The First Omen (2024)

I’m going to try to dispense with the plot summary here and get right to it; spoilers be damned. If you haven’t seen this, go watch it, and come back.  

As a rule, I don’t really care about sequels, prequels, and remakes—I’d rather see an original concept. I love film, though, and since we get a lot of sequels, prequels, and remakes these days, I take what I’m given and try to approach them with an open mind—though, usually in the most cost-effective way possible (thanks, Hulu). I never expect much—so I’m rarely disappointed—but occasionally, one really grabs me. Holy shit, did The First Omen grab me!

Prequels are particularly challenging because the audience knows how the film will end, and since we know the destination, the journey has to be really compelling. 

In the pursuit of a compelling narrative, 20th Century Fox, owned by Disney, took an interesting gamble—they opted to give a first-time director (of features, anyway; Stevenson has directed several episodes for streamers, including an episode of the ultra-weird and beautiful Brand New Cherry Flavor) a decent budget to make an old-school, highly formal, slow-burn horror film about an extremely difficult subject (rape), which is a prequel to a beloved 50-year old franchise. This seems like a recipe for disaster, yet the film is incredibly compelling.

I can’t speak for anyone else, but for me, a prequel/sequel/remake is usually best when the writer and director figure out how to balance a love for the source material with an interesting angle. Stevenson’s film does this by nearly perfectly capturing the look and feel of a 1970s film—blending the gritty cinematography of the original with gothic undertones and grotesque body horror evocative of some of the gnarlier Exorcist and Nunsploitation films of the time (Alberto De Martino’s The Antichrist springs to mind), and by retconning a couple of key plot points from the original series to make it her own.

These retconned points are contentious within the online horror community. Some fans are upset that it disturbs the continuity of the original film, while others claim it’s evidence of a sinister Disney agenda to inject “woke-ist, feminist” ideas into their horror movies. But honestly, without those changes, the film loses what makes it so special. This is a terrific gothic horror tale about a woman, told from a woman’s perspective. The plot changes in The First Omen don’t place female identity on a pedestal or “appeal to a broader demographic.” Instead, they remind us that rape is terrifying (remember Alien?). This is a nasty, transgressive horror film. While it has a few flaws (don’t hide the key to the top-secret thing right next to another top-secret thing, and Paolo’s death scene was really stupid and probably read better than it looked), it has something missing from many modern horror flicks, especially those from the big studios—it has heart.

Now, you might say, “But what about continuity?” It’s true that the creative choices break the continuity between films, and I’d be lying if I said it didn’t bother me—at least at first. As the movie pulled me into its conspiracy, I started to care less and less. Franchises, especially horror franchises, are notorious for taking liberties with continuity. The only real difference here is that the changes support a female viewpoint—something that is, I guess, difficult to process because we’ve had 100 years of a male perspective as the norm in horror films.

Ultimately, I didn’t really need (or want) a prequel to The Omen. I like the original well enough, but it’s never occurred to me that I’d want to see the events that lead up to Richard Donner’s original film. Nevertheless, one was made, and the end result is, for me, pretty damn exciting. 

It’s refreshing to see a studio take a gamble on a young (woman, no less) director with a transgressive vision and to see that manifest as a really engaging and at least somewhat successful film—even if it’s a prequel. To me, this indicates that mainstream studios are taking note and that bigger-budget, mainstream horror could start to become interesting again.  Give me all the transgressive stories told from unique points of view—and without sacrificing the gore, blasphemy, and themes that make horror great. 

This will probably lead to a reimagined Omen franchise in the short term, which means more prequels, sequels, and spinoffs. 

Is an Omen Universe necessary? Fuck, no. 

Will I watch it? Absolutely, as long as Stevenson retains some control over it. She directed the hell out of this movie, and while what I really want to see is an original IP from her—and other filmmakers like her, who balance craft with the desire to scare the shit out of me—until that happens, I am pretty content to see where she takes this vision.