THE FIRST OMEN (2024)

Studio:   20th Century Studios
Director: Arkasha Stevenson
Writer:   Tim Smith, Arkasha Stevenson, Keith Thomas, Ben Jacoby
Producer: David S. Goyer, Keith Levine
Stars:    Nell Tiger Free, Ralph Ineson, Sonia Braga, Tawfeek Barhom, Maria Caballero, Charles Dance, Bill Nighy

Review Score:

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Summary:

A novice American nun travels to an Italian orphanage where she becomes embroiled in a shocking conspiracy to birth the Antichrist.

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

Father Brennan secretly meets with Father Harris inside a church confessional. While cryptically discussing their mutual goal to disrupt a conspiracy to birth the Antichrist, Harris passes Brennan a photograph of two nuns, a priest, and a baby with the name "Scianna" written on the back of the photo. Afterward, Harris has the back of his head gashed open by broken shards from a stained-glass window falling outside.

In the summer of 1971, Father Gabriel and Cardinal Lawrence, the latter of whom knows her from when she was a problematic orphan suffering from strange hallucinations, warmly welcome novice American nun Margaret Daino to Rome, where she will be taking her vows while also working at an orphanage. At the orphanage, Margaret meets abbess Sister Silva as well as unusual nun Sister Anjelica. Margaret soon begins taking an empathetic interest in 12-year-old Carlita Scianna, an outcast orphan who also suffers from haunting visions and is often physically disciplined for her violent behavior.

Margaret spends an evening clubbing with her outgoing roommate and fellow aspirant Luz. Margaret suddenly blacks out while dancing with a man named Paolo. When she reawakens in their apartment the next morning, Luz claims nothing out of the ordinary happened and she helped Margaret return home safely.

Father Brennan clandestinely introduces himself to Margaret. Brennan briefly warns Margaret about Carlita before asking her to find him later so he can reveal more.

At the orphanage, screams draw Margaret to a medical room where she sees a hysterical pregnant woman being restrained. Margaret faints when she seemingly witnesses a creature beginning to emerge from the woman's birth canal. Later, after an unsettling interaction with Margaret and Carlita, Sister Anjelica shocks everyone by announcing "It's all for you," and then setting fire to her body before hanging herself in the orphanage courtyard.

Margaret visits Father Brennan at his apartment. Brennan shows Margaret the photo he received from Father Harris, which depicts the orphanage's Father Spiletto with Sister Silva and another nun around a baby that Brennan thinks could be Carlita. Brennan explains there is a secret sect within the church that is trying to drive people back to God by birthing the Antichrist, which they feel will foster more believers because there will be tangible evil to fear. Brennan believes the baby in the photo was bred to be the Antichrist's mother, who will have to mate with a jackal, but he needs files from the orphanage to verify how Carlita was born and if her birthday was 6/6 at 6am.

Margaret tries to carefully question Carlita about her unusual treatment by the nuns, but Carlita only says she sometimes has bad feelings that she isn't sure are real or not. Amid a political protest that turns into a riot, Margaret experiences a frightening vision where she is accosted by a demonic creature. Concerned she may be getting too close to uncovering the truth about what is going on, Sister Silva disciplines Margaret by demanding she no longer have any contact with Carlita.

Margaret spots Paolo from the dance club on a random street. Margaret tries catching up to Paolo, but he flees from her in distress. Paolo apologetically says, "I didn't know" and tells Margaret to "look for the mark" before being suddenly struck by a vehicle and pinned to a wall. Margaret tries rescuing Paolo, but inadvertently pulls his severed torso away from his legs.

While everyone else is occupied with Luz's initiation ceremony, Margaret finds a secret passage leading to an underground room where she discovers hidden records. A file labelled "Scianna-14" verifies that Carlita was born on June 6th, 1959. Additional numbered folders reveal other "Sciannas" that did not survive their manipulated births.

Sister Silva and several other nuns catch Margaret trying to escape with the files and with Carlita. Margaret manages to stash the files before she and Carlita are captured. When the girl screams, Margaret sees that Carlita has the 666 mark on the inside roof of her mouth. While locked in a room, Margaret sees a vision of an immolated Sister Anjelica laughing at her.

Having found the files she hid, Father Gabriel rescues Margaret and brings her to Father Brennan. Margaret points out that the baby in Father Harris's photograph has the mark of the beast on its scalp, but Carlita has it inside her mouth. In a folder labeled "Scianna-5," Margaret discovers that she was bred to be born as one of the Sciannas, and she is actually the baby in the photo. This triggers a memory that Paolo found the 666 on her scalp while they were dancing. Reasoning that she was brought back to Rome for the mating ritual, Brennan warns that the conspirators will come for Margaret before midnight on June 6th, although Margaret worries she may already be pregnant.

Margaret's assigned driver Luca begins escorting her, Father Brennan, and Father Gabriel out of town, but his car is violently sideswiped. Margaret emerges from the wrecked vehicle entranced and convulsing. Margaret's water breaks shortly before she is recaptured.

Margaret wakes up chained to a table surrounded by candles and conspirators. Cardinal Lawrence tells Margaret that the baby she is about to bear will redeem the world by bringing people back to God. Lawrence cuts into Margaret's womb and surprisingly removes two infants, one boy and one girl. The boy is hailed as the Antichrist.

Margaret stabs Cardinal Lawrence in his throat. She then prepares to kill the baby boy but, because Margaret hesitates, Luz stabs her first. Margaret collapses. Sister Silva commands the conspirators to set everything on fire and to leave Margaret to die with the baby girl.

Carlita helps Margaret and the baby girl escape. Within the growing fire, Margaret sees a beastly figure burning in the flames. Meanwhile, Father Spiletto instructs Luz to deliver the baby boy to Katherine Thorn and her diplomat husband Robert.

Five years later, Father Brennan finds Margaret and Carlita living in hiding with the little girl Margaret named Layla. Brennan warns that the conspirators know Margaret is alive and they will come after her. Margaret sends Brennan away at gunpoint. Before leaving, Brennan informs Margaret that the boy was given the name Damien.

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Review:

If you only watch one of the two 2024 thrillers where an aspirant American nun travels to Italy to deal with a devilish pregnancy, I'd recommend "Immaculate" (review here) over "The First Omen." "Fun" would be a wildly inappropriate descriptor. Let's instead say there's a dementedness to "Immaculate's" demon dealings that make its higher energy more consistently engaging. And since it takes 30 fewer minutes to tell literally the exact same story, "Immaculate" also maintains a more fluid flow that has less of a dependency on slow-burn atmosphere to buffer long spans between fiery visual chills.

On the other hand, if you prefer an even darker tone that's arguably “eviler” in terms of how intangible eeriness sneaks under goosebumped skin, "The First Omen's" unnerving texture may be more your bag. With a free-rolling camera and provocative score full of hypnotic hums and unholy operatic shrieks, the film snatches its haunting style right out of the 1970s, making it a fearsomely fitting prelude for the Gregory Peck classic it's meant to precede.

When a first scene features both Ralph Ineson and Charles Dance as grim-faced, gravel-voiced priests, you know the movie came to play; especially since Dance's face only occupies the screen for maybe 20 collective seconds, yet "The First Omen" was determined to include his gravitas anyway. At the same time, it's come to my attention that this pre-title piece was added after the fact following focus group feedback (hence Dance's one-and-done minute of screentime), and I've no reason to think otherwise since it fully feels like an unnecessarily added sequence.

In this scene, Ineson's Father Brennan, a character who carries over to the original "The Omen" via Doctor Who #2 Patrick Troughton, has a cryptic conversation with Dance's Father Harris inside a church confessional. While mincing words about a secret conspiracy to birth the Antichrist, Harris passes Brennan a photo of a baby they believe was bred to be The Devil's mother. I feel like I should put "SPOILER" before what comes next, except "The First Omen" does such a negligent job of protecting what I assume is supposed to be a twist, I'm not sure it's essential.

When novice nun Margaret (Nell Tiger Free) arrives at an orphanage in Rome, she immediately bonds with troubled 12-year-old Carlita. An ostracized orphan prone to violent outbursts and strange hallucinations, Carlita reminds Margaret of herself at that age, since she too suffers from visions and also grew up without parents.

Spoon-fed exposition wants viewers to think Carlita is the Antichrist vessel the priests spoke of in the prologue. But "The First Omen" goes so far out of its way to imply the photographed baby could be someone else that it doesn't take a mathematician to add that up with Margaret's nebulous background and conclude, long before the film finally confirms, that Margaret, not Carlita, actually possesses the womb that was manipulated for manufacturing Damien. I get that "The First Omen" wanted to start with ominous implications, but the suggestions planted in that Ineson/Dance scene really undermine the reveal of Margaret's unknowing role in the satanic scheme.

By nature of being a prequel to a film whose outcome is already known, "The First Omen's" additional fumble on Margaret's true purpose means the movie doesn't have a lot to offer as far as legitimate suspense goes. There is one genuine twist later down the line, more of a wrinkle really, although it doesn't do much besides set up a potential sequel to this prequel. I tried to craft a clue to allude to what I'm talking about for those in the know. That's a tough task though, so we'll simply say it involves a number/amount.

However, "The First Omen" does have quite a bit to offer on levels like entrancing imagery, nightmarish ambiance, and invested performances from all of the aforementioned actors plus Bill Nighy and Sonia Braga. There's a great deal of cinematic capital invested in the fantastic photography, heavily talented cast, strict seriousness of the movie's temperament, and "The First Omen" reaps dividends on the payout with cerebral unease and captivating character portrayals. The film is a little tamer than word of mouth claims, but it will still put palms to the open mouths of those who flinch at daring shocks like a demon hand emerging from between a pregnant woman's legs.

Now, I'm aware of the notion that a film should be assessed individually and not against another film. But we can't realistically pretend like "The First Omen" and "Immaculate" weren't released within two weeks of each other. They also contain so many blatant similarities, I'm surprised there isn't plagiarism litigation against one of them. Even lesser details, like both Nell Tiger Free and Sydney Sweeney's nuns having free-spirited roommates and the main male villains getting stabbed in their throats, are ridiculously identical.

So again, I'd say which one wins comes down to who you like best as the leading lady, whether you want "The First Omen's" insidious feel or "Immaculate's" subversive wickedness, and if you favor a pace that's more measured or one that glides with more urgent furiousness. Personally, I'll take "Immaculate's" gnarlier chaos over "The First Omen's" hollower hand-on-shoulder jolts and sleepy scenes of peeling potatoes, though that's just me. Whichever way anyone leans, both films feature Antichrist frights that are unsettling enough to be creepy as well as entertaining.

Review Score: 65

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