The First Omen

All a franchise needs is a little rest and relaxation, a little time to recharge its batteries before storming back into the fray. Sometimes a franchise needs more than one break! In the case of The Omen, it was a franchise that was effectively and rightfully wrapped up with 1981’s The Final Conflict: The Omen III. You can only go so far with a premise like that before you need to just crucify the beast and get it over with - and they did! But, as is often the case, things can’t be left alone. 

Sometime around 1990, someone got the bright idea that we all needed more demonic destruction and mayhem. The Omen IV: The Awakening sped into production and went directly to cable premiering on HBO and quickly put audiences back to sleep essentially killing the franchise a second time. Then fifteen years later when remakes of classic horror films were all the rage, we were blessed with The Omen 666 which had plenty of creepy mood and a few great performances, but it lacked any subtlety or style. After a clever 6-6-’06 release date (a Tuesday if I remember right), the film floundered out of theaters and was quickly forgotten. 

But we’re now in the area of Legacy Sequels and Prequels where young and up-and-coming filmmakers concoct clever ideas on how to expand our favorite franchises whether we want them to or not. After so much bad blood spilled in the name of the beast - The Omen seemed the least likely to work. I remember hearing a new Omen film was in the works and quickly cast it out of mind. I was genuinely shocked when the first trailer dropped for The First Omen and it looked alright. I was even more surprised sitting in the theater and realizing it’s pretty damn good! 

Before the events of The Omen, we meet young Margaret Daino (Nell Tiger Free), an American who has traveled to Rome during a series of political youth protests throughout the city to begin her life serving the Catholic church. It is at the Vizzardeli Orphanage where she will serve under Cardinal Lawrence (Bill Nighy) alongside Father Gabriel (Tawfeek Barhom) and Sister Silva (Sonia Braga). Her roommate Luz (Maria Caballero) is something of a free spirit encouraging Margaret to enjoy her few remaining nights of freedom before she is duty-bound to God. After one such night, Margaret will find herself at the center of a horrific conspiracy the likes of which the world has never endured. 

So to clear the elephant from the foom, The First Omen and Immaculate are essentially twin films sharing many of the same plot points but through slightly different story. Many beats are similar, the theme of post-Roe v. Wade female bodily autonomy and birth horror is the same, and the problematic patriarchal church presence is very much identical. The films even share the same shooting location at Villa Parisi! Despite notable similarities, it is the hows and whys of the story that differ and I would argue make The First Omen the better feature of the two. Even within the context of the franchise as an unnecessary prequel, I found the film to be a sharp, scary, and often horrifying experience. Saying more in detail would be stepping into a lot of heavy spoiler territory so I won’t go into that in detail beyond saying it all works. 

Now, longtime fans of the franchise might have a few bumps and issues with this entry and how this film slightly bends the lore to fit its story. It might be a bridge too far for some, but in my opinion, if you let this film have its way, the story not only works but knits into the original trilogy nicely. At the center of the film, we have an excellent performance from Nell Tiger Free as Margaret. She projects the right combination of bravery and innocence for what the character endures through two hours. That’s to say nothing of the amazing homage to Isabelle Adjani! The deep gravelly voice of Ralph Ineson is always welcome in any horror film, but his take on Father Brennan (previously played by Patrick Troughton) interestingly expands that character’s arch into a position of failure instead of complicity. The rest of the cast is dynamite, but again, I don’t want to say too much for the sake of spoiling anything I will say Sonia Braga is quite something to be afraid of and the film features one of the most terrifying and grotesque birth scenes this side of X-Tro.

Director and co-writer Arkasha Stevenson deftly stitches together a tantalizing horror film with clever plot beats and well-drawn characters. It’s a hell of an effort for a feature film debut! The film feels distinctly different from Richard Donner’s masterpiece and the sequels that followed, but also doesn’t feel out of place or separate. The shocking deaths are just as grotesque but aren’t telegraphed as an impossible otherworldly presence. Composer Mark Korven doesn’t exploit Jerry Goldsmith’s Oscar-winning score but melds his own eerie tunes into the melodies and movements. 

The First Omen wasn’t anything that I expected. After so many iffy sequels and a bad remake, I just didn’t think this franchise had much blood left in it. I always figured we'd see another Omen film someday, but I wasn't ever looking forward to it. To my surprise, Arkasha Stevenson delivered a film that more than justifies its existence and just might stand as the best film in the franchise after the 1976 original. My only knock is the film’s final moments, a hammy coda directly linking this film to the rest of the franchise, that was just not needed or necessary. If they’d left that out, you’d have a damn near perfect extension of the original film... even if it was an unneeded one.

Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-ray 
Marking the first title from Disney/20th Century studios manufactured and distributed by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, The First Omen terrorizes physical media collectors with a single-disc Blu-ray + Digital release. The film is pressed on a Region Free BD-50 disc and is housed in a standard case with identical slipcover artwork. The disc loads to the traditional Disney language option menu before moving on to an animated main menu with options along the bottom and bonus features along the right side of the screen. The digital code is Movies Anywhere compatible and redeems in HD. 

I’ll just get the basic physical media question about a brand new film on home video out of the way - “why no 4K?” This is frustrating because you can watch it in 4K on Hulu or buy a digital 4K UHD with Dolby Vision and Atmos. The only guess I have is since Scream Factory’s The Omen Collection Blu-ray set has gone out of print, a new franchise box set must be in the works from someone that may offer a 4K disc then. No idea if that’s true, but it’s a reasonable guess considering the marketplace.

As far as 1080p Blu-ray goes, this is a damn good disc. This flick was shot digitally but it appears that some sort of faux grain effect was applied and in a way that’s not a detriment but convincing from a cinematic perspective. Bitrates are nice and high throughout and the image looks great. Fine lines, facial features, beautiful locations throughout Rome, and as we saw in Immaculate, that grand Villa Parisa again looks amazing back on screen. This film takes on a color scheme that favors heavy browns and darker yellows, but flashes of bright red, blue, and true yellow pull through. Skin tones are healthy and human. Black levels are right on point - which is especially important considering how dark and grim the film gets as it rolls along. If 1080p is all we get, it’s a great disc, but I am holding out hope for an on-disc 4K HDR experience.

On the audio side, we’re treated to a rightly moody and damned creepy DTS-HD MA 7.1 audio track. From the creepy opening impregnation sequence right through the fiery finale, the audio mix never falters. Dialog is clean and clear without issues - especially as the action ramps up in the last act. The Mark Korvon score is the right kind of unsettling that makes your skin crawl. It’s great mood material without overpowering the film’s soundscape or trading genuine scares for big loud instrumentation and noise. The soundscape is pretty versatile, becoming more intense and immersive as the story moves along. LFE is well-defined, largely moved by the ominous and moody music elements, but there are a few good car crashes that deliver some rumble in the subs. A great mix, but similar to the video transfer, I’ld love to hear that true Atmos track in action on disc and not the compressed streaming version.

Bonus features for this disc are interesting and informative but fall on that very brief and slim side. They have the talking-head basic EPK quality, but there are some worthwhile tidbits to glean from these little featurettes. A full feature-length making-of or a director’s commentary would have been a very welcome addition. 

• The Director’s Vision (HD 4:31)
• The Mystery of Margaret (HD 5:42)
• Signs of the First Omen (HD 8:43)

A year ago if you told me there was going to be a prequel to The Omen and that it was actually pretty damn good, I might have laughed. Generally, as a rule, I don’t discount the idea that a sequel, prequel, requel, or remake might actually be good - but I need to see it to believe it. Especially for a franchise that had been killed off as many times as The Omen. I love being surprised and The First Omen was surprisingly good. I wouldn’t call it perfect, but going toe-to-toe against Immaculate I consider this unexpected franchise extension the better of two devilishly thematically rich and horrifically entertaining beasts. Arkasha Stevenson pulled off the unexpected proving this old franchise had plenty of blood left in it leaving some wiggle room for more devilish mayhem. While we definitely deserved a 4K disc release, I can’t discount this 1080p Blu-ray effort. The transfer is excellent and the audio is impressive. I wished the bonus features package was a little more robust, but as it stands, this is a disc worthy of your attention. Recommended