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Advertised on its poster as “the most terrifying movie of the year,” director Arkasha Stevenson comes out swinging and certainly delivers in “The First Omen,” her feature directorial debut. While the film is sure to frighten those who scare easily (like myself), this religious thriller is definitely worth seeing.

Even though its release was just two weeks after Sydney Sweeney’s similar film “Immaculate,” Stevenson’s “The First Omen” is a pleasant addition to an “Omen” franchise marred by poor sequels and remakes. This film’s combination of incredible acting, striking imagery and a script featuring the devil — or in this case the Antichrist — serves up one nightmarish tale.

A prequel to Richard Donner’s 1976 classic starring Gregory Peck, “The First Omen” explores the origins of the famed numerical moniker of the devil, “666” and how Damien, the Antichrist, was born.

Set in 1971 Rome, Italy, “The First Omen” follows Margaret (Nell Tiger Free), a young American novice about to take the veil of a nun. Tasked by her mentor Cardinal Lawrence (Bill Nighy), Margaret goes to an orphanage run by Sister Silvia (Sônia Braga) to guide the younger generation back to the church amid the protests and riots occurring throughout the city.

As life around the orphanage becomes more sinister, Margaret is approached by a terrified Father Brennan (Ralph Ineson), an excommunicated priest. The church “will stop at nothing” to remain in power, so Margaret must peel back the dense layers of church secrecy while questioning her own sanity and identity in the process.

In an industry where studios drain the lifeblood from their intellectual property with reboots and remakes, “The First Omen” is a breath of fresh air, taking artistic license while flipping the male-dominated horror genre on its head.

“We pitched this through the lens of female body horror,” Stevenson said in an interview with IndieWire.

While this subgenre of horror is normally associated with films like “The Fly” (1986) or “The Thing” (1982), Stevenson beautifully subverts the idea of body horror to tell a timely story about the relationship between religion and body autonomy shown by the way the church wants to use women’s bodies for their own agenda.

Portraying a theme of this magnitude is no small feat. However, Stevenson respects the audience enough to give an artistic interpretation of mature ideas while still managing to entertain. The film has a timely political message, but the script doesn’t lecture this theme of body autonomy to viewers. Instead, the film blends an important message with entertainment, creating a cathartic visual experience where the audience can live through Margaret and create their own meaning.

Together, Stevenson’s background in photojournalism and cinematographer Aaron Morton’s skills perfectly manipulate the camera, creating visual motifs and beautifully grotesque imagery that adds to the dread and subtext of the story. The extreme close-ups of bloodshot eyes mixed with the orange color palette add demented artistry. Camera movements are well chosen, crafting an environment of creepy isolation.

What’s sure to blow audiences away is the way Stevenson pushes the boundaries of what can be shown on screens. The film narrowly avoided an NC-17 rating, resulting in the editing of a jaw-dropping scene in a birthing clinic.

“If we were going to talk about female body horror, we were going to talk about forced reproduction, and we have to be able to show the female body in a non-sexualized light,” Stevenson said.

It is in these envelope-pushing moments that “The First Omen” packs the greatest punch. The film is memorable because of its jumpscares suspenseful sequences, playing off of the wonderfully palpable sense of freedom in Stevenson’s directorial style.

The film didn’t feel like the generic major studio horror film with calculated jumpscares. Instead, Stevenson plays with the camerawork and editing, creating strobelike effects that garner great visual reveals and suspense.

While Stevenson develops her voice throughout the film, she also pays great homage to the original “The Omen.” Stevenson not only reimagines some of the film’s original scares but also creates a ‘70s nostalgia with sweeping landscape shots and unnatural zoom-ins. Furthermore, composer Mark Korven reuses some of Jerry Goldsmith’s ethereal operatic themes that perfectly crescendo along with the film.

As Margaret, Free gives a beautifully harrowing performance in a role that carries so much weight. She perfectly embodies the intense physicality of the role needed to thrust the audience into this thriller, playing on Stevenson’s directorial fervor.

While the pacing of the script progressed smoothly throughout the first two acts, the story faltered at its climax. When big reveals were needed, the audience was met with densely layered plot points that threatened to wake the audience up from their waking nightmare. Additionally, at some points, the main plot felt a bit predictable, undermining the incredible underlying gender narrative.

“The First Omen” is not only a wonderful ode to Donner’s classic but also to ‘70s filmmaking. Despite some structural problems in the plot, the film’s director and star made up for it. Hopefully, the future holds more films for Stevenson, so she can continue to subvert overused tropes and change the gender landscape of horror filmmaking.

Published on April 10, 2024 at 11:17 pm