Summary
The First Omenis technically a prequel to Richard Donner’s 1976 classicThe Omen, but its demonic pregnancy storyline is much closer to a different horror movie masterpiece. Set in 1971,The First Omenrevolves around an American novitiate named Margaret Daino, who’s sent to work at an orphanage in Rome and ends up uncovering a sinister religious conspiracy. As it turns out, she’s the offspring of a jackal demon and she’s been earmarked by a cult to become the mother of the Antichrist.
It’s been praised as one of the bestentries inThe Omenfranchise, and it has plenty of references to the original film’s most iconic moments. It has a nod to the church spire impaling, a nod to the car crash beheading, and the ending teases the arrival of Damien. ButThe First Omen’s themes and narrative are more in line with a different horror classic than the one it’s an official prequel to.
The First Omen Is More Like Rosemary’s Baby Than The Omen
The story of a woman being coerced into carrying the Antichrist is similar to Rosemary’s Baby
Margaret’s journey throughoutThe First Omen– being used as a birthing vessel for the Antichrist by a sadistic religious cult – is the same journey that Rosemary Woodhouse goes through in the 1968 horror classicRosemary’s Baby. With a forced impregnation by a demon and a disturbing climactic birth scene that brings the Antichrist to Earth,The First Omenplays more like a reboot ofRosemary’s BabythanThe Omen.The Omenis about the fears of raising a child, butRosemary’s BabyandThe First Omenare about the fears of giving birth.
Director Arkasha Stevenson uses the Satanic storyline ofThe First Omento explore the issue of female bodily autonomy and the systemic control of women’s bodies. This is the same theme explored byRosemary’s Baby’s own demonic pregnancy storyline. It’s the perfect cinematic metaphor for the horrors of women being deprived of bodily agency. Eventhe ending ofThe First Omen, in which Margaret can’t bring herself to kill her son (even though he’s the embodiment of evil), is borrowed fromRosemary’s Baby.
Rosemary’s Baby Ending, Explained
The unsettling final scene of the 1968 horror classic Rosemary’s Baby confirms the title character’s fears and solidifies the movie’s timely themes.
1 First Omen Scene Is Lifted Directly From Rosemary’s Baby
The forced impregnation scene is practically a shot-for-shot remake of Rosemary’s Baby
One ofthe scariest moments inThe First Omenis lifted directly fromRosemary’s Baby. When the church’s conspirators capture Margaret, they drag her into a dark chamber, where she’s forcibly impregnated by the jackal demon. With impressionistic cinematography and ambiguous editing,this sequence is near-identical to the forced demonic impregnation scene fromRosemary’s Baby. That scene fromRosemary’s Babyis one of the most iconic and unforgettable sequences in the history of horror cinema, so it’s unsurprising thatThe First Omenused it as a source of inspiration.
The First Omen
Cast
The First Omen is a horror film from director Arkasha Stevenson that acts as a prequel to the 1976 film The Omen. The film follows a young woman who goes to Rome to become a nun but begins to question her faith after encountering a terrifying darkness that aims to spawn an evil incarnate.
