A woman starts to question her own faith when she uncovers a terrifying conspiracy to bring about the birth of evil incarnate in Rome.

Review

Josh (Guest) – The First Omen is definitely not for those squeamish about body horror, but there is sufficient subliminal meat to the narrative to engage audiences on a deeper level. Ultimately, the greater horror is less blood-red (although there is enough of that to go around), and is more focused on the abuse of women within organized religion.

Arkasha Stevenson has directed a nuanced film that is rich in detail on multiple levels. The feminist commentary on religion is evident without being pointed, and is tastefully understated. The film is grotesque and gory, no doubt, but it is interesting to wonder if there is a certain irony in the NC-17 rating because the body horror is so female focused.

Regardless, the overall mood is complemented well with crisp cinematography by Aaron Morton, and gothic costume design by Paco Dalgado that altogether created a creepy and visually striking ambience. Multiple scenes had my skin crawling, yet I was more struck by how beautiful it all appeared. The only detractor was the cliche suspense music that I found a bit too on-the-nose in the initial scenes, when the visual and narrative content was sufficient in building suspense. This, and the slow build-up of the mystery could have been curtailed to delve deeper into the psychological workings of the cult.

Nell Tiger Free led an ensemble cast with sensitivity and strength, perfectly suited to the great character arc that she was provided with. A second notable mention is the performance of Sônia Braga with her stark and malevolent aesthetic that was perfectly suited to the role. However, the entire cast gave solid performances that supported the overall mood and story progression to create a good psychological horror.

I watched The First Omen without knowledge of the preceding films in the series. I imagine having the background context of the earlier films could be interesting in finding subtle connections, but The First Omen played out well when watched as a novice of the franchise. It reminded me strongly of Roman Polanski’s “Rosemary’s Baby” and Andrzej Żuławski’s “Possession” which would make great companion pieces in exploring the subgenre of religious-feminist horror. 7/10

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