How The First Omen Rewrote the Omen Lore and Created More Questions than Answers, By Dawn Colclasure

NOTE: This article contains spoilers for the movie!

When The Omen was released in 1976, it took the horror movie world by storm. It rewrote the end times narrative, put a nice spin on conspiracy theories surrounding the Catholic Church, and created an Antichrist movie unlike any other.

Sequels followed, with mediocre results. Critics loved or hated The Omen Two and Three, while the sequels seemed to set a new precedent in the Antichrist lore the first movie created.

For decades, we saw nothing more happen with the Omen movies. Fans of the first movie still cherished it, the media still loved it, and it became a traditional movie to watch every October in many households.

Then came The First Omen, the 2024 prequel we didn’t know we needed.

Die-hard fans of the Omen movies, however, probably had a few bones to pick…

Damien’s Mother

The First Omen is about Damien’s mother. Surprise! We discover she’s a human. The Omen movies informed us that Damien’s mother was a jackal, but in The First Omen, the father is a jack – specifically, the Devil.

666

The mother of Damien, however, is not some ordinary girl. In fact, she is deeply entrenched in the church, fiercely guarded by nuns. We aren’t sure who the mother is, though our options are Margaret (Nell Tiger Free), a nun-in-training with a mysterious past, and Carlita (Nicole Sorace), a troubled young girl the nuns keep away from the other children. The nuns seem to know who she is meant to be, simply because she has “666” imprinted on her skin. Little do they know that someone else with “666” on their body somewhere walks among them – and could actually be the real mother of the Antichrist.

The Very First Mother

Okay, so if this child was born bearing the mark of the Devil, who was her mother? And does she have some kind of connection to the Devil himself? This is a mystery never explored in any of the movies. However, there is talk of a sequel to The First Omen (https://screenrant.com/first-omen-ending-explained/) in the works. Perhaps we will find out then?

The Birthing Room

What viewers discover as they watch this movie is that not only does the orphanage our nun is a part of have a birthing room, but it would seem that the instruments used for the delivery of “babies” resemble instruments of torture. Why on earth are some of those things needed? Because, you see, some of the babies birthed in that room are not necessarily human.

In fact, some of them are monstrous, as our hapless main character finds out in the most gruesome way.

Tie-in to The Omen

The closer Margaret gets to the truth, the more dire her situation becomes. She starts seeing things again—particularly the ghost of a nun who hangs herself after saying “It’s all for you,” which was a nice salute to the 1976 Omen. (https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/horror-movies/the-first-omen-review) This, plus a photo shown of Robert Thorn (Gregory Peck), as well as Damien’s name being shared at the end, tie it all to the first (second?) film. 

The Twin

The thing about prequels is that we hope they stay as true to the original first story as possible.

Obviously, that doesn’t happen here. A few screwdrivers are thrown into the machine. The result is a complete rewrite of the original Omen canon.

Take, for example, that Damien has a sibling. And not just a sibling, but a twin. Nothing is ever said of Damien having a sibling in any of the other Omen movies, but can you really blame his adopting parents for failing to ask? They were just happy to have a baby.

But now we viewers must ask: What does this mean for the Omen franchise? Damien obviously lived his entire life without his sister trying to interfere with his attempts to gain world domination. What role does she play in future movies? Are we in for another rewrite?

Fortunately, some questions are answered at the end of the movie, but even more questions for those of us familiar with the Omen movies surface. What does the new information mean for the franchise? Is this prequel the first of a two-parter that will answer those questions? And can we expect to see the “new” characters in a fourth Omen movie that wraps it all up?

Aside from some confusion this movie created due to turning the tables on what we know from the three other Omen movies, The First Omen was an entertaining film. There’s not too much gore and some original scares to tide over horror fans. I look forward to seeing what comes next following this prequel.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Dawn Colclasure is a writer in Oregon. She writes poetry, essays, articles, short stories and book reviews. She is the author and co-author of several books. Her work has appeared in magazines, newspapers, websites and anthologies. She is also a columnist. Her websites are dawnsbooks.com and dmcwriter.com. Her Twitter: @dawnwilson325.