Not often does a decades-later prequel to a recognized IP produce something of amount. Different notable examples from the Texas Chainsaw Bloodbath, Friday the thirteenth, and Halloween franchises principally crashed and burned, or have been mediocre at greatest. Whereas The First Omen isn’t any masterpiece, director Arkasha Stevenson‘s movie is a surprisingly robust movie and much better than one would possibly count on from the premise.
It’s script and total storytelling are the most important points. Caught with a foregone conclusion based mostly on being a prequel to a recognized movie, The First Omen is essentially inhibited by a scarcity of shock. All of its beats are predictable and head in the direction of a preordained consequence. Even the movie’s try at a twist is quite apparent, given its lack of subtlety. That the lead character is a newly-initiated nun and coping with potential corruption within the church additionally makes it very oddly harking back to the latest Immaculate. Each contact considerably on the theme of females being managed by the church and used for energy. Each function scenes of nuns laying on the ground in prayer as a creepy visible.
However as soon as one casts apart the familiarity and accepts it, The First Omen proudly stamps itself as a daring work. Stevenson has solely ever directed shorts and TV episodes, however he’s notable for guiding an episode of the cult hit Legion, a present with a putting sense of visuals that creates a way of claustrophobia and slipping sanity. Stevenson brings this aesthetic to The First Omen. The movie is replete with intriguing and lovely pictures, and Stevenson creates an environment of dread and rising unease. Because the movie advances, it feels as if the narrative coherency is slipping, however in a great way. The movie locations us within the mindset of our lead as she feels increasingly distant from what’s actual and what’s not. Whereas the movie isn’t outright surrealistic, it approaches that territory.
There are a number of visuals that push the barrier of an R-rating as properly. Many movies on the market are extra violent than this, however for a serious studio movie, it takes a assured step ahead on being actually horrifying. This works in tandem with a surprisingly robust rating. It could repeat the notable theme from the unique The Omen, but it surely in any other case distinguishes itself, reminding one among a giallo rating at occasions. That’s becoming, given the Roman setting.
The solid can also be a robust level, principally because of the wonderful lead work from Nell Tiger Free. Free goes by way of a gamut in her efficiency, from the meekness of a nun, to letting unfastened in a nightclub, and even some robust bodily appearing later within the movie. It’s a sturdy position and a daring assertion for her profession. Whereas roles from Ralph Ineson and Invoice Nighy are a lot smaller, the 2 each convey their distinct charms as properly. Maria Caballero can also be respectable, enjoying an odd-looking nun with an ambiguous place within the movie.
Whereas one needs that the script have been as robust and uninhibited as the remainder of the movie, The First Omen nonetheless manages to be an really respectable horror flick. Given the batting common for horror franchises after they’re 5 or extra entries in, this film is value at the very least a double or a triple. It’s scary, engaging, and visually compelling. It leaves you eager to see extra from Arkasha Stevenson, and it leaves some hope for horror franchise movies transferring ahead, when the proper creatives are given reign to do what they need.