Of all the villains deserving of an origin story, Damien—the son of Satan who terrorized his parents in “The Omen”—shouldn’t make the cut. But this movie exists anyway.

A classy, female-centered horror prequel, The First Omen is a cut above.

In cinephile shorthand, "The First Omen" comes off as an homage to the gory cinema of Dario Argento as imagined by someone who's only heard descriptions of the famous/infamous Caravaggio of motion picture horror. For a cynical, "Let's milk this intellectual property for all its worth" exercise, this fifth film in the "Omen" franchise is…

Chilling horror movie is blessed with a heroine, Nell Tiger Free, who's greatness incarnate.

Expect gynaecological macabre and the tearing of bodies cleanly in half

This 70s-set prelude to the classic satanic horror has flair but struggles with the weight and familiarity of what came before

Nell Tiger Free stars in a grotesque yet uninteresting film about the birth of Damien Thorn in "The First Omen"

A fiendishly entertaining origin story for both the antichrist and a filmmaker to watch.

It’s been a banner year for genre fare like horror, but 2024’s best films to date are full of diverse and surprising offerings

The most exciting thing about The First Omen is how Stevenson is an evident scholar of the supernatural horror genre, unmercifully playing with our perception and orchestrating an escalating sense of paranoia with ease.

An origin story for Damien Thorn of "The Omen" series, director Arkasha Stevenson's feature debut is gloriously scary, and it begs for more.

Nell Tiger Free stars as a novitiate caught in a nightmare scenario.

Bill Nighy co-stars in a surprisingly great movie that avoids cheap scares and bravely tackles the institutional horrors of religion and authority

Directed with visual flair by Arkasha Stevenson, the prequel to the 1976 horror sensation is somewhat diminished by a forgone conclusion, but gets the job done.

This traces the run-up to Damien’s birth, but by the time Jerry Goldsmith’s score finally returns, it’s too little real darkness, too late

A prequel to the 1976 horror classic, 'The First Omen' returns to Rome to explore the gruesome backstory behind the birth of Damien, the Antichrist.

Unlike its predecessor, The First Omen blames the church, not the youth.

While unable to fully deliver on the promise of its artistic potential, Arkasha Stevenson’s take remains a fun, low stakes introduction for horror newbies to The Omen franchise

The First Omen is thoughtfully menacing, uniquely stylish, and utterly terrifying. It's also the best horror movie of the year so far.

An American nun finds evil lurking in an Italian orphanage in this prequel to the 1976 horror classic

‘The First Omen,’ now streaming on Hulu, is a surprisingly topical horror film, reflecting back societal fears in the form of genre thrills.

Nell Tiger Free is a young nun bestowed with a dark destiny in Arkasha Stevenson's The Omen prequel. Read the Empire review.

A horror prequel no one asked for, but that somehow works.

In The First Omen, Stevenson atomizes all the darkness and the light within ourselves.

Director Arkasha Stevenson can’t match the scares of the 1976 classic, but her decent chiller can still make the skin crawl

The First Omen review: A horror prequel done (mostly) right