Horror prequel suffers a little for what came before
of increasingly bonkers accidents, then I reckon The Omen is the answer. Try it this weekend (it’s available on Disney+), if you don't believe me.
The First Omen really does have a redhot fling at being a set-up for the original box-office smash. And to be fair, there is a lot to like about it.
Nell Tiger Free (Game of Thrones) plays Margaret with plenty of conviction and clarity. The First Omen is at its strongest and most comprehensible whenever Margaret is guiding the action and Free’s performance always seems in tune with what is unfolding in the script.
Around Free, the legendary Sônia Braga (Kiss of the Spider Woman) is a scene-stealing delight as a senior nun who is clearly up to her wimple in demonic goings-on, and British stalwart Ralph Ineson is similarly terrific as the desperate Father Brennan, who has enlisted the help of a confused teenager who speaks no Italian to stop the Apocalypse for no reason that will ever make sense if you think about it for even a second.
Distracting – and delightfully silly – is the casting of Bill Nighy as yet another ageing priest. Now, I could watch Nighy in pretty much anything, but seeing him turn up here, avuncular as ever, and then being asked to believe that his Cardinal Lawrence is actually the mastermind behind the whole mad plot was a bridge too far. I laughed out loud in the cinema – and I wasn't the only one.
Also worth an enthusiastic highfive is the work behind the camera of Kiwi Aaron Morton (The Tank), who pays homage to a whole generation of 1970s horror greats so lovingly and convincingly that you’ll still be happily staring at the screen and enjoying the show, long after you’ve given up trying to make much sense of the plot or motivations.
In a better world than this, where medium-budget horror movies got taken seriously by festivals and critics, Morton's cinematography on The First Omen would be up for some hefty awards.
The First Omen is an exercise in terrific film-making that doesn’t quite hang together as a film. But on a big screen, with the soundtrack turned up loud, it’s still a fun couple of hours. Bravo.
The First Omen is in select cinemas nationwide.