The disturbing shocker The First Omen proves how a franchise thought to be dead can be given a furious new lease of life. The horror film with outstandingly frightening sequences is now streaming on Disney+.
When a horror franchise has reached its sixth film, it’s usually no longer worth mentioning. However, the first Omen, which tells the prequel to the 1976 genre classic The Omen, is a rare exception.
As a stand-alone, disturbing shocker, there hasn’t been a better and more haunting horror film in cinemas so far this year. You can now catch up on the work of director Arkasha Stevenson (Brand New Cherry Flavor) with a streaming subscription.
Stream the first Omen with a Disney+ subscription
Horror prequel to an almost 50-year-old classic: This is what The First Omen is about
The action takes place in Rome in 1971, where the American novice Margaret (Nell Tiger Free) is about to take her vows in a Catholic orphanage. However, strange occurrences quickly pile up, involving brutal or fatal incidents.
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The main character soon realizes that she is caught up in a diabolical conspiracy. However, she realizes too late how deeply she has already become involved in the events
The first omen is impressively stylish and frightening
Even after the extremely unsettling opening scene, in which Game of Thrones star Charles Dance meets a violent death as a priest, it’s hard to believe that director Arkasha Stevenson has made her feature film debut here.
Watch another German trailer for The First Omen here:
The First Omen is stylishly staged with calm camera movements, artfully prepared shots and profound horror images like the work of a decades-old genre master. With a running time of 120 minutes, Stevenson takes his time to bring the slowly increasing irritation and inevitable escalation of Margaret’s journey to a head.
There are no entertaining jump scares here, instead the movie creeps under your skin in an increasingly unpleasant way. When the satanic cards are on the table in The First Omen, later horror sequences are as shocking as if the devil himself had taken up residence in some of the impressions.
As a prequel to a genre classic, the film could easily have become a loveless piece of merchandise in order to cash in quickly on the brand name. However, The First Omen has become nothing less than the best horror film of the year so far.
