Rarely is a sequel in the horror genre as good as the original. The twists that make the things of nightmares never seem to hit as hard the second time around. Most horror franchises have to go in some completely different direction to fool audiences twice or they rehash the same story over and over again. While some have pulled this off even fewer have been able to make a decent prequel to their franchise. Enter The First Omen, a movie that for all intents and purposes should be bad but I can’t find one bad thing about it.
The Omen is a 48 year old franchise. Let that sink in, 48 YEARS with the first film released in 1976. The original spawned three sequels, a 2006 remake and two short lived television series since it’s debut. The main series centers around Damien a child born from the Devil, who is adopted by the wealthy Thorn family. Following his adoption a series of supernatural and troubling events plague the thorns and Damien comes to realize he is the Anti-Christ, eventually attempting to seize control of the Thorn’s business ventures to make a run at political power. Thanks to Jesus Christ himself, Damien is eventually killed at the original series’ conclusion and all is well in the world of The Omen. The First Omen is the first attempt at a prequel and surprisingly it delivers.
The First Omen gives us insight to Damien’s true lineage. The film follows a nun named Margaret in Rome 1971 who is sent to do mission work at an orphanage. The film does a good job of capturing the state of the country in the early 1970s and setting the “world” up. The themes of social and political upheaval amongst Italy’s citizens seems to echo Margaret’s eventual distrust of the church as she uncovers a group of radicals are indenting to do to combat wide spread secularism within the church at the time. As she befriends troubled girl she in the orphanage she uncovers a conspiracy by these radicals to bring upon the birth of the Anti-Christ to spread panic across the world and bring the world back to the church. As Margaret dives deeper into the conspiracy more and more unworldly events unfold and she finds she may be closer to the conspiracy herself, than she ever imagined.
The First Omen is a solid watch. It hits the same notes as the original and doesn’t overdue it. Rarely is a prequel to a horror film this good and if you’re a fan of the franchise and other’s like it already you’ll be right at home. Truly rooted in demonic conspiracy I highly recommend giving this film a watch as it has no business being as good as it is. The First Omen is Streaming on Hulu.