Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The First Omen’ on Hulu, a Shockingly Relevant, Well-Made Horror Prequel

The post-Roe-v-Wade world births another terrifying story about bodily autonomy in The First Omen (now streaming on Hulu), which at first seems like an IP cash-in but ends up being a pretty damn good movie that almost stands on its own two feet. It’s the sixth film in The Omen franchise, which launched with a 1976 minor genre classic, and continued through some cruddy sequels, a remake and a short-lived TV series. Directed by first-timer Arkasha Stevenson, The First Omen is a prequel to the original film that draws so many parallels to another of this year’s better horror movies, Sydney Sweeney vehicle Immaculate, you wonder if they weren’t part of a Hollywood conspiracy to release two film variations on the same theme within a couple weeks of each other – but who expected that they’d both be worth watching?

THE FIRST OMEN: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: I kinda wasn’t into The First Omen until the crazy girl licked the newbie nun on the face. I’ll backtrack a little: We open on two priests speaking vaguely about sinister secret Catholic shit, and the conversation ends, shall we say, ominously – more on that later, if it isn’t too spoilery. Then we cut to Margaret (Nell Tiger Free), a habit-wearing American arriving in Rome, and being greeted by a smiling and friendly priest character played by Bill Nighy, so we immediately don’t trust that. Margaret is so fresh-faced, she looks like the “after” photo in a Clearasil ad. She arrived in Italy to work in an orphanage for a while before taking her nunly vows and being married to the lord our gawd. Rome is in the midst of student political protests, which means things are a touch shaky around here, what with all the progress people want to make, and which the whole of Catholicism sees as an ideological threat. It’s 1971.

Now the good part, where the licking starts. Carlita (Nicole Sorace) is the problem child at the orphanage, and Margaret, as a problem child in recovery, is immediately drawn to her. Carlita drags her tongue across Margaret’s cheek – quite the greeting – and gives her a creepy drawing. No surprise, all the other nuns are rather uptight about such behavior, and often punish Carlita by locking her in the “bad room,” which Margaret rightly believes is unnecessary, but whaddaya expect from a bunch of ol’ nuns in 1971? Mercy, compassion and a good therapist? Margaret rooms with another nun-to-be, Luz (Maria Caballero), who dresses Margaret up in a halter top and spike heels for a night out, you know, to sow a wild oat or three before they give it all up for a wimple. Margaret feels weird and cold in clothing that shows a little skin, and she’s never drank booze before, but before you know it, she’s getting toasted and chatting with a handsome gentleman and dancing with him and licking him on the face and then the screen suddenly goes black.

Hey, it happens. She’s missing some time there. Don’t judge her. Although maybe she’s not quite right the next day, because we’re hearing weird choirs in the background and suddenly, one of the priests from the opening scene, Fr. Brennan (Ralph Ineson) approaches her and says vague stuff about needing to “tell her everything.” She returns to the orphanage and – actually, did I mention that Margaret sometimes sees things? As in hallucinations? Well, she does, and those things aren’t Smurfs and rainbows, more like the stuff you might expect from a horror movie that feels obligated to throw in a jump scare every so often. And this is when The First Omen really digs in and gets scary, unleashing some chilling imagery – hallucinated or otherwise, and sometimes we can’t quite tell – that does not bode well for Margaret as she tries to figure out what Carlita has to do with whatever it is Brennan goes on about in urgent, deeply concerned tones. Of course, it has to do with jolly old Satan and his Antichrist offspring, because you almost certainly aren’t watching this movie not knowing what this franchise is all about.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Omen franchise fans can count the easter eggs and rank the movies from worst to best – knock yourself out. But I’m here to tell you that Free gets an Isabelle Adjiani-in-Possession-style moment that makes me want to watch that amazing, disturbing classic again again. 

Performance Worth Watching: What about “Free gets an Adjiani-in-Possession-style moment” did you not understand? It’s the kind of scene you don’t soon forget, especially if you’re the actor who had to prepare for it, execute it and live with it for the rest of your life. 

Memorable Dialogue: Classic binary morality/circular logic from on old school nun:

Old nun: (Carlita) had to go to the bad room.

Margaret: Why is there a bad room?

Old nun: Because some girls are bad.

Sex and Skin: Nothing at all sexy about any of this movie, although I need to warn you, there’s a shot here that’s just too AUGGGHHHHHHH for words. 

Our Take: There are enough instances of women being strapped to beds in The First Omen, it works as a screaming-loud metaphor for, oh, I dunno, some of the laws regarding choice and female bodily autonomy in this country? The context gives significant agency to what could’ve been a by-the-numbers IP flex, but instead entrenches its dread within some very real, tangible fears. Anyone surprised by this razor-sharp cultural criticism may want to de-ostrich their heads from the sand; anyone surprised that the sixth movie in a moribund franchise is thematically relevant, well-directed and frightening on multiple levels can join me in being knocked over with a feather, and in praising Stevenson – who also co-writes with Tim Smith and Keith Thomas – for creating the wiggle room to make a memorable film within the series’ narrative constraints.

Stevenson also shows an impressive eye for period-piece detail, allowing us to feel immersed in the setting and therefore more vulnerable to the heinous imagery she doles out: misc. sinister rituals, immolations, creepy-nun shit, a couple of truly shocking scenes that push the boundaries of R-rated horror nearly to a breaking point, and all but dare you to look away. It’s a frequently brave and daring movie where too many horror outings are content to pile on gore, jump scares and cliches; the film’s ooey-gooey-grossest, scariest moments hit hard and fast, but also carry dramatic weight. There are moments where one senses the director was likely compelled by her employers to wedge the story into the series’ pre-existing narrative, so the film occasionally veers into clunky and obvious moments. But for the most part, The First Omen works quite well whether you’ve seen the other films or not – and Stevenson delivers the brutality where it counts.

Our Call: Oh man, this Omen is gonna end up being one of the year’s better horror movies. STREAM IT.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.