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The First Omen | 2024 | R | – 6.9.5
A young nun (Nell Tiger Free) travels to Italy where she plans to take the veil, but when she arrives, she quickly realizes that things are not as they should be and her life will change in unspeakable ways. Also with Ralph Ineson, Sonia Braga, Tawfeek Barhom, Maria Caballero, Charles Dance, Bill Nighy, Nicole Sorace, Ishtar Currie-Wilson and Dora Romano. Directed by Arkasha Stevenson. Several lines of dialogue are spoken in Italian without translation. [Running Time: 2:00]
The First Omen SEX/NUDITY 6
– A young woman is undressed (it is implied that she is fully nude and we see her bare shoulders and partial upper breasts) by women in a room where she is then strapped onto a table and a bag is placed over her head and tied around the neck; the young woman breathes heavily as we understand that something (unseen, but we hear strange noises) is approaching her to have sex with her and the scene cuts to blood on the floor between her feet (presumably delivering a child). Several paintings that seem to depict several people engaging in sex acts hang on walls (they include partial nudity with possible bare breasts and buttocks).
► A young woman is strapped to a surgical table during the delivery of a child and we see her bare abdomen, pubic region and buttocks (please see the Violence/Gore category for more details).
► Young men and young women dance in a bar and one couple dances closely together and they kiss; the screen goes dark and the young woman wakes up in a bed with a spider on her face and the bed is soaked under her. A young woman kisses another young woman on the mouth and walks away. A young man and a young woman hold hands while walking on a street in Rome.
► A remark is made about someone not being conceived naturally.
► A young woman wears a very deeply cut dress that reveals cleavage and part of her abdomen, her bare shoulders and back, and another young woman wears a dress that reveals her bare back to the waist.
The First Omen VIOLENCE/GORE 9
– A young woman stands on a balcony over a courtyard where other women and children are playing; we see that the young woman is doused with liquid as she lights a match and bursts into flames, jumps from the balcony, hangs from a rope, and swinging in flames as the children below scream and run inside. A young woman follows a young man she met in a bar and tries to talk to him; he moves away from her and into a street where he is struck by a truck and pinned against a wall (he bleeds from the mouth), and when the young woman tries to help him, she pulls him away from the truck and places him on the ground not realizing that his body had been cut in half (we see the severed torso with blood and organs visible as people nearby scream). A young woman on an operating table is sedated, and we see a scalpel cut across her abdomen (blood trickles): the opening is stretched as a doctor reaches his hands between the flaps of flesh and pulls out a sack containing an infant; the sack is opened and fluid pours out as the child cries and we see that there are two infants. A man is stabbed in the neck and we see a lot of blood as he collapses. A young woman is stabbed in the abdomen and we see blood as she collapses; the building she is in is set on fire and she is left for dead along with a newborn.
► A giant stained glass window panel shatters from a scaffold and the shards fall to the ground where two men stand and one man is shown with a giant gash on the back of his head and blood on his jacket and in his teeth as he falls dead. A car is T-boned by another car and we see three people in the car with bloody wounds and blood on the windshield as a young woman gets out of the car and moans and thrashes before goo and blood splashes onto the ground between her legs; she screams and we see foam in her mouth, and wakes up strapped to a table, thrashing and screaming until she is injected with a sedative (we see the needle press into her arm).
► A young woman screams and is strapped to a surgical table where medical staff prepares to deliver a child; the young woman screams and thrashes and is given sedation as the child is delivered (please see the Sex/Nudity category for more details); we see slime-covered, gray-tinged fingers with sharp claw-like nails pushing through her vagina and the scene ends. Blood gushes onto the floor between a young woman’s feet (presumably delivering a child) and the scene ends. A young woman screams and is strapped to a table with a bag over her head and a rope around her neck as we hear deep growling, see a spider crawling on her abdomen and long fingers with sharp claws touching her flesh and she sees the outline of a beast standing over her.
► A young woman sees another young woman that died in flames, covered with burns and part of her face is missing, as she moves toward her and laughs; the dead woman had been seated next to a young girl in a museum. A young woman sees someone in the shadows in her room laughing at her. A young woman screams as gray-tinged, slimy fingers caress her face leaving a trail of slime.
► Protestors are seen marching on streets and carrying signs; one scene shows a riot where a police car is overturned and then set on fire as people scramble to get away and one young woman is grabbed by the crowd, she screams and panics. What looks like a demon creature is shown engulfed in flames and it reels and roars. A young woman arms herself with a piece of wood and yells when a man and several women enter her room; they grab her and force her into a room where she is locked in isolation and she pounds on the door and screams. A child in a room crawls under a bed toward a young woman that speaks to her and the child grabs her hand, pulls her close to her and licks her cheek. A young woman curses at and threatens to kill a man when he tries to keep her from leaving a room. A young woman holds a shotgun on a man as he approaches a house and tells him to leave.
► A young woman searches a woman’s office and finds a key that opens a door that leads into a dark passage where she finds a file cabinet with files and photographs of infants (some with severe malformations). We hear a child scream in a hallway and later see the young girl huddled in a dark room and we are told that she is being kept in the “bad room” and that she hurt another child; we hear this term several times and see the child in isolation there frequently. A young woman argues with a woman about being punished and not allowed to take her vows; the woman threatens her with consequences. A young woman talks about having visions when she was a child and that she would need to be subdued. A young woman tells a young girl that when she was young she ran away from home. A young woman cries and twitches while praying. High-pitched howls and screeches accompany several scenes. A young woman hears whispering when she is alone in several scenes. A young girl scribbles frantically on the floor of a room and we see what looks like many sharp teeth surrounding an opening with misshapen people around the edges and inside the opening.
► A man tells a young woman about creating something to fear, in order to drive people back to the church. A remark is made about someone not being conceived naturally. The camera focuses in extreme close-up on a young woman’s eye as it twitches in terror and pain (we see enlarged blood vessels).
► A young woman vomits in the back of a car and we see goo. An orphanage is seen several times with many young children and infants in the care of nuns.
The First Omen LANGUAGE 5
– At least 1 F-word, name-calling (I’m bad, bad, evil, messy business, radical, crazy), exclamations (oh my), 6 religious exclamations (e.g. in the name of God, oh my God, oh God, 666, anti-Christ, you are doing God’s work). | profanity glossary |
The First Omen SUBSTANCE USE
– People drink shots of liquor in a bar. A man smokes a cigarette, a cigarette burns in an ashtray, and several nuns are shown smoking cigarettes in a few scenes.
The First Omen DISCUSSION TOPICS
– Faith, anti-authority, questioning, forgiveness, secrets, nightmares, bravery, privilege, power, excommunication, riots, fire and brimstone, suicide, temptation, orphanages, imagination.
The First Omen MESSAGE
– Unquestioned faith can lead to disaster. Belief is power.
CAVEATS
Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.
We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.
Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.
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We welcome suggestions & criticisms -- and we will accept compliments too. While we read all emails & try to reply we do not always manage to do so; be assured that we will not share your e-mail address.