The First Omen (2024) Review: A Mixed Bag, But Still A Good Scare 

The First Omen is a prequel to the original Omen film. The movie is a mixed bag, but it has some very good scares in it.

We live in an age where prequels and sequels are more common. The First Omen (2024) might be one of the better horror prequels out there. There seem to be many horror prequels coming out soon, such as the Friday The 13th prequel series from Peacock. The First Omen (2024) is the first omen movie in a long time. The first film is regarded as a great 1970s horror classic, while its sequels did not get a lot of praise. It wasn’t Friday The 13th or Nightmare Elm Street, where they ended up making almost 10 movies. With the Omen series they only ended up making a couple.

The First Omen (2024) is the best Omen film besides the original, in my opinion. This film also complements the original in various ways, especially at the end of The First Omen (2024). I do think fans of the Omen series will enjoy this movie, and average horror fans will probably enjoy this movie as well. It’s nothing insanely brilliant or groundbreaking, but it’s still a fun horror prequel.

You can also go into The First Omen (2024) without knowing anything about the Omen series and still enjoy it. Seeing as it is a prequel, it doesn’t require you to watch any of the other movies. But if you did watch the first movie, it will be fun to catch the Easter eggs.

Unfortunately, The First Omen’s (2024) runtime is a little bit too long for what it is. The movie itself is over two hours long, which is pretty uncommon for horror movies. Many horror films are relatively short. I understand that this one had a lot going on in the plot, but at the same time, it definitely could’ve always cut out 20 minutes of the movie.

The First Omen (2024) has a pretty slow beginning, which wasn’t bad necessarily but definitely could’ve been cut down a little bit. I feel like a movie has to earn its runtime if it’s over two hours. A lot of the extra bloat in the film is the investigation stuff. Which is fine in the film, but it’s another thing that there’s a little bit too much of.

Now I have to get this out of the way because it’s kind of a crazy coincidence. The First Omen (2024) came out within weeks of another nun horror film, Immaculate. Both of these films have very similar plots, and it’s kind of insane how close the plots are and how they were released close together. With that being said, sadly, I was comparing The First Omen (2024) to Immaculate the whole time.

It sucks because this movie is so much like Immaculate; both movies legitimately have the same plot. I wanted to be able to watch this movie without thinking of comparing it to another movie besides the Omen films. But having to compare it to the Omen films and comparing it to a movie I just watched recently that had the same plot was not good.

They definitely should’ve spread out the release dates of these two films. I did enjoy Immaculate, and I did enjoy The First Omen (2024). It’s just a shame that they came out so close together and had the same plot. Both are nun horror movies about someone from America going overseas to become a nun then once the main character is there, they begin to experience strange things and a conspiracy within the church.

I won’t go into details because that’s a spoiler for both movies, and it’s nice to be surprised in these movies by how the plot thickens. The first omen has a lot of surprises in the film and also has a lot of interesting scenes with the investigation of the church. 

The First Omen (2024) is at its best when it’s doing genuine scares. The film doesn’t have a ton of jump scares or anything like that, and that is a nice touch. When The First Omen (2024) gets scary, it gets pretty scary. It has unsettling music like a lot of the omen films. It has that creepy choir music that you hear a lot in ’70s horror movies. It gives it a strange traditional horror feel, and the movie itself feels like it could’ve been a 1970s horror film.

It’s very unsettling at times, and it does get under your skin at times as well. I was pretty surprised with how it got under my skin. I would not say I was scared, but I was surprised at how the film was getting more and more disturbing.

Another thing that The First Omen (2024) did a pretty good job with was the acting, and I feel like the film’s lead roles were very well cast.

We have Ralph Ineson playing Father Brennan in the film, who has one of the most unique voices you’ll ever hear. He did lend his voice talent to a couple of video games, such as Diablo 4 and Final Fantasy XVI. In this film, he is more or less the good character who is involved in the church, whereas the other characters are not good and conspire to do evil things. In the film, he helps with investigating and uncovering the truth behind the evil doings of the church. He is in the film periodically at pivotal points, and he is great when he is on screen.

Nell Tiger Free plays Margaret, who is our lead in The First Omen (2024). She does a great job as well, especially toward the end when she has to go all out. There’s a specific scene with her near the end of the film that seems to be a direct reference to the horror film Possession. I loved that tribute, and I love possession, so it was nice to see that nod.

That scene in particular was the best showcase of her acting in the film. She has to crank it into gear at the end of the movie, and she does a really good job. Once again, it reminds me of Immaculate, where, at the end of that movie, Sydney Sweeney has to go all out.

The film had an NC-17 rating due to one very intense scene near the end of the film. They kept that scene in the film and just kept editing it and editing it until they were able to get the R rating. So go into this film knowing that it’s going to get pretty intense at times. This film is good if you want a couple of genuinely good scares.

I think that’s kind of the market for the Omen films as well. They pride themselves on having a decent story instead of a generic horror story. They also get their teeth into religion and the horrors of spirits and demons. So if any of that interests you, I think you’ll enjoy this movie.

It’ll probably do well later on with streaming and whatnot. I don’t know if they have more plans for the Omen series, but I do think that is something possible. People seem to enjoy this film, and there might be more coming. It is also a pretty good example of a horror prequel done well. So I hope that people follow this example when it comes to having a prequel to an old classic horror film.