Spoiler warning as per usual. Potential trigger warnings for gore, religious trauma, stuff to do with birthing.
The First Omen (2024)
Directed by: Arkasha Stevenson
Starring: Nell Tiger Free, Sônia Braga, Bill Nighy, Ralph Ineson, Tawfeek Barhom, Maria Caballero, Nicole Sorace
Based on: characters by David Seltzer
Running time: 119 minutes
Out now
but first
Yes, Ave Satani is in this movie. Yes, it’s still one of the creepiest pieces of music ever recorded to a soundtrack.
the plot, in brief
Rome, 1971. Against a backdrop of protests and civil unrest, American novitiate Margaret (Nell Tiger Free) arrives to work at the Vizzardelli Orphanage and take up her vows. Welcomed by Cardinal Lawrence (Bill Nighy), an old friend who took care of her while she herself was a ward of the Church, Margaret settles into her new life as she meets with the Abbess of the orphanage, Sister Silvia (Sônia Braga), and is given a tour of the premises.
Margaret soon finds a connection to a troubled older child, Carlita (Nicole Sorace), who experiences auditory and visual hallucinations similar to the ones Margaret had as a child. But when one day she is approached by an excommunicated priest by the name of Father Brennan (Ralph Ineson), who warns her to not trust anyone at Vizzardelli and to stay away from Carlita, Margaret slowly starts to uncover a terrifying conspiracy…
sanguis
It has not escaped me that this is the second movie in the span of a few weeks in which an American novitiate comes to Rome to take up the veil and instead uncovers a plot by the Church to birth something. As Bilge Ebiri said in his review for Vulture:
So why should anyone be surprised that suddenly, in the wake of the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, as state after state attempts to enact religious laws depriving women of bodily agency, America is getting horror movies about people forced into monstrous births by religious institutions worried about their growing irrelevance? Whether it’s from a direct desire to be topical or a subconscious need to make our anxieties tangible, horror throws our world back at us.
I believe horror storytelling at its best can help us work through our feelings by writing them out large on the screen. Whether warped into the shape of a monster, or through the lens of the supernatural or just shown as plain and human, horror is a broad church (… pun not intended) that is uniquely placed to tackle something topical like this (intentionally or not) and help us process the horrors of the world outside your cinema screen.
bibimus
"The weirder, more intense and emotionally and physically taxing the thing I have to do, the way happier I am," she says, joking, "It's possible I may be a masochist. I'll have to look into that."
Nell Tiger Free to Benjamin VanHoose for People Magazine
Like with Immaculate, The First Omen’s main strength comes from its central performance. Nell Tiger Free (Game of Thrones, Servant) is a joy to watch as Margaret; she is clearly completely fearless, and also just fun to hang out with, especially in the early scenes where she’s working with the kids at the orphanage (“FARFALLA!”). Her bond with Carlita (a second here to commend Nicole Sorace, who is both unnerving and heartbreaking in the role) is also very endearing, as she finds common ground with the troubled kid (… well, and even more so later).
corpus
Unlike with Immaculate, this movie also carries with it the not-inconsiderable weight of 1976’s original. Director and writer Arkasha Stevenson (who pretty much immediately cements herself as a name to watch in horror with the film’s opening sequence, more on that in a second) mostly manages to shoulder that weight - the story is given time to breathe and be its own thing while at the same time weaving in nods to The Omen without standing there and hooting REMEMBER THIS??? in your face.
The only time it doesn’t quite pull it off for me is the inevitable homage to it’s all for you, Damien as the character doing the homage-ing doesn’t get enough screentime for it to really matter in the grand scheme of things, but otherwise, The First Omen does an admirable job in its prequel duties.
And it specifically does so in the casting of genre actor Ralph Ineson as Father Brennan, with his distinctly rumbling voice and (more importantly) his frankly alarmingly exact likeness to original flavour Brennan, the late Patrick Troughton (UNNERVING). Ineson manages to bring a weary urgency to Brennan, embodying a man who knows something is happening that’s very wrong but he’s at a loss for how to stop it.
edimus (aka this is the bit where I give you five reasons you should see The First Omen)
the opening scene
I really do not want to spoil the opening just because it’s genuinely great, but it involves Charles Dance, some very precarious construction work and a grin that will imprint on you for at least 24 hours afterwards.
the supporting cast
In the cast, we’ve also got Maria Caballero as Luz, Margaret’s free-spirited room mate/fellow novitiate (and possibly also one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen in my entire life???), Tawfeek Barhom as the kind Father Gabriel and Bill Nighy as Cardinal Lawrence bringing his usual stately Bill Nighy energy(/complimentary).
However, the standout has to be Sônia Braga as Sister Silvia, mainly because 1) Sônia Braga is a bloody brilliant actress and 2) she is fucking terrifying as Sister Silvia, seriously.
the ode to Andrzej Żuławski’s 1981 Possession
Late in the film, Nell Tiger Free pays ode to arguably Possession’s most famous scene and channels Isabelle Adjani falling to pieces in the subway. It’s exactly what you want it to be and more.
the body horror
*chef’s kiss* ten out of ten, absolutely horrific.
it includes shots like THIS
LOOK AT THIS FRAMING! LOOK AT IT! She looks like she’s standing in the middle of a creature’s jaws! STUNNING! GORGEOUS! YAS MAMA GIVE US IMAGERY!
Ahem.