Decent scares, relevant themes in gory nun-horror movie.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 16+?
Any Positive Content?
Violence & Scariness
a lot
Women are strapped to operating tables and forced to submit to procedures against their will; there's screaming and panicking. Scalpel used to slice flesh and to stab (bloodily); hands dig inside a body cavity. A character lights themself on fire and hangs themself by jumping off a high balcony, crashing through a window below. A person is hit by a truck, pinned against a wall, and ripped in half; blood and entrails shown. Monstrous claws emerge from a woman's vagina. Scary ghost of nun with severe burn wounds. Person's head sliced open by falling shards of glass (brains visible). A woman goes through a strange transformation: She twitches, jerks, growls, with blood and fluids pouring from her vagina. A riot scene shows protestors tipping a police car and setting it on fire; there's an explosion. A woman is grabbed and restrained during the riot and imagines monster claws and tongues touching her face and body. Building on fire. Character holds a rifle. A girl is thrown into "the bad room" and imprisoned. Child grabs an adult's face, licking it. Characters try to restrain a woman; she fights them off. Car crash, blood on windshield. Creepy kid drawings. Photos of babies born with physical differences included in a way that's meant to shock/upset.
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Several brief shots of a woman's vulva/genital area during a birthing scene. Woman undresses in front of a mirror, her back to the camera. For a night on the town, women dress in outfits that are intended to be sexy. Kissing. Flirting.
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Suggests that ruling through fear is evil, while offering compassion is more humane. Warns against the danger of toxic ideas, such as a power bringing an evil into the world and making people fearful so that they'll turn to that same power for help. Women should be in charge of their own bodies.
Diverse Representations
a little
This is a woman-directed (Arkasha Stevenson, who also co-wrote the film), women-led story: Women drive the narrative, and the story is about women and their rights as women. The cast is largely made up of White actors playing Italians living in Rome, with the exception of Brazilian actor Sonia Braga (who plays Sister Silva) and Israeli actor Tawfeek Barhom (who plays Father Gabriel). Photos of babies born with physical differences are included in a way that's meant to shock/upset.
Most characters are either monsters or victims in some way. The victims try their best to survive, but they fail to be truly heroic.
Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that The First Omen—the sixth movie in the Omen horror franchise—is a surprisingly smart, scary, and progressive prequel to the original 1976 The Omen. Violence can be very intense and gory. Scenes show screaming women strapped to operating tables against their will, scalpels stabbing and slicing flesh, a person being ripped in half, a head getting sliced open (with brains exposed), a character lighting themself on fire and hanging themself from a high balcony, monster claws and tongues, burn wounds, ghosts, jump scares, scenes from a riot, and more. There are brief shots of a woman's vulva/genital area during a birth scene, and there's some flirting, kissing, and sex-related talk. The word "f--king" is used once; "oh my God" is used as an exclamation. Adults drink shots in a nightclub (one wakes up with a hangover) and occasionally smoke cigarettes. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails.
58%
Uncomfortable, and the lead does well, but it’s ultimately not that interesting or satisfying.
What's the Story?
In THE FIRST OMEN, Margaret (Nell Tiger Free)—who is preparing to become a nun—arrives in Rome, taking up residence in a church and orphanage where her former mentor, Cardinal Lawrence (Bill Nighy), works. Margaret's roommate, Luz (Maria Caballero), is a novitiate who wants to have a good time before she takes her vows. Margaret also meets a mysterious older child, Carlita (Nicole Sorace), who resides at the orphanage, and Father Brennan (Ralph Ineson), who warns her of a great evil going on at the church and asks for her help. If she can steal certain records from the orphanage's archive, then they can prove Father Brennan's sinister theory: The church is conducting secret experiments to birth an Antichrist.
This horror prequel doesn't waste too much time trying to explain its relationship to the 1976 original, instead concentrating on solid scares and surprising smarts. Director Arkasha Stevenson (making her feature debut) focuses The First Omen on women's rights to control their own bodies, and the movie's villain is a force that's trying to rule the world through fear rather than compassion—the story may be set in the early '70s, but it's very relevant today. Stevenson handily avoids dumb jump scares and other clichés. An early fright in which an intruder seems to appear in Margaret's room is elegantly and organically done, without the cheap, percussive sound effects designed to trigger a jump.
The horror here seems to come from a human place, a place of hurt and uncertainty. It doesn't much matter that certain supernatural elements are glossed over in order to get to the point; we just accept them. Of course, The First Omen is obligated, in its final wrap-up, to tie directly into the events that begin The Omen (including a photo of Gregory Peck in a file folder), but it mainly feels like its own movie, disconnected from—and rising above—the rest of the series.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about The First Omen's violence. How did it make you feel? Was it exciting? Shocking? What did the movie show or not show to achieve this effect? Why is that important?
Is the movie scary? Why do people enjoy horror movies? Why is it sometimes fun to be scared?
What's the difference between ruling through fear and ruling through compassion?
How does this movie compare to the others in the Omen series? What's compelling about the idea of an Antichrist?
MPAA explanation:
violent content, grisly/disturbing images, and brief graphic nudity
Last updated:
August 16, 2024
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Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
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