“The First Omen” Review

A Disappointing Attempt at Horror

Photo by Armanda Haller on Unsplash

Nearly 50 years after “The Omen” was released in theaters, a prequel, “The First Omen,” has now made its appearance. “The Omen” concentrated on Damien after his birth, and throughout his younger years. The First Omen, however, showed how his birth came to be. This time, “The First Omen” focuses on extreme blasphemy and insanity. It is certainly a switch from the first movies and fans of the more intrigue and mystery of the first films will be let down. Fans of gore however will be in for a fun ride, but the effects can't save this movie. It's a very slow and quite boring movie that's filled with topics that are in no way needed for a movie like this.

The effects in “The First Omen” are absolutely horrifying. From eye gouging to sick transformations this movie makes you feel like you delved into the deepest pits of hell and saw what nobody should see. Many scenes will leave viewers shocked and wanting to look away, but you just can't seem to. It's almost a little too gory, but it's fun to actually see a movie be creative with its body horror and gore. This film takes a complete 180 from the original movie and instead of a slow-paced eerie watch, it is filled with amazing effects and horrific visuals. “The First Omen” is truly a feast for the horror fans eyes.

Although having gore in a movie is fun and disgusting, sometimes this movie gets very gross and incredibly awkward to watch. The acting, while okay, is not that great and really takes viewers out of the movie at times. The themes and topics that are shown on screen feel like they should not be on there and linger on an excruciatingly uncomfortably long time. It comes to a point where fans might question if any of this was necessary to the plot of the movie. For most, “The First Omen” will not be a nice watch if you aren't comfortable with movies delving into some very dark topics.

The Pacing of “The First Omen” is also pretty bad. You will be fighting to not reach for your phone for the first 30 minutes of the movie. Even after that, the story drags on and it seems as if the film amplified the gore and body horror to try and make up for the dreadful pace. There's so many scenes in this movie where time seems to come to a stop and viewers are sitting there wondering if they spent money on the right movie. The pace does eventually pick up, but by then it's already too late and it's not enough to make this movie any good.

Although the effects of the movie are great, “The First Omen” can't seem to hold its own and live up to its original namesake.

<Star Rating>

Gore: ★★★★★

Themes: ★★★★★

Pacing: ★★★★★

Overall: ★★★★★