The First Omen

This has shot straight to the top of my favourite horror movies of the year, and is absolutely one of the best new religious horrors I've seen in a long time. Who knew that 2024 would serve us two nunsploitation movies about an innocent American sister lured into an evil plot to birth the antichrist? And they'd both be great?! Immaculate was fantastic too, and while I don't like just straight up comparing two movies, it's hard when they're this similar, tackling the same themes and subject matters, and happen to come out within a few months of each other. Have we got another Antz/Bugs Life, Armageddon/Deep Impact situation on our hands? Moving on from the comparisons, The First Omen is superb, probably made all the better thanks to low expectations. A legacy prequel to a near 50 year old movie doesn't exactly scream 'certified banger' but this movie is genuinely that good. There's only really a little hint at the end that this is a prequel anyway (by way of nothing more than a glorified easter egg really); for the most part this can stand on its own. With a lot to love about The First Omen, I could write a book about the cinematography alone. There are so many stunning shots in this movie that I wanted to keep pausing it just to admire the choices they made. It's got a wonderful 70's vibe to the pacing and the structure that instantly connects it in thoughtful ways to the experience of watching the original, marrying them in a subtle aesthetic way. While it looks gorgeous, it's still a gruesome movie. There are a few scenes throughout that you're surprised went that far, but the final 20-30 minutes are extremely intense, and if anyone in your life has struggled through a difficult pregnancy/birth, then it may be too much. Nell Tiger Free gives her absolute all to this, and she's powerful yet vulnerable at the same time, and genuinely heart-breaking too. It's wonderful that movies like this can still surprise me, I'm starting to think that 2024 may be a fantastic year for horror.