film to catch up. Oddly, the screenplay by Stevenson, Smith, and Thomas is most impactful when it ties into the mythology of the first film, yet struggles when it’s wrapping up its own mysteries. This isn’t necessarily damning (no pun intended), but the film can drag while the characters figure out what we have already put together an hour ago.

But as a refresh for this long-dormant franchise, The First Omen is a surprisingly strong return for this series. Even though we know where this story is going from here, we still crave more of Margaret’s story. Stevenson’s debut feature is a smart handling of horror with imagery that won’t soon leave your mind, elevated by an uncomfortable performance by Free. Stevenson shows how to bring a franchise back from the dead, and proves that maybe this series doesn’t have to be all just for Damien.

The First Omen The First Omen, from director and co-writer Arkasha Stevenson, is a haunting origin story that revitalizes this series for the first time in decades.ProsArkasha Stevenson’s direction lets us sit in the horror, rather than surprising us for cheap scares.Nell Tiger Free’s performance is unsettling and uncomfortable, putting us in her shoes as she figures out what’s going on.It’s hard to leave the theater and not want more movies in The Omen franchise. ConsThe film’s attempts at surprises aren’t nearly as clever as it thinks they are.

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