The First Omen

[Alex...]

Title: The First Omen

Genre: Horror

Director: Arkasha Stevenson

Plot: Prequel to the horror movie classic The Omen.

 

[Alex...]

EXCLUSIVE: 20th Century Studios is in development on ‘The First Omen,’ a prequel to the original 1976 Fox movie ‘The Omen,’ with Arkasha Stevenson making her feature directorial debut.

 

[Lord Dalek]

....why? Do we really need a movie about Fathers Spiletto and Brennan and the jackal?

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

....why? Do we really need a movie about Fathers Spiletto and Brennan and the jackal?

There now needs to be a film about every aspect of everything that has happened in every genre picture ever made. So, get ready for Apocalypse Before, the prequel to Apocalypse Now, leading up to the sequel Apocalypse After.

 

[David_B_K]

Reminds me of reading a Superman comic many years ago that featured the Bizarro World. It showed Bizarro Superman reading a book backwards and saying "me can't wait to get to start of book to find out how story begins".

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Reminds me of reading a Superman comic many years ago that featured the Bizarro World. It showed Bizarro Superman reading a book backwards and saying "me can't wait to get to start of book to find out how story begins".

I recall reading Ridley Scott saying he was going to make three, yes, three prequels to "take us in the backdoor" of Alien. I laughed out loud thinking he phrased it that way on purpose and thought sadly that "Yup, three prequels to lead up to the start of Alien, this is a cash grab."

 

[Alex...]

 

[JimmyO]

Exclu? Is this just the writer of the story being cool, or are we actually trying to conserve letters now? That's hilar!

 

[Alex...]

In theaters April 5, 2024

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Well, as horrible as this may be, probably better than the new Exorcist film. That's the bar it needs to get over.

 

[Alex...]

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

With the hair, Ralph Ineson is passable as Father Brennan. But it seems like a missed opportunity not to have just cast one of Patrick Troughton's sons. I didn't recognize any of the other characters, though.

Well, as horrible as this may be, probably better than the new Exorcist film. That's the bar it needs to get over.

It definitely looks more visually interesting than The Exorcist: Believer.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

It definitely looks more visually interesting than The Exorcist: Believer.

I would agree with that. The music and playing the video backwards makes that trailer probably better than anything in The Exorcist: Believer, which honestly, I could not get through I thought it was so bad. So, I was setting a really low bar for this when I mentioned Believer. That seemed a trainwreck to me.

I saw the original group of Omen films, 1-3 but have not seen the ones that came after that. I guess Omen 4 was a TV movie, and I skipped the 2006 remake of The Omen...which a lot of people must have done because it looks like there were no sequels.

My rule with this kind of thing is, have a good reason to do it outside of money. That should really be the first question you have to answer. If it is only for the cash grab, only because it is a known property you own, do not bother to make the film. That will just lead to a poor effort at least 90% of the time. I saw something about the fact that Disney is now considering this and wants to go back to "making better quality films" over just churning out franchise cash grabs. We'll see.

If someone has come up with a good story, that is a reason to consider doing it. That would be the inspiration to try it.

It seems like with some of these new attempts, the idea is tie the new film somehow to the older pictures. To do a prequel or sequel, often ignoring whatever you want to ignore from the previous films. In a lot of ways, to me, this leads to some really half assed stories.

The Omen came out in 1976 and The Omen 3: The Final Conflict came out in 1981. That makes these films, basically, pop culture ancient history. I mean sure, all of us over 50 recall them, but probably most of the audience they are trying to sell this to has little connection with Omen films.

I don't have a clue what they have come up with here. The Omen films I recall followed Damien from childhood to being an adult running for president. So, they did manage an arc to the story they told in the three tales. Now, someone had to find a way to retrofit this prequel to those films. If they cracked a good way to do that and developed a good story, maybe this works. The thing is, with this stuff, they seem to want everything to be a trilogy at least. So, this film is starter that they likely hope spawns at least two more films.

I doubt they have thought out and planned three films. My guess is, they write and develop this one, see how it does, then figure out the next after they know people liked this, probably reacting to whatever seems to be what people liked about it.

I mean, is this Omen film meant to be the first of three prequels? Is this the Ridley Scott plan of making three prequels to lead into the "backdoor" of Alien...because that, if you are asking me, was the perfect way to describe how that went, and where this could go...right in the ol' backdoor.

 

[Keith Cobby]

The Omen (1976) is my favourite horror (not my favourite genre) and the two sequels were also good. The First Omen doesn't look anything special from the trailer.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

I always thought the Donner "Omen" had its moments but was meh overall - actually preferred the 2006 remake.

The 2 "Omen" sequels were boring.

This prequel will probably be a dud, but at least I go in with low franchise-based expectations!

 

[YANG]

The Omen (1976) is my favourite horror (not my favourite genre) and the two sequels were also good. The First Omen doesn't look anything special from the trailer.

pity... no announcement of 4k remaster on this horror classic trilogy...

...along with the announcement of this new "remake project".​

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

The Omen (1976) is my favourite horror (not my favourite genre) and the two sequels were also good. The First Omen doesn't look anything special from the trailer.

Really, that's very interesting. Honestly, I like those first three Omen films. I saw them all at the cinema as a kid. So, there is something nostalgic about them for me. A friend and I saw the last of those three, The Final Conflict together in 1981. I remember he absolutely loved it. I liked it as well, as it kind of merged 1970s conspiracy film with a horror film and Sam Neill is really good as adult Damien.

I think with the first three films they managed to make a good trilogy.

I really enjoy horror films and I guess as far as a series goes, those first three Omen films were a really good series, or franchise as we call them now. I don't know what they did in the 4th one but I thought the third was an excellent climax to the series, not much reason to go any further than that. They had big stars, solid scripts, just very quality films that never really veered into having to do nutty things to keep the series going, at least as I remember...I've not seen them in a while. Basically, I thought they stayed on solid footing, did not stumble into places like the second Exorcist film or the some of the lower budgeted franchises like Halloween or Friday the 13th where the series dead ended on many occasions but they kept making them anyway.

In the Omen films, they charted a course for the Damien character to grow from a child, to a powerful evil man. They maintained a quality level through the three pictures that was very satisfying.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

I always thought the Donner "Omen" had its moments but was meh overall - actually preferred the 2006 remake.

The 2 "Omen" sequels were boring.

This prequel will probably be a dud, but at least I go in with low franchise-based expectations!

I liked the two sequels to The Omen but I admit I like story and prefer atmosphere over sudden shocks. I liked that they brought in good actors in all of them, that made a difference. I think, of the horror franchises, it may have been one of the better quality ones. The Exorcist series began with a brilliant film, swerved into a bizarre film, recovered with a third film that kind of merged the possession genre with film noir and then ended up with two versions of an origin story by two different directors. Then we got Believer which, to me, was just a trainwreck.

The impressive thing about those first three Omen films was they managed to hold everything together, did not have to recover from any major weirdness or horrible writing, and told three tales that hang together...almost as if they planned it that way.

 

[Keith Cobby]

The Omen trilogy had a lot of class, high production values and the casting was really good (Billie Whitelaw as the nanny/protector), but then I prefer the supernatural storyline. I've seen very few horror films, no Scream, Halloween, Friday 13th, low budget slashers hold no interest for me. The only slasher I can recall is Dead & Buried which I saw theatrically in 1981 and again recently (it held up well). I've seen The Exorcist (who hasn't) and noticed that KL are releasing The Boogens which I was unfamiliar with, so watched it on YouTube (it's a fun little film).

 

[Colin Jacobson]

I liked the two sequels to The Omen but I admit I like story and prefer atmosphere over sudden shocks.

Meaning you imply I'm only a fan of horror with "sudden shocks"?