Mark Kermode reviews The First Omen - Kermode and Mayo's Take

I dont get why they dont even have the classic numbers within the O on all the posters for this.

LOL thanks for the chuckles.

I would’ve been sure he’d like this one

Average at best ..Look at original Peck Troughton Remick etc ..Can’t match these actors and genre..70s 80s horror are best ..every thing nowadays looks wooden and frankly cringe…and haven’t even got to second movie with Sam Neil as Damien ..

This is the 666 comment on this film. 🫣

It's a totally unnecessary film that just has updated nods to the original to make people go "...ohh yeah I remember that " ...

I thought exactly the same. I preferred Immaculate, it was a better film.

My problem with this is that it didn’t feel like an Omen film. The famous Omen “moments” were few and far between, and to be honest, weren’t that good. I thought it was a cheap shot to echo one of the most famous first deaths from the original film. It didn’t have the same impact.

I also didn’t like all the fast cutting, and extreme close ups. It made the film seem too modern, and it didn’t fit with the movie to come.

The original film also used suggestion of evil and the threat of that rather than outright showing a demonic entity, which I felt left this feeling more like a cheap imitation rather than a legit prequel.

I’m quite enjoying looking at the comments and there does seem to be a consensus against Mark’s review. I always get disappointed watching these films but I may be pleasantly surprised!

This is exactly how I feel about the film and I feel like I’m outcasting myself among mutual film goers for not seeing this is highly as others (and much preferring Immaculate - still find it odd this is the least popular film). Felt like this one was totally unnecessary, but it was well executed in many places and featured great performances, it just very much felt wrapped around a silly skeleton of a narrative and like the product of multiple writers, who has different ambitions for the end product.

As a big fan of all three original Omen films, I was anxious going into this, but liked it much more than I thought I would. The period setting works well , Nell Tiger Free is great, I liked how seriously it took itself and the Church being responsible for Damien is a really good idea worth investigating. For me, it's this idea only that almost warrants this film joining the OT. The problems are Bill Nighy is always Bill Nighy and is utterly unconvincing, Ralph Ineson is a poor substitute for Patrick Troughton, the 'jackal is the father' just doesn't work and is realised through bad CGI in a film where the VFX has been really subtle and this fiery moment stuck out like a sore thumb - there was a moment I thought Margaret was going to literally transform into the jackal and birth Damien which would have been great and kept the continuity - but the two biggest issues are Damien's twin sister (!) which totally felt like a tacked on franchise making ending whereas if the film had had Margaret only have one child and the final shot be the Gregory Peck photo that would have been really good and secondly we just didn't need this film. I've never needed any more info on Damien's birth than the first film gave me and now I've seen it, so what? There are some really enjoyable moments in this film, but it is ultimately pointless and the last ten minutes just feel like studio interference. No more Omens please.

Mark is dead wrong......this was a great movie

Kermode is clearly hung up on the mediocre original & latching to the "franchise fatigue" cop-out. While I did enjoy Immaculate myself, it's clearly inferior to this. They're still a perfect double-bill.

The acting from the lead actress was exceptional, aside from that thought it was ok but too tame , really wished they leaned into the body horror and twisted premise a lot more

There's more than one example where the First Omen doesn't quite join up with the '76 film (Father Brennan story as much as the jackal) but it's a worthy prequel to a classic horror...it's well made and well worth seeing. Nell Tiger Free is superb.

Having seen both films now, I have to come back and just say how unfair this review is to The First Omen. The two films are miles apart in atmosphere, cinematography, performances, sound design, and story. Where The First Omen shines and avoids contrivances, Immaculate embraces them. Not to mention how uninteresting and cliche Immaculate is in its execution.

The movie is overrated.
Trailer gives away the moment in the movie as well.
I don’t understand how anyone can find this movie scary, creepy, or affective in tension.

THANK YOU GUYS I felt like I was going crazy reading reviews for this film. I thought it was just fine but not great. Me and my theatre laughed at the deaths, they felt recycled from the first film and were not as shocking as they should have been. The story was incredibly predictable if you know any horror movie tropes. I’m curious to see what this director does next but hopefully it’s not anything like this 🥱

Rubbish? Wow, you we're brutal to this film. I could not disagree more, it was an excellent film.

Worst movie ever by a country mile, try's to emulate other better films, if there is one scene that sums it for me it is her mentally deranged spastic dance when she gets out of the car crash. Modern horror has lost the ability to build tension and to scare by insinuation leaving the audience to conjure up the fright within there own imagination. Plus this is just another girl boss movie. Im sure there will be a sequel when the triumvirate of demon women return to seize control from the evil masculine child.

1.) "...throws herself out the window but ON FIRE" 2.) Hot nuns on the towne.

Mark's getting soft, I thought that this was shoddy on practically all levels. Does Arkasha Stevenson know how to direct? I'd say so, but this didn't deliver more than basic competence in that regard. Can't really fault it much for a feature debut, and in an established franchise to boot, but I found it all rather perfunctory and uninspired. The film did have some nice scenery and there were moments that made me think that this tired, cliched story could've been somewhat freshened up with more adventurous directing, but as it was, I couldn't help but audibly yawn throughout the second half. At least it didn't lull me into sleep like Beau Is Afraid or Dial of Destiny, so there's that.

shockingly immaculate was a lot more "Quiet, Quiet, NUN!" of the two

I found the car accident scene funny and I don’t think I was supposed to. Are you sure you’re ok? Yep I feel fine to be honest….wait…hang on a minute…

1971 i believe the film takes place , during the disco scene Boney M s " daddy cool "is playing which came out in 1976 ???

RUBBISH INDEED. LOL I agree; 9/11 scared people back into church for 3 weeks before fizzling out you don't need to birth an antichrist to scare people back into church. 20th Century Fox is owned by Disney anyway so that explains a lot

I usually I agree with kermode like 95 percent of the time gotta disagree with on this one though immaculate better than this i respectfully disagree

This was far far superior to Immaculate I liked both but was genuinely impressed by the first omens constant sense of unease

This was way better than Immaculate!

I have to say: while I really respect Mark's takes usually, I get the sense that goes into certain films with his mind already made up in advance, especially when it's a sequel to one of his personal favourites. Had the same feeling with his Scream VI review.

Great... two pompous English guys going way too deep. It's a movie.

They missed the mark with this one making all the nuns super hot lmao. Needed to be much creepier. Maybe hit it with the oldschool shooting filter like the devils doorway. And a different director.

Did i have lofty expectations?
No. Nun whatsoever.

Lots to like here except for the ridiculous central premise which, for me, just didn't work.

saying "Immaculate" did everything better than this movie is the most psychotic and just down right horrible opinion I have ever read in my life. I actually cannot believe someone with a semi large platform could even have this platform if that is one of their takes. If you think Immaculate even comes close to this movie you need brain scans like what.

Lifelong horror fan. This was a great movie, the last twenty minutes especially. Horrifying imagery, slow-building tension with an incredible payoff at the end, well-acted...what's not to like? This reviewer has it wrong imo.

This was so good!

Problem is these films have NO ORIGINAL IDEAS directly plagerising a scene breath by breath grunt by grunt should be a payable crime disgusted this is realy pissing all over possesion from a great would say height but it is so so very low to be that unoriginal pass the formula for some new milk please pon the left hand side

So where did that Jackal come from? What is its origin and how did the monestary achieve to capture and contain it?

A for visuals and locations to capture c. 1970 Rome.
F for plot. The great reveal in The Omen original is that the **mother** is buried in an Etruscan cemetery and was a jackal, NOT the father.

SPOILER:
Instead we have the reversed gender and the father is a jackal who is somehow incinerated - so does that mean Satan is dead and only the baby Anti-Christ is alive? Just one of the many problems with the plot. Missed opportunity - they could have played up the Etruscan connection since that ancient people were in many ways the religious and cultural advisors to the Romans (see Maecenas). E.g., Centuries-old prophecies, various Etruscan divination techniques could have been practiced by the insane Catholic sect, a return to the Etruscan burial mounds outside Rome at Cerveteri (which is an amazing place to visit) where the mother/son were buried in the original....but nope, just a remake of Rosemary's baby, without any context on why a jackal (much less why the mother is NOT a jackal, but the dad now is). Forget Immaculate, this prequel is not a proper homage to its source material. Just a remake of Rosemary's Baby.

I really enjoyed it, far more than I thought I would. I’m a fan of the original so liked the nods to that and how it all (sort of) ties together.

When are we going to have anything remotely original.

What has happened to writing.

Immaculate was better?! Really???

Idk guys this this feels like you missed the mark. This wasn't a cheap modern day "the nun" movie. It felt pretty high quality and respectable.

I thought this was a fine movie,Nell Free was excellent.

I cannot fathom the negative response to this. It was pretty much excellent, faaaaar better than it had any right to be. If it wasnt a horror the lead would be up for an Oscar. Incredible shots, stunning sound design through headphones, , genuinely surprising and challenging imagery. It has a few minor misteps, including the whole epilogue (directors cut: remove it ENTIRELY please), occasionally on the nose exposition dumps, and casting Nighy instead of say Udo Kier, but DAMN are we in a golden age for horror.

This was a slow burn and gets CRAZY good.

How can you gush over Mia Goth's "late stage Johnny Depp" caricature (not character) acting in X and Pearl, but barely say anything about the 100% Awards-worthy performance by Nell Tiger Free. Baffling. I really think you've got yoyr "too attached to the source material" goggles on and it's affecting your objectivity on this one.

Finale afterbirth scene reminded me the Rosemary’s Baby.
Watch this classic if you want to see much smarter and cleverly conceived story of a mother of devil.

Immaculate was mediocre at best, and a chaotic jumbled mess at worst. Not in the good way though, more in the why am I still watching this movie kind of way. Great buildup for about the first hour or so, and then it falls on its face.

Bad take.

Oh Mark…
sorry to be pedantic but Damien’s mum was not found in a grave in Megiddo. She/it was found in a medieval cemetery in Italy:)