Apparently, The First Omen underwent multiple passes prior to release just to avoid an NC-17 rating due to how extreme some of the content is. This had made many folks think they were in for a special treat with this latest horror update; it’s rare that a prequel (this one being set before, and leading into The Omen (1976)) has as much excitement surrounding it leading up to release. But don’t be fooled, by either the rating debacle or the promising pre-release buzz: The First Omen, even given the impressive craft on display, is a miss everywhere it matters.
Credit where credit is due, this is a visual spectacle. The lighting is stark and colors reflect the tone, which lends itself to a moody overlay that finds a way into every single frame. Some of the silhouette work specifically is a standout, and considering everything else going on with this one, the cosmetics make it more than tolerable to sit through. The only drawback in this regard is the special effects; CGI is obvious when used, and while not used excessively, it is used unnecessarily. A particularly egregious example may pull you right out of the finale as a result of failing to deliver on an entire movie’s worth of visual build-up; no spoilers, but it’s a noteworthy disappointment nonetheless.
The whole thing is made worse by an over-reliance on intense gore that frequently underscores the potent visuals. Really, the film rarely attempts to develop scares of any kind beyond the overlong gross-out sequences. They work on occasion when the subject matter matches the violence, but again, that’s a rare occurrence here.
But the story is where The First Omen fully and fatally suffers. It does succeed in how it structures this tale; a non-linear, subversive fashion that does more than it should in hiding the problems with the storytelling. We follow a soon-to-be nun (Nell Tiger Free) as she’s called from her home in Massachusetts to an abbey in Italy. Of course, something is simmering in the caverns below the old building that could mean suffocating doom for the whole of the world if it’s allowed to be fully realized. It’s a premise with promise that falls flat in every which way upon execution.
The film is stuffed with meaningless biblical parallels that feel like maligned criticisms of something unstated. The imagery is welcome, but beyond that, the constant references to religious history add nothing to the pull of the narrative, and that’s because they have very little to do with it past the obvious stuff. It’s all basically set dressing.
The film’s religious undertones also fall flat as a result of a one-sided view of spirituality that plagues every mention of the supernatural. For as much time as we spend behind church walls, under the deafening bells and repetitive chants of the devoted, God is nowhere to be found here. That isn’t an inherent issue, but it becomes one when you make it clear that the devil is playing his hand. One implies the other, and regardless of what the thematic objective is, the time this film spends in religious settings feels strangely disconnected from them. There’s a distinct lack of nuance in this regard, and it brutalizes the final product beyond full repair.
This is an especially prevalent problem in the final act, where the extrapolation of common faith beliefs is an obvious effort to get to a specific end. That’s a problem that most prequels suffer, but such a scenario doesn’t mean that it’s any less problematic here than it was before it was normalized. The ending is the proverbial nail in the coffin, where the missteps add up and the already overbearing symbolism becomes almost ironically evident. There are a few compelling bits of character work in the falloff for Margaret, who is a great highlight through and through.
Free gives an impassioned performance in the face of very little to work with at times, and benefits greatly from the strong visual work on display. If there is any reason to catch, or revisit, this movie, it’s likely for her and those visuals alone. Otherwise, there is very little to grab onto with The First Omen. What opens as a promising return to old horror ends as a reminder that the genre will likely never be as good as it used to be again.
The First Omen is currently playing in theaters courtesy of 20th Century Studios.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmN1Op8ygno]
What opens as a promising return to old horror ends as a reminder that the genre will likely never be as good as it used to be again.
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GVN Rating
Movies, long drives, and mint chocolate chip ice cream.
