The First Omen | Review & Score

About: A young American woman is sent to Rome to begin a life of service to the church, but encounters a darkness that causes her to question her faith and uncovers a terrifying conspiracy that hopes to bring about the birth of evil incarnate.

I'm a big fan of The Omen, both the 1976 original and the 2006 remake.

Arkasha Stevenson's THE FIRST OMEN is a great addition to an already entertaining and creepy horror franchise. It's well crafted, scary, has amazing atmosphere, has a great performance from the extremely talented Nell Tiger Free and has some extremely unsettling bits and pieces.

It takes a lot to entertain me when it comes to religious horror, first this year it was Immaculate, now it is The First Omen. Fans of the original Omen film will definitely get along with this one. It's a different storyline, with a few great arcs lined up. It manages to be its own identity while paying homage to the 1976 film.

When I first saw Tiger Free in M. Night Shyamalan's SERVANT, I knew she would be a force of nature in any horror film she would be apart of in the future. I can't say enough good things about her, she's extremely talented and has that acting style that fits the genre to the core.

The final act of the film is well done. I kinda figured where it was going, to a degree. Or at least I had an idea of where it would build to, more of an idea I guess. Once that tense final act started building up and the twists come, it kinda hits you like a ton of bricks. Now, it's not without saying... yes it does have its formulaic bits to it.

But it's still an intriguing and entertaining chapter to the Omen franchise. If you loved Immaculate with Sydney Sweeney, which came out this year as well, you should really enjoy The First Omen. It does the Omen original justice and adds another creepy collection piece to your horror bunch.

It's my second favorite horror film this year, behind Longlegs.

And btw, this is a prequel to The Omen, 1976.

4.5/5