The First Omen Blu-ray Review
Score: 77
from 5 reviewers
Review Date:
The First Omen offers stylistic, spooky entertainment with excellent audio-visual presentation, although it sometimes tries too hard to connect to the original.
Disc Release Date
DTS-HD MA
Video: 91
The First Omen’s Blu-ray presentation, with its AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1 aspect ratio, impressively captures fine detail and vibrant colors despite a predominant sepia-yellow scheme, though some black level crush suggests a missed opportunity for an on-disc 4K HDR release.
Audio: 91
The First Omen's DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 presentation excels with clear dialogue, nuanced surround effects, and well-defined LFE that augment its creepy atmosphere without overpowering the soundscape, making it a technically impressive and immersive experience—even if it's not consistently aggressive.
Extra: 35
The Blu-ray extras for 'The First Omen' include three brief yet engaging EPK-style featurettes: exploring the character of Margaret, director Arkasha Stevenson’s vision, and the symbolic production design. While informative, they lack depth, totaling less than 20 minutes. Includes a digital copy and slipcover.
Movie: 61
The First Omen blends stylish production with evocative cinematography, leveraging its Roman locations and clever plot beats, though many find it derivative and plagued by pacing issues. Notably, Nell Tiger Free’s performance and Mark Korven’s score stand out, ultimately making it a compelling prequel despite some narrative flaws.
Video: 91
The Blu-ray presentation of "The First Omen" by 20th Century Studios and Disney/Buena Vista features an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio, showcasing a commendable level of detail and color integrity. Utilizing a 4K Digital Intermediate (DI) as its source, the transfer is enveloped in a filmic texture that enhances the overall visual fidelity, reflecting the film's stylistic nuances. Although specific camera models remain unspecified, glimpses of Arri cameras suggest a high-quality digital production. The transfer excels in retaining fine details in facial features and fabric textures despite the plethora of lighting conditions and grading choices. Moreover, it adeptly sustains color consistency throughout, with outdoor scenes exhibiting a natural vibrancy while indoor scenes are often tinged with an almost subliminal sepia-yellow hue. Notably, scenes such as the club sequence vividly display an alluring blend of purples, teals, and reds, contributing to the film's striking visual style.
The release is frustratingly limited to 1080p Blu-ray when a 4K UHD version with Dolby Vision and Atmos is available on digital platforms like Hulu. Despite this limitation, the 1080p disc holds its ground impressively well. High bitrates ensure the image remains sharp and devoid of artificial or blocky artifacts, maintaining clarity even in low-light scenes. Black levels are deep and precise, pivotal for retaining the grim tones throughout the movie. While colors favor heavy browns and dark yellows, occasional flashes of bright reds, blues, and yellows provide visual interest. Skin tones are rendered with natural accuracy, capturing the characters' stress and physical states convincingly. Although occasional shadow details suffer from slight crush, the overall presentation remains robust, making it a solid offering for Blu-ray aficionados.
In summary, while "The First Omen" Blu-ray exhibits exemplary 1080p quality with intricate detail and impressive color reproduction, there's an evident desire for an on-disc 4K HDR experience to fully realize the potential of its 4K DI roots. The current Blu-ray disc serves as an excellent stopgap but leaves enthusiasts eagerly anticipating what could be achieved with a dedicated 4K HDR physical release.
Audio: 91
The 7.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio presentation for "The First Omen" delivers a masterfully crafted and genuinely immersive sound experience. The sound design is baroque, enhancing the film’s eerie atmosphere with nuanced surround effects. Whispering voices from the side and rear channels heighten the tension, particularly during Margaret's hallucinogenic episodes. Dialogue reproduction is consistently clean and clear, ensuring crisp intonation and detailed character interactions. Optional subtitles in multiple languages are available for accessibility.
Dynamic range and clarity are paramount throughout, with well-defined Low-Frequency Effects (LFE) augmenting key horror elements and car crashes, delivering palpable rumble. The score by Mark Korvon is unsettling yet perfectly balanced, contributing to the story’s unsettling mood without overpowering other sound elements. Echoes within the film's orphanage setting utilize directional sound to add atmospheric depth, effectively conveying the protagonist’s mental instability.
While not an overly aggressive mix, this audio track flexes its muscles at pivotal moments, with bass hits enhancing the film’s climactic sequences. The versatility of the soundscape is evident as it evolves, becoming increasingly intense and immersive as the plot progresses. Though an Atmos track is preferable, this DTS-HD MA 7.1 mix still provides a superior auditory experience that complements the visual narrative seamlessly.
Extras: 35
The Blu-ray release of "The First Omen" includes a concise yet engaging set of extras. Though limited, these featurettes provide insightful behind-the-scenes content on the film's production. The Director’s Vision explores Arkasha Stevenson’s stylistic choices and her unique female perspective in remaking this horror classic. The Mystery of Margaret delves into the character development and narrative complexity surrounding Margaret, enriched by commentary from key cast members such as Nell Tiger Free and Bill Nighy. Signs of The First Omen investigates the film's set and costume design, emphasizing the symbolism and practical effects that enhance the film’s eerie atmosphere. A digital copy is also provided, but the absence of a more comprehensive documentary or director’s commentary is noticeable.
Extras included in this disc:
- The Mystery of Margaret: Exploration of Margaret’s character and narrative intricacies.
- The Director’s Vision: Insights on stylistic choices and the female perspective.
- Signs of The First Omen: Analysis of production design and symbolism.
- Digital Code: Includes an HD digital copy for Movies Anywhere.
Movie: 61
The First Omen serves as an intriguing and atmospheric prequel to the classic Omen series, capturing the sinister essence that made the original a cultural landmark. Set in 1971, the film follows young American Margaret Daino (Nell Tiger Free) who ventures to Rome to start her journey as a Catholic nun. The setting of the Vizzardeli Orphanage, under the stern gaze of Sister Silva (Sonia Braga), adds to the film's unnerving atmosphere. Margaret’s initial experiences intertwine with a covert conspiracy to bring forth the Antichrist, harkening back to the visceral paranoia seen in Rosemary's Baby. Director Arkasha Stevenson skillfully employs real Roman locations to lend authenticity, paired with evocative production design and cinematography. While Jerry Goldsmith’s original Oscar-winning score makes a subtle return, composer Mark Korven's additions elevate the eerie tone.
The narrative intricately addresses themes of female bodily autonomy, mirroring contemporary issues through the lens of horror. Margaret uncovers terrifying truths, guided by Father Gabriel (Tawfeek Barhom) and excommunicated Father Brennan (Ralph Ineson), whose character arcs are both complex and engaging. The film cleverly builds its scares not through jump scares, but through a slow-burn tension that crescendos in shocking and grotesque sequences. The performances are uniformly strong, with Nell Tiger Free particularly standing out for her compelling embodiment of innocence and bravery. Despite some narrative predictability and its obvious derivations from Rosemary's Baby, The First Omen distinguishes itself through its well-crafted suspense and chilling revelations about the orphanage’s dark secrets.
While paying homage to Richard Donner's original 1976 masterpiece, The First Omen also brings fresh horror elements to the fore, making it a noteworthy addition to the franchise. It succeeds in knitting itself into the larger Omen mythology in a mostly coherent manner, despite a few continuity lapses such as timeline inconsistencies and altering key plot elements from the original series. Overall, Arkasha Stevenson's directorial debut is an impressive feat that offers a satisfyingly dark and suspenseful prequel experience, albeit with final moments that perhaps too overtly connect to the larger series.
Total: 77
The First Omen, a prequel to the enduring Omen franchise, delivers a mixed bag when it comes to storytelling but impresses with its technical presentation. The film, directed by Arkasha Stevenson, unexpectedly breathes new life into the franchise, offering a blend of stylistic visuals and spooky atmosphere though it struggles to completely surprise due to its familiar plot trajectory. While the narrative attempts to tether itself to the original Richard Donner masterpiece from nearly 50 years ago, the deviations and lack of originality make parts of it feel unnecessary.
Despite these narrative shortcomings, the Blu-ray release of The First Omen excels in technical merits. The 1080p transfer is top-notch, showcasing excellent picture quality with crisp details and vibrant colors. The audio performance is equally impressive, creating an immersive experience with well-balanced sound design and clear dialogue. Although a 4K disc would have been preferable, the Blu-ray still provides a robust visual and auditory experience. The bonus features package could be more comprehensive, but the three included supplements add some value for fans of the franchise.
In conclusion, The First Omen may not revolutionize or surprise within its genre, but it remains an entertaining and technically solid addition to The Omen series. Its high-quality Blu-ray transfer and engaging if predictable storyline make it a worthwhile watch for both newcomers and longtime fans of the franchise. Recommended for those who appreciate well-crafted physical media and enjoy revisiting sinister cinematic universes.
Blu-ray.com review by Jeffrey KauffmanRead review here
Video: 100
While the IMDb doesn't list a camera as of the writing of this review, some of the supplements on this disc offer fleeting glimpses of Arri cameras, and the IMDb does specify there was a 4K DI....
Audio: 100
As is briefly addressed in the supplemental material, the sound design in the film is quite baroque at times, perhaps to make somewhat ambiguous whether or not Margaret is out of her mind (guess whether...
Extras: 30
The Mystery of Margaret (HD; 5:42) looks at some of the background and context of the character....
Movie: 60
That distinctively increasingly paranoiac point of view is one of the things that really made both the original novel and Polanski's adaptation so viscerally effective, and to cite just one example of...
Total: 60
It seems like this "reboot" was fashioned to set up a whole new sidebar franchise (I'm assuming courtesy of at least one, and possibly two, of the supporting characters surrounding Margaret), but my hunch...
High-Def DigestRead review here
Video: 80
The only guess I have is since Scream Factory’s The Omen Collection Blu-ray set has gone out of print, a new franchise box set must be in the works from someone that may offer a 4K disc then....
Audio: 80
LFE is well-defined, largely moved by the ominous and moody music elements, but there are a few good car crashes that deliver some rumble in the subs....
Extras: 20
A full feature-length making-of or a director’s commentary would have been a very welcome addition....
Movie: 80
Now, longtime fans of the franchise might have a few bumps and issues with this entry and how this film slightly bends the lore to fit its story....
Total: 80
I wished the bonus features package was a little more robust, but as it stands, this is a disc worthy of your attention....
Home Theater Forum review by Todd ErwinRead review here
Video: 90
IMDB does not list which cameras and native resolution were used in making The First Omen, but based on the behinds the scenes featurettes, this was obviously a digital production....
Audio: 90
The default audio for the disc is a very immersive and effective DTS-HD MA 7.1 mix which folded down nicely to 5.1 on my 5.1.2 speaker setup with heights turned off....
Extras: 40
The Director’s Vision (1080p; 4:31): A look at some of the stylistic choices made by director Arkasha Stevenson....
Movie: 40
Meanwhile, Father Brennan (Ralph Ineson), who has been excommunicated from the church, is trying to expose a conspiracy deep within the church, something to do with breeding the teenager girls at the orphanage...
Total: 60
The First Omen tries way too hard to tie itself to the Richard Donner original from nearly 50 years ago, but changes some of the facts from that franchise....
AVSForum review by Ralph PottsRead review here
Video: 92
Audio: 94
Dialogue plays an integral role however, there are a host of sequences that allow this mix to flex its muscle....
Extras: 60
• The Mystery of Margaret – Join director Arkasha Stevenson and stars Nell Tiger Free, Bill Nighy and Maria Caballero as they dive into the character of Margaret, her relationships with other characters,...
Movie: 70
It would be a number of years before I was allowed to see it (I was 12 when it came out and scary movies didn’t agree with me according to my mother)....
Total: 79
Ralph Potts AVS Forum Blu-ray Reviews Reference Review System: JVC DLA-NZ7 4K Ultra High-Definition Laser Front Projector (Calibrated with Calman color calibration software and Portrait Displays C6 HDR2000...
Why So Blu?Read review here
Video: 100
The sense of depth in The First Omen’s Blu-ray presentation shows objects and individuals moving in and out of frame with no degradation of focus in any moment....
Audio: 100
This is not a detriment, and the film still has an excellent mix overall!Height: N/ALow-Frequency Extension: Music and horror sound effects give the subwoofer some light work, but there isn’t much to go...
Extras: 30
Signs of The First Omen – Join the director and talented artists as they reveal some of the symbolism within the set designs and the costumes....
Movie: 60
Clues and twists reveal much more and then complexity and shocking discovery set in and the whole orphanage becomes a scare show for anyone living or working there....
Total: 60
The film is creepy and engaging and turns out to be a lot of fun once the twists and turns of the film start doing their thing....
Director: Arkasha Stevenson
Actors: Nell Tiger Free, Ralph Ineson, Sonia Braga
PlotA young psychologist named Julia becomes entangled in a chilling sequence of events after discovering a series of ancient, prophetic documents predicting catastrophic outcomes for humanity. As she delves deeper into her research, she learns about a secret sect that believes they can enact these prophecies to bring about a new world order. Julia's investigations lead her to cross paths with a mysterious historian, Dr. Harlan, who initially seems to hold the key to understanding the prophecies. However, their shared quest for knowledge plunges them into a labyrinthine conspiracy, fraught with terrifying visions and inexplicable occurrences.
Haunted by eerie premonitions and plagued by inexplicable phenomena, Julia starts questioning her own mental state. Her situation becomes increasingly dire when members of the ancient sect begin targeting her, willing to silence anyone interfering with their plans. With time running out, Julia must navigate through the dark histories and motives behind the doomsday cult, unravel the true nature of the prophecies, and confront her own deepest fears. The looming threat of chaos and destruction grows ever more imminent, pushing Julia towards a climactic showdown where the fate of humanity hangs precariously in the balance.
Writers: Tim Smith, Arkasha Stevenson, Keith Thomas
Release Date: 05 Apr 2024
Runtime: 119 min
Rating: R
Country: United States, Italy, Serbia, Canada
Language: English, Italian