THE FIRST OMEN (2024) – A missed opportunity to pay homage to a horror classic

The Omen (1976) remains as one of the most famous and renowned horror movies ever made. It has a simple yet chilly tale of the existence of the Antichrist in the form of a sweet angelic looking child. The movie was made notorious thanks to the creatively choreographed gruesome death scenes that were interspersed in the movie. The success of the original movie led to 2 sequels and an attempt to reboot it with a fourth entry 1991. Nevertheless, none of the follow-up movies gained the fame and reputation as the origin. Now, some 48 years later, Hollywood, in its dire state of not being able to come up with fresh new ideas and stories, has made The First Omen which supposedly tells the story of how the antichrist was conceived.

Helmed by the relatively unknown director, Arkasha Stevenson, this new entry happily avoided doing a rehash and copycat job of The Omen. Arkasha has experience in the horror genre having directed a number of TV episodes of various horror series, so this area is something she is not unfamiliar with. Arkasha has professionally avoided any cheap gimmicks like jump scares and vulgarities to keep the adrenaline flowing. There were the occasional gruesome death scenes which were a subtle tribute to and reminiscent of the original movie’s kills. Arkasha showed restrain in not resorting to sensationalism and instead focus on the plot build up. One might even say the film felt a bit of a slow-burn. The payoff came in the spellbinding final act which naturally led to the link to The Omen.

Nell Tiger Free is cast as the American girl, Margaret, sent to Rome to begin life in the church. Some might recognise her as the servant in the M Night Shyamalan TV series Servant. She has the perfect look and composure to play this role and carried the film well. What was perhaps unfortunate is that the overall story was not very interesting and none of the supporting characters were that captivating either. Rome and Italy in particular is normally very photogenic and looks great in many movies. However, this time, Arkasha failed to capitalize on this advantage making the sets and location feel staged and very un-Italian.

Overall, The First Omen was a disappointment to me because of its inconsistency in the level of enticement. There were not enough high points in the story flow and none of the characters apart from the main character of Margaret stood out. The film only manages to redeem itself to some extent towards the end which genuinely held our attention.