First Reaction: The First Omen (2024)

One of the things I find most beautiful about art, storytelling, and as a result film, is that there's something inherently anarchic about it. If you can come up with a rule, there is going to be an artist or group of artists who successfully break it. The only real rule is "Does it work?" Good or great is subjective. Whether or not something fulfills the creative goals and ambitions it sets for itself are something else, altogether, and this is what I mean by "Does it work?"

It's hard to argue that right now, Hollywood is obsessed with IP, films based on something which already has some level of recognition in the public consciousness, whether it be older films, film franchises, comic books, toys... They're trying to beat the chaotic nature of public interest by relying on things a relatively large audience will automatically recognize. This is the reason there have been so many prequels, "legacy" sequels, reboots, remakes etc. over the last two decades.

In response, a backlash has arisen in critical and fandom circles. I agree that the degree producers and studios are relying on and focusing on IP is not the best thing for the future of the industry or the art of film. I also think it's not in the best interest of the future of the industry or film as an art to punish artists for working when they can, and it's worth recognizing when artists do good or great work under those circumstances. I'd love to see more original work, I support it when I can, and I am also going to recognize when artists who can fulfill or exceed the creative goals of the story they set out to tell. After all, there's plenty of "original" storytelling, in every medium, which doesn't add up to being much more than warmed over, lesser versions of some other work that's being imitated, and often that imitation is sincere, not just a cheap cash grab. Different artists have different motivations, and most artists change over time, their motivations included.

Director Arkasha Stevenson, her co-writers Tim Smith and Keith Thomas aren't reinventing the wheel with The First Omen. It's story is very much in the tradition of religious horror, more specifically horror based in Catholic beliefs and ritual, with one or two fun variations. At the same time, the filmmaking, storytelling skill and talent are superior to most of the other films that have come to kneel in front of the altar of this sub genre.

Another recent horror film, that I also thought was excellent (you can read my first reaction here), Immaculate, was in this same sub genre/tradition. The difference? Immaculate, starred Sidney Sweeney, considered one of the "hot young stars" in Hollywood, with her own name recognition and following. Immaculate was an original script Sweeney produced because she wanted to play the role and see the film get made. It's a pretty bold choice, considering her place world of film right now. It brought in about $23 million at the box office. Nell Tiger Free, who has the lead role in The First Omen doesn't have quite that status, nor a following like Sweeney's. The First Omen is a prequel to the 1976 classic The Omen, starring Gregory Peck and directed by Richard Donner. It was one of the big studio horror films capitalizing on the success of The Exorcist in 1973. The First Omen, with it's connection to that film, brought in $53 million. That's twice the box office, even though the marketing material suggests very similar films, and the lead in Immaculate has a much bigger cultural footprint, at the moment. Some of this is also the difference between a relatively small independent distributor taking up the Immaculate, and 20th Century Studios, now a subsidiary of Disney, being the production company and distributor.

Whether a film is financially successful isn't the same as whether it's creatively successful either. The First Omen would still be as creatively successful, whether or not the 1976 Richard Donner film existed. It has some connections fans of the original will recognize, yet if that film had never been made, everything in this one would still work as well as it does.

Within the first five minutes, I was struck by how visually beautiful The First Omen is. Arkasha Stevenson and her cinematographer Aaron Morton have managed to somehow split the difference between the look of digital photography and photography on physical film. It has the clarity of digital photography, with the warmth and glow of film. For a moment, it was a little disorienting, seeing these two elements which don't usually coexist this way and I associate with the different forms of photography, but within the first few minutes, that passed, and the sheer beauty of it becomes clear and unquestionable. There's also a focus on composition and light that is downright painterly. There are moments, images in it that recall the best aspects of Caravaggio paintings, the stark contrast using bright light and extreme dark to highlight the subject, as well as how they're placed in the frame, as well as a number of other arresting, memorable images inspired by the world of fine art. The choice of those influences on the visual language are smart, considering their connections the themes of the film and location, beyond just being aesthetically pleasing.

Another undeniable aspect of The First Omen is that Arkasha Stevenson had a clear, thoroughly considered vision and approach to what the film should be, and executes it masterfully. The confidence and discipline in execution of that vision calls to mind some of the other excellent debut features in horror in the last decade, like Censor, Saint Maud, Watcher, The Stylist, Get Out, Hereditary, The Witch and The Blackcoat's Daughter. Like the directors of those films, Stevenson knows the genre, inside and out, which gives her the ability to competently allow the plot to develop, while infusing it with atmosphere, understanding the timing of developing tension and the mechanics of creating an effective scare, as well as an affecting emotional through line. The calculation of sound design, score, transitions, decisions about when to keep the camera fixed in space and when to move it are also evidence she is a storyteller who intimately understands cinematic storytelling, including the mechanics of the horror film as an artistic vehicle for communicating ideas, without disregarding the experiences audiences are looking for in a horror film related to the supernatural. The pacing of the film is expert too. It moves quickly, but knows when to slow down, and maybe even more crucially, how to slow down without breaking the momentum of the narrative.

Stevenson created a film which is both an easy crowd pleaser, and has some scathing critique of the patriarchal nature of Catholicism (and by extension Christianity more broadly) close enough to the surface it's plainly evident for anyone interested. For those who don't like polemical films that wear their politics on their sleeve, this can still be enjoyable, and yet you can't really say it's cowardly about what it has to say, which considering the number of films that fail to achieve this balance, should be considered an extreme level of difficulty.

Nell Tiger Free commits to her role as Margaret, the lead who is a novitiate come from American to work in an orphanage in Italy, soon to take her vows and don a nun's habit, who over the course of the film discovers not everything is as she has been taught or believes. She's very good, and there's a quality in her eyes that's genuinely haunting. She has veterans Sonia Braga, Ralph Ineson and Bill Nighy supporting her, all of whom are excellent and help give the whole proceeding some gravitas. Maria Caballero plays another novitiate with whom Margaret develops a friendship, and she's also good in a fun role. The young Nicole Sorace is quite good and has a few stand out moments as one of the orphans Margaret takes a particular interest in.

I didn't go into The First Omen expecting much, because it is a prequel, obviously existing because of its connection to the 1976 classic and the semi-successful franchise it spawned. We've seen enough IP driven projects come out terribly, to know not to expect much. What I from The First Omen was a compelling, engaging, entertaining entry in the religious horror sub genre. Interviews suggest Stevenson is a a big fan of the original, and one has to wonder if her respect for it is part of what brought her to a level of commitment and discipline which shines through in the film. It may well be these are qualities Stevenson brings to every project, and let's hope that's the case, because I'm eager to see what she does next.

I think, given the existence of films like The First Omen, Luca Guadagnino's Suspiria, and a few other examples, as fans and artists, we can both put what pressure we can on the people who decide what gets made or distributed to support original stories, and also give artists their flowers when they do good work, no matter what.