The First Omen Stuns With One Of The Creepiest Trailers In Years

By Douglas Helm | Published

The Omen franchise is getting a new prequel with the upcoming The First Omen. The film released a teaser trailer, and it’s just as horrifying as you might expect.

The brief trailer gives us some religious-related imagery that is typical of the series and is appropriately tense, though it doesn’t give us much information on the plot.

The First Omen does have a plot description, though, as it follows an American woman who moves to Rome to become a nun for the church. However, she begins questioning her faith when she learns of a conspiracy that will bring the birth of evil incarnate.

This evil incarnate is presumably the child Damien that fans of The Omen franchise know so well.

The First Omen will star Nell Tiger Free as the woman facing the evil conspiracy. Other cast members include Bill Nighy and Ralph Ineson, while Arakasha Stevenson takes on directing duties. Stevenson also co-wrote the script with Tim Smith and Keith Thomas from a story by Ben Jacoby.

This evil incarnate is presumably the child Damien that fans of The Omen franchise know so well.

It’ll be interesting to see if this prequel can join the rare group of good horror prequels or join the bad prequel bin like the recent The Exorcist: Believer.

the first omen

The First Omen will be a direct prequel to 1976’s The Omen, directed by Richard Donner and written by David Seltzer. That film told the story of Robert Thorn (Gregory Peck) and Katherine Thorn (Lee Remick), who find out their adopted son Damien (Harvey Spencer Stevens) is actually the Antichrist after he causes a series of terrible events.

The First Omen will be a direct prequel to 1976’s The Omen.

The Omen was a fairly big box office hit and grossed over $60 million, which led to several sequels. Those sequels included Damien: Omen II, Omen III: The Final Conflict, and Omen IV: The Awakening, which all were unable to recreate the critical success and cultural longevity of the original.

The First Omen will be the first prequel in the franchise, so maybe it’s just the shot in the arm the film series needs.

Along with its various sequels, there was also a 2006 remake of The Omen that starred Liev Schrieber and Julia Stiles, though it wasn’t nearly as well-received as the original.

the first omen

There was also a TV series titled Damien that was canceled after one season. It seems like The First Omen is taking what made the original work, so maybe it will be the biggest success out of all the follow-ups to Richar Donner’s classic film.

The First Omen will be the first prequel in the franchise, so maybe it’s just the shot in the arm the film series needs.

2024 should have plenty of horror offerings, with the genre only getting increasingly popular in recent years. The First Omen certainly will be entering a crowded marketplace, especially since we haven’t seen anything from the film side of the franchise since way back in 2006.

However, the original might just be enough to get people interested in this prequel.

We’ll have to wait until spring to see if this prequel will be a worthy entry to the franchise. The First Omen will be hitting theaters on April 5. Stay tuned for more info on this and other upcoming horror films.