Highlights
- The First Omen is the first Omen film in almost 20 years, adding an international twist to the franchise’s formula.
- Horror sequels often ignore previous movies, making franchise timelines confusing for viewers.
- The First Omen serves as a prequel to the classic 1976 original, introducing a new story in the timeline.
The First Omen serves as the first entry in the Omen franchise in almost twenty years. It’s no secret to fans of the genre that horror has a tendency to spawn countless sequels, prequels and spin-offs – often many years after the franchise’s last entry – which can make it somewhat difficult to keep track of a particular property’s ongoing story.
To make things even more confusing, there’s an increasingly common trend of horror sequels that disregard specific movies in the franchise, effectively making them non-canon. Take the Halloween franchise, for instance, which currently has thirteen installments, including two reboots – one of which takes place after the events of the first movie, but ignores the sequels that followed. This can often make it intimidating to jump into a particular franchise, with audiences feeling like they may be missing vital information that contextualizes its latest entry. With the release of the latest trailer for The First Omen, fans and casual moviegoers alike may be feeling this exact way, especially since several of The Omen’s sequels flew under the radar, relatively speaking.
What is The First Omen about?
Due to release on April 5th 2024, The First Omen tells the story of an American woman who moves to Rome to pledge her life to the Catholic Church, only to discover a disturbing secret at its heart after taking a mysterious young woman under her wing. Unsurprisingly, things take a turn for the sinister soon after her arrival, forcing her to investigate the escalating events taking place at her newfound home. As far as Omen movies go, this entry doesn’t appear to stray too far from the franchise’s established formula, but The First Omen’s international setting and separation from the long-suffering Thorn family looks set to freshen things up.Serving as the feature film debut for director Arkasha Stevenson – who previously directed episodes of Legion, Channel Zero and Brand New Cherry Flavor – the movie was penned by Stevenson along with Tim Smith and Keith Thomas, who recently wrote the horror movies Firestarter and The Vigil, and stars Nell Tiger Free (Game of Thrones), Ralph Ineson (The Witch), Sônia Braga (Kiss of the Spider Woman) and Bill Nighy (Pirates of the Caribbean). The First Omen is the sixth movie in the Omen franchise.
What are the other Omen movies?
Directed by legendary filmmaker Richard Donner (Superman, The Goonies, Lethal Weapon), 1976’s The Omen has become a horror classic in the years since its release. Its story centers on the unfortunate Thorn family, who lose their newborn son immediately upon his birth. Distraught, the child’s father, Robert, agrees to adopt another newborn whose mother coincidentally died during childbirth – neglecting to tell his wife about the switch. They name the child Damien. As he grows, it becomes increasingly apparent that something is wrong with the young boy, with Damien becoming the focal point of a series of disturbing and grisly events. After several warnings from his local priest, Robert’s investigations lead him to discover that his child is in fact the Antichrist, resulting in a horrifying series of consequences. The original Omen movie easily remains the franchise’s best, with several of its scenes standing out as truly chilling – the infamous birthday party scene perhaps being the most memorable example of this:
Look at me, Damien! It’s all for you.
The two sequels that followed, 1978’s Damien: Omen II and 1981’s Omen III: The Final Conflict, progress Damien’s story as he continues to terrorize those around him, with both movies rigidly adhering to the formula established by the franchise’s first entry. Damien: Omen II primarily takes place seven years after the events of The Omen, in which a pre-teen Damien is living with his wealthy aunt and uncle. After Damien takes a sinister interest in his cousin Mark, however, the family begins to unravel, inevitably leading to several gruesome deaths. Omen III: The Final Conflict – notable for starring Jurassic Park’s Sam Neill as an adult Damien – picks up over twenty years later, with Damien having become the powerful CEO of a major international corporation. The movie chronicles Damien’s attempts to thwart the impending birth of the Second Coming of Christ as he’s hunted down by several priests.
Perhaps the most inessential sequel in the franchise, Omen IV: The Awakening is also the only entry that was made for television. Despite distancing itself from the character of Damien Thorn, however, the fourth Omen movie is largely a rehash of the original, trading in the Thorn family for the York family. The movie tells the story of Gene and Karen York, who adopt a child, Delia, from a local orphanage. As you might expect, after Delia begins to exhibit strange behavior, it’s discovered that the child is in league with satanic forces. Although Omen IV: The Awakening attempts to throw in a couple of interesting twists and reveals towards the end of its runtime, it remains the most critically maligned Omen movie to date regardless.
It’s become something of a rite of passage for most popular horror franchises to receive a misguided reboot attempt at some point, and the Omen franchise is no different. Released on 06/06/06, The Omen is a reboot that remains steadfastly faithful to the original – which is probably its biggest issue overall. Receiving widespread criticism for its lack of innovation and failure to justify its own existence, the 2006 movie performed extremely well at the box office nonetheless – which makes it all the more surprising it’s taken this long to get a new Omen movie off the ground. Funnily enough, despite being largely panned by film critics, Roger Ebert – perhaps the most renowned film critic of his era – praised the film, giving it 3 out of 4 stars and preferring it to the original.
“The Omen” is a faithful remake of the 1976 film, and that’s a relief; it depends on characters and situations and doesn’t go berserk with visuals.
How does The First Omen fit into the Omen timeline?
As its title might suggest, The First Omen is a prequel to the 1976 original. Unlike many other horror franchises, the timeline of the Omen franchise is fairly straightforward, with The Omen and its three direct sequels running in chronological order. The First Omen is the first movie in the franchise to take place out of order, putting it squarely at the beginning of the timeline – with the movie likely taking place directly before the events of the original Omen.
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