★★★
The First Omen is the Volcano to Immaculate’s Dante’s Peak. The Bug’s Life to its Antz.
When novice American nun Sister Margaret (Nell Tiger Free) is invited to join a nunnery-slash-Orphanage in Rome by Cardinal Lawrence (Bill Nighy), it seems like the beginning of a wonderful adventure. But soon dark shadows begin to gather – students are rioting, roommate Sister Luz (Maria Cabellero) wants to go disco dancing, and tween orphan Carlita (Nicole Sorace) is being locked the “bad room” for biting people and drawing apocalyptic visions.
When hoary excommunicated priest Father Brennan (Neil Ineson) sidles up to Sister Margaret to suggest Carlita is the daughter of a jackal and is being manipulated by a shadowy cabal to father the Antichrist, she must decide what she really believes in, and how far she’ll go to protect it – or destroy it.
This ‘70s-set slice of rum nonsense (and, indeed, nun nonsense) is slickly directed by Arkasha Stevenson in her feature debut, and excellently acted by Nell Tiger Free and Sonia Braga (as the sinister Sister Silvia).
Sadly however the script too often shows signs of studio interference: clumsy callbacks to the original 1976 movie. Shock horror moments and creepy images that don’t entirely make sense in the context of the narrative. A mystery twist that’s much too guessable and a slapped on voiceover near the end to deliver a bunch of exposition for anyone who hasn’t seen the original. The clumsiest aspect is the ending itself, which has to simultaneously tie into and set up a pre-existing franchise whilst also laying the groundwork for a new set of films that the money men seem to want to run in parallel with the original trilogy.
The First Omen reminded me a little of the The Thing prequel – every time it wants to repeat something from the original for an easy round of applause, it makes sure to replace the original practical effects with slightly underdone CGI. And the less said about Ralph Ineson’s Irish brogue the better. I understand that you need to tie into Patrick Troughton’s broad performance from the original, but there’s no need to make the accent even worse.
The climax also suffers from the similar but more transgressive Immaculate having surpassed it just earlier this month. As a result, The First Omen is left looking like the Volcano to Immaculate’s Dante’s Peak. The Bug’s Life to its Antz.
And yet, for all that, it’s a good time. It’s shot with impact by Stevenson and DOP Aaron Morton, it’s handsomely mounted, it does have several strong horror sequences, and Nell Tiger Free does an excellent job of conveying innocence, doubt, fear, defiance and rage.
And as for any new sequels – this did enough to keep me watching.
The First Omen is on general release in the US and UK from Friday.
Whitlock&Pope 