Holy smokes! The First Omen, an official prequel to Richard Donner/David Seltzer's 1976 horror classic, is a gruesome stunner, which mixes possession and other blasphemous doings within the soiled underbelly of the Catholic Church, all to usher the Damien Thorne phase of immorality.
The movie is directed by Arkasha (Legion) Stevenson, who scripted with Tim Smith and Keith (Firestarter 2022) Thomas, from a story by Ben (Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire) Jacoby, and co-produced by Keith Levine and DC/Marvel veteran, David S. Goyer.
The Argento-ish tale presents an aspiring nun named Margaret Daino, played by Nell Tiger (Game of Thrones) Free, who grew up an orphan and is dispatched to protest-ridden Rome in 1971 to work at an all-girl orphanage. As her naïve luck would have it, there's an unsettling plot afoot that goes against the church's holy annals, and it's relayed to Daino by the conscientious Father Brennan (first portrayed by Patrick Troughton in the 1976 chapter and Peter Postlethwaite in the 2006 redux), though this time enacted by Ralph (The Witch/The Green Knight) Ineson. The signs are there, Brennan proclaims, so take heed, before it's too late!
Does the lovely Diano listen to him? Does she lose her faith and succumb to a satanic spell? Well, being that this is an Omen picture, it doesn't matter much since the situation is geared for inexorable instability, with monstrous, birthing pains ultimately incapacitating our hapless heroine, whether she wants them or not.
Joining the foreboding ride is Charles Dance's Father Harris, Sonia Braga's Sister Silvia, Tawfeek Barhom's Father Gabriel, Maria Caballero's Luz Valez (Daino's saucy roommate), Istar Currie Wilson as the weird Sister Anjelica; Andrea Archangeli as Paolo (a doomed Don Juan), Nicole Sorace's Carlita Skianna (an anguished orphan under grave suspicion); and Bill (Pirates of the Caribbean/Underworld) Nighy's lofty and paternal Cardinal Lawrence. Who's good? Who's bad? It's all part of the mounting mystery, but no matter the participants' parts, everything shatters with the type of violence that recalls the classic original's and its immediate sequel, Damien: Omen II. (To entrench the resplendent performances and copious carnage, Aaron Morton's ambient photography is Oscar-prone, as is Mark Korven's score, which is one way a Jerry Goldsmith homage and in other way, pure, Euro-erotica.)
Unlike its predecessors (i.e. later-timed chapters), First Omen mimics much of The Exorcist (and its many offshoots and knockoffs), implanting demonic domination as its terrifying thrust. (Such makes one wonder if an Omen/Exorcist crossover might be possible.) Regardless, First Omen does distinguish itself from 2023's derivations, The Pope's Exorcist, Exorcist: Believer and Evil Dead Rise, by digging into the treacherous intrigue that sows the seeds of a Son of Satan. Hell, I guess that also qualifies this submission as a thematic cousin to Rosemary's Baby.
No matter the lens from which one views it, First Omen concludes as a fiendish, hits-close-to-home parable. Let's face it: A church exists to provide a safe, philosophical haven to those in need, but in this story's context, the practices rub way against the sacred grain. On the modern surface, this contradiction may reflect dishonest evangelism, but to a greater degree, it encapsulates present politics, where entitled officials designate citizens as unwitting slaves. It builds, on that account, a metaphor for anyone hoping to purge the bureaucratic cretins who believe they can conquer our destinies through evil over good.
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