“The world is changing.”
Maybe not as fast as you might think. It was the first days of summer 1976, and The Omen joined a crowded decade of satanical films that started with Rosemary’s Baby in 1968 and following through The Exorcist in 1973, and by 1976 it was time for the ol’ Antichrist himself to be born in The Omen. All three of these became classic films. The Omen went on to have a couple of sequels that saw Damien, the Antichrist himself, grow up into Sam Neil and attempt to use his great political power to fulfil the Biblical prophesies of the End Days. It didn’t work out so much for Damien, and Sam Neil … well … he went on to fight some dinosaurs in a little island park attraction called Jurassic Park. The franchise has been idle for decades, and when I heard it was going to be revised with a prequel called The First Omen? Let’s just say my Spidey senses were tingling, and I was more worried about a cash grab that would really have very little to do with the first film and likely become a forgettable chapter in the whole business. I couldn’t have been more wrong. The fact is that The First Omen is a pretty wonderful film on its own, but it doesn’t stop there. The film pays high honor to the original film, and while not shot on film, it was shot with care to make it all feel like it has a connection to the earlier works not only in theme and subject, but in texture. It wouldn’t hurt to take a look at The Omen first, but it’s not necessary. This is a completely standalone film that pays off pretty nicely at the end if you are indeed familiar with the 1976 film.
We’re back in the years and months before the 1976 film. It starts with an ominous encounter between two priests that has a pretty predictable outcome that you’ll see from miles away. It’s a nice scene and a pretty solid callback to what came. It concerns a Father Harris, played by Underworld alum Charles Dance and is a pretty good scene, telegraphing and all, but it had me worried. Was this just going to be a collection of deaths that remind us of the iconic moments from The Omen? We jump forward where we meet Maggie, played by Nell Tiger Free. She is a young novitiate who has come to Rome to start her life as a nun. When she arrives, she’s boarded with another novitiate, Luz, played by Maria Caballero. The two are put together “off campus” until they take the veil. Luz tries to tempt her to be a bit risqué, justifying it by declaring if she’s going to dedicate her life and body to Christ, she might as well know what it is she’s given up. It leads to a night on the town that will come back to haunt her later.
At the orphanage where she will spend her life in service, she comes to know a rather odd girl named Carlita (Sorace). She has rendered some drawings that somehow compel Maggie, and the more she learns, the more frightened she becomes. There is an order within the Church who are dedicated to bringing evil into the world. They arrange for women to be raped by a demon with some frightening results. Carlita appears to be the product of these experiments. She was enticed here by Cardinal Lawrence, played by the fantastic Bill Nighy, another Underworld veteran, who has known her since she was very young. He tells her often how he always expected big things from her, and it might be time to get worried. Of course, in case she needs a little push, she’s secretly supplied information and documents by Father Spiletto (Alexander). There are basically two factions here. One wants to bring about the Antichrist, while the other is dedicated to preventing it, putting Maggie right in the middle of the action and perhaps much closer than she originally intended.
The first thing you notice is that this was shot very much like a 1970’s film. I found myself wishing for the organic feel of grain, which would have made this a perfect addition to the franchise. As it is there’s an intentional softness to the image that makes it blend quite nicely with the early films. There are some stunning vistas of Rome, and the framing convinces me that director Arkasha Stevenson studied the original film and took the time to really understand how it was shot. There’s obviously a love there that insured that this film would not become the cheap regurgitation that we’ve seen from recent films that attempt to bring back the past. This film actually does just that.
The film makes excellent use of the religious symbolism here but without getting caught in the quicksand that these images and symbols can create. There’s a perfect blend of mystery, suspense, and horror here that make me far more optimistic about this franchise’s future. It was a film I wasn’t even sure I wanted to see. You could say the devil made me do it, but the temptation is there for more. In the end this movie bumps right against the opening moments of the first with a nice nod to Gregory Peck who starred in that film.
Certainly there’s a bit of a downer when you deal with these evil and end-of-times themes. It’s necessary for this particular story. But the performances and overall care taken here is just enough hope in the box to leave me wanting more. I suspect this week’s box office will be loaded with folks who don’t believe in this franchise. After all, who could blame them after the recent mess the new Exorcist film was? ” How do you control people who no longer believe? You create something to fear.”
