La malédiction: Le commencement

Kudos to the filmmakers for having the guts to do a straight up prequel to such a classic horror film. Rather than another re-boot, the events in The First Omen take place directly before the classic film.

The film is delightfully creepy and weird, including a sequence that legitimately gave me goosebumps. Fantastic cinematography and atmosphere actually makes the film feel like it could've come out in 1971.

Not only does it give context to the original but also answered some lingering questions I had after watching the original. A prequel that is not only worthy, but actually feels necessary.

How can a prequel of a classic directed by a first timer (at least when it comes to feature films) be this good???

The First Omen is a must watch for it's cinematography alone. Adding Nell Tiger Free as the incredible lead, eery body horror, spectacular sets and costumes and the feeling of 70s cinema.

It might be a tid bit too long and the whole Dan Brown-esque scavenger hunt wasn't fully working, but damn is it fun and just beautiful to watch.

Arkasha Stevenson did the original Omen justice.

I have to compare it to Immaculate since it's basically the same story, but so much better! Go watch this instead, trust me.

I went into this movie aware that it was a 'slow burn'. This is fine with me and I greatly enjoyed movies such as VVitch, The Invitation, The House of the Devil etc. However, a slow burn movie done well maintains the suspense / dread throughout to keep you invested. In this movie, scenes are just stretched out to twice as long as they need to be and (in my case at least) boredom set in. When I needed a bathroom break I even ended up browsing the boards for upcoming movies rather than return to my seat straight away - I have never done that before in a cinema. To top it off there are continuity issues between this movie and the original this is the prequel to, which irritates as the original is such a classic. Not scary, and not worthy of the Omen name.

Unsettling is the perfect word to describe The First Omen. This prequel to the 1971 classic maintains the atmosphere and dread of the original while adding a few of its own twists and turns to the lore for better or worse.

Exploring the dark forces behind Damien's birth is one of the best parts of the First Omen. The tension that builds up to the final act is equally as compelling. Thankfully there were only a few cheap jump scares with the film opting for more disturbing imagery. There were many scenes where you knew something was going to happen but all you could do was either watch it play out or turn away. If you do decide to stick with it you will find the graphic moments satisfyingly disturbing. The First Omen does not disappoint when it comes to fully utilizing its R-rating.

One of the worst aspects of the film is the narrative. Hauntings kind of just happen for no particular reasons and some of the changes to the lore in The Omen don't quite jive not just with the original but within the context of The First Omen itself. All of the actors did an amazing job in their respective roles but a majority of the supporting characters needed more development. Nell Tiger Free's Margaret stood out as the leading protagonist while her friend and ally priest left me wanting to know more about them.

For me, the pros outweigh the cons but the lacking story is worth considering if you are on the fence about seeing The First Omen in theaters.

Finally a horror movie that doesn't rely on jumpscares every 10 seconds.

The story is of Margret who goes to an orphanage run by nuns in Italy in the 70s. She is on the road to getting her veil when we discover she was also brought up in one of those homes and was plagued by visions which she was thought that they were her imagination. When a girl starts having similar experiences she grows close to her trying to uncover the route of them. As people are losing faith in God around the world the church pose a plot to gain back their faith, going to extreme lengths, sinister lengths.

The movie is solid, it focuses on telling a story in the horror genre with about 3 jumpscares and a major lean on visual horror scenes.

The acting is good, there also seems to be a good sense of dread in the entire movie as the characters are on edge the whole time. The settings are good and the music is good. The story is a little predictable as I caught on quite quick the "twist"

Overall an enjoyable time and I hope more of these come out as I like them not filled with Jumpscares as that gets so boring, 7.5/10.