The First Omen
Forum Hungary | Release Date: April 5, 2024 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
65
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews
Positive:
19
Mixed:
14
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
RogerEbert.comTomris LafflyApr 4, 2024
The whole thing is so provocative, beautifully cinematic and in touch with its head-decapitating roots. Read full review
85
SlashfilmWitney SeiboldApr 4, 2024
Bleak, severe, and awesome, "The First Omen" is the best horror movie of the year so far. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubMatthew JacksonApr 5, 2024
Forget what you think you know about horror prequels. The First Omen gets it, goes for the throat, and never lets go. Read full review
80
Paste MagazineBrianna ZiglerApr 8, 2024
The First Omen is an exceedingly successful first feature, and an invigorating film within a genre’s increasingly limp mainstream. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriApr 6, 2024
Like the best studio horror directors, Stevenson understands that we’re not here for logic. The First Omen is soaked in style and mood with images that are both textured and shocking and that tap into tantalizingly visceral fears. Read full review
80
The IndependentClarisse LoughreyApr 4, 2024
The film is also bold and clear cut about the way women’s bodies are made into objects of both reverence and shame – but its pièce de résistance is the shot of a vagina during birth, an entirely natural part of human existence that, in America, caused such a fuss that The First Omen was nearly slapped with an extreme NC-17 certificate. What a way to prove this film’s point. Read full review
80
Total FilmKate StablesApr 4, 2024
This classy, female-centred Omen prequel is devilishly good at keeping its nun on the run. Read full review
80
Time OutIan FreerApr 4, 2024
It’s horror hokum told with unswerving commitment. Read full review
80
IGNEric GoldmanApr 4, 2024
The First Omen is a fiendishly entertaining origin story for both the antichrist and a filmmaker to watch. Read full review
80
The New York TimesBrandon YuApr 4, 2024
The film revels in mashing up familiar genres: the monster movie, body horror and the Gothic church thriller. But it injects a revitalizing juice into the franchise — smartly edited and well paced, with a good cinematic eye. Read full review
80
Screen RantPatrice WitherspoonApr 4, 2024
The First Omen contains the scary elements from the classics and creative upgrades, resulting in a hit for the horror genre and The Omen franchise. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerApr 4, 2024
Kudos to the suits for backing a horror film this provocative and spine-chilling. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperApr 5, 2024
It’s the Damien origin story we never knew we needed. Read full review
75
IndieWireAlison ForemanApr 4, 2024
Stevenson’s spin on The Omen can tie its borderline NC-17 terror to a multi-decade genre legacy suddenly feasting on noticeably improved visual artistry and a narratively satisfying revamp of stale IP. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineKyle TurnerApr 4, 2024
Pulsating in the film’s veins is an eerie eroticism and a tactile awareness of the way the Church is controlling the bodies and minds of its women. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsApr 4, 2024
The First Omen hardly qualifies for landmark or pantheon status. But it’s a movie that maximizes all its elements with some panache. Read full review
70
We Got This CoveredMarco Vito OddoApr 8, 2024
With skin-crawling scenes and a surprising discussion about the control of women's bodies, 'The First Omen' finds a new angle to explore the well-established franchise. The prequel doesn't always manage the tricky balance between reverence to the original and new ideas. Still, there's a lot to love, both for newcomers and returning fans. Read full review
70
ColliderRoss BonaimeApr 5, 2024
Stevenson's debut feature is a smart handling of horror with imagery that won't soon leave your mind, elevated by an uncomfortable performance by Free. Stevenson shows how to bring a franchise back from the dead, and proves that maybe this series doesn't have to be all just for Damien. Read full review
70
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Sarah-Tai BlackApr 4, 2024
While unable to fully deliver on the promise of its artistic potential, The First Omen remains, nonetheless, a fun, low stakes introduction for horror newbies to The Omen franchise and an enjoyable enough tribute to the original film (offering, also, a more contemporary take on visualizing the grotesque). Read full review
60
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeApr 8, 2024
It’s a decent attempt from director Arkasha Stevenson to tap into the look and the spirit of the original film. And while it doesn’t match The Omen for scares, it does deliver some skin-crawlingly creepy moments. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesJoshua RothkopfApr 6, 2024
Let’s credit debuting feature director Arkasha Stevenson (a former photographer for this paper) with the stylishness to pull off a potent sense of atmosphere and the kind of lovely period detail that deep studio pockets can fund but rarely have cause to summon. Read full review
60
EmpireCatherine BrayApr 4, 2024
For veteran viewers who’ve seen it all before, it’s not exactly the Second Coming. But novice nunsploitation audiences might find this habit-forming: a stylish enough entry-level initiation. Read full review
60
The Daily BeastNick SchagerApr 4, 2024
Telegraphs its bombshells from the outset and dutifully shuffles toward a conclusion that tethers this saga to Donner’s The Omen. Read full review
60
VarietyPeter DebrugeApr 4, 2024
Stevenson’s consistently unsettling and gleefully sacrilegious offering packs its share of legitimate shocks en route to one glaringly obvious “surprise.” Read full review
60
The GuardianBenjamin LeeApr 4, 2024
This 70s-set prelude to the classic satanic horror has flair but struggles with the weight and familiarity of what came before. Read full review
60
The Irish TimesDonald ClarkeApr 4, 2024
It hardly needs to be said that, as it goes on – and it does go on – the film loses coherence and slips into rampaging chaos. But, coming a year or so after that catastrophic Exorcist sequel, The First Omen feels a lot better than it needed to be. That may have to do. Read full review
58
Original-CinThom ErnstApr 5, 2024
The First Omen is nunsploitation disguised as religious horror bordering on art house. And while individual snippets from the film qualify as genuinely eerie, the overall impression is of a tale told twice-too often. Read full review
50
Screen DailyTim GriersonApr 4, 2024
As punishing as some of The First Omen’s terrors are, they are quickly forgotten in service of answering questions about Damien (and leaving the door open for further sequels) that undercut Free’s gripping turn. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckApr 4, 2024
While the events in the first Omen seemed to be taking place in a real world that just happened to include demonic figures, this film seems more like a fever dream, its outlandish storyline taking a back seat to a nightmarish vision that’s more about mood than narrative coherence. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreApr 4, 2024
If only the film around these players had been more worthy of their efforts. Read full review
43
TheWrapWilliam BibbianiApr 4, 2024
The new movie’s twists can only exist if they don’t contradict the previous films, so only a few surprises are even possible and those surprises can only happen in unsurprising ways. Read full review
40
Wall Street JournalKyle SmithApr 4, 2024
Written by Tim Smith, Keith Thomas and Arkasha Stevenson, and directed by Ms. Stevenson, The First Omen relies heavily on gory imagery, jump scares and shocking dream sequences to cover for its weak plotting. Read full review
40
The TelegraphTim RobeyApr 4, 2024
Stevenson has configured her tale as female body-horror fit for a dissertation, without giving it much of a spine: while slick, the set pieces are few, far between, and over too fast. Read full review
More From This Movie

65 Critic Reviews

tbd User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL