The first omen. It’s clear from the original title The First Omen the intent of the prequel to the film directed by Arkasha Stevenson which takes up one of the cults of the genre horror, that 1976 film which with determination and merit has carved out a space for itself in the genre panorama, establishing itself as one of the essential titles which, it is our hope, the new film in theaters from 4 April by 20th Century Studios can encourage to recover. A happy intuition to place itself before the film of the 70s, the question of where the disturbing protagonist Damien comes from, which makes Omen – The origin of the omen an effective introduction to that cult for those who don’t know it and an enrichment for those who have already enjoyed the entire saga, originally made up of four titles and already the subject of a remake dated 2006. But also, and it is important to underline this, a film capable of functioning independently and to stand on their own two feet. And in this review we will explain how and why the operation seemed successful to us.
Rome, the Church and the embodiment of evil in the plot
The story of Omen – The origin of the omen takes place in Rome, in the so-called Eternal City with all that it entails from an iconographic and religious point of view, and begins when a young American woman is transferred to the city to begin her journey in the service of the Church. A path of faith never in doubt until that moment, which begins to falter when the aspiring nun finds herself encountering a darkness that brings out disturbing questions and doubts, which leads her to delve deeper and investigate a conspiracy that plots to make conceive and be born the antichrist, the incarnation of pure evil. In short, the Damien we met in the films of the saga.
The importance of the Italian context
He is the protagonist Romethe perfect location to continue the story of the prequel to The omen, because it is from there that the path of the progenitor also began and it is natural that we start from there for a story that must introduce and develop those narrative assumptions. But also because his religious centrality is the ideal background for a story that moves in the context of the Church and exploits some of its derivatives to accompany the restlessness that it intends to stage. A setting also exploited from a temporal point of view, linking to the student protests of those years and the disconnect between old and new, between past generations fearful of God and the dictates of the Church and protesting young people who demonstrate a more modern and disconnected from religiosity more present and predominant.
It is equally important that an international cast was used to support this choice of background, with room also for two good local interpreters such as Andrea Arcangeli (The Divine Pigtail, Romulus) And Nicole Sorace (The Good Mothers): if the former carves out a small but effective role, the presence of the young actress is also relevant from a narrative point of view. Theirs is a presence that complements the production’s attention to the Roman context and a cast that includes Nell Tiger Free in the role of the protagonist Margaret, Tawfeek Barhom, Sonia Braga, Ralph Ineson and Bill Nighy. A casting conceived and constructed with the right faces to convey and convey the suggestions that the film creates, that sense of oppression that the performances of the performers manage to evoke.
More anguish than jump scare
It is indeed work on the atmosphereon the sense of anguish that permeates the vision, which struck us with Omen – The origin of the omen, a horror film which, despite a couple of less successful sequences, manages to evoke and suggest rather than show. We are more in the area of psychological horror or in any case of a film that intends to build something subtle that can remain in the spectator’s soul even beyond the end of viewing, without necessarily resorting to the expedient of Jump Scare which has become the dominant stylistic feature of the genre in recent years.
A choice by director Arkasha Stevenson that respects the history and legacy of The omen, which we appreciate and made us consider the operation as a whole successful, with special mention for a couple of sequences, which obviously we won’t spoil, which strike deeply and are difficult to shake off. This alone, thinking about it and thinking about it days after seeing it, is a great success.
Conclusions
Omen – The origin of the omen is a film that respects the original which inspires it, a successful operation due to the atmospheres of subtle anguish that it manages to communicate and the way in which it is able to immerse us in a justified and valorised Roman context. The cast is good, from the protagonist Nell Tiger Free to the two local members Andrea Arcangeli and Nicole Sorace, but above all a couple of sequences that are difficult to shake off even at the end of the viewing. What a good psychological horror should be able to do.
Because we like it
- The atmosphere that the film manages to build and the way it manages to introduce themes and story from the original.
- The Roman context, justified and valorised.
- The cast, starting from the protagonist to the supporting actors and the Italian members: faces carefully chosen to emphasize the atmosphere of the story.
- A couple of very well constructed sequences that are difficult to get out of your head…
What’s wrong
- … but also some others that don’t work equally well, in which that subtle balance between seeing and not seeing is missing.
