 What's going on guys welcome back to the channel critical overload here So this will be a spoiler preview for the first omen the first omen is directed by Akasha Stevenson Who co-wrote the screenplay alongside Tim Smith and Keith Thomas? This is starring nail tiger free Taufik Barham. So Sonya Braga Ralph Innocent and Who else do we have here? We have Maria Caballero Those are the people I want to point out because I think they stood out to me when I was watching this film so the first omen is Revolving around this young American woman named Margaret who is sent to Rome to begin a life of service to the church She encounters a darkness that causes her to question her own faith and uncovers a terrifying conspiracy That hopes to bring about the birth of evil incarnate. Of course, we know who that is Damian So the first omen I would say is a highly effective prequel despite the retcons and and liberties It takes with what we already knew to be true about the omen and the lore that was already established in the franchise It doesn't rely on jump scares and it keeps you guessing up until the final shot or at least it did for me I say this as someone who went into the film knowing most of what was going to happen as I often tend to do these days If you follow me on Twitter, you know what I'm talking about It's amazing when you're just able to get so lost in a story be fully invested and forget that you already knew the outcomes from point A To point B definitely has an advantage over the recent movie from neon I saw immaculate because it doesn't have all those jump scares They immaculate have and is now I would say the best religious horror film to be released theatrically this year Margaret our American protagonist with a dark past Related to time spent in an orphanage and haunting nightmares is a likable character to root for While in Rome working at this orphanage to service the church She becomes fond of a girl who seems like a bit of an outcast Carlita I believe I believe was the girl's name Carlita separation from the other girls is something Margaret identifies with thanks to her own upbringing and her Like ideologies that she sees in Carlita the fact that they call Carlita this bad girl And she's like oh they only call you that because you're not doing what they want you to now this Fascination fascination she has with Carlita will slowly begin to put both of them in danger Stevenson and her co-writers do a terrific job exploring religious exploitation through these two women But we've seen story like stories like this before so it's nothing too original But the execution is everything like I've said numerous times and when you can keep your story engaging like the first omen does The unoriginality is excused to a degree outside of Carlita and Margaret Most of the side characters are forgettable Except for father Brennan who spins the film trying to act as a savior to Margaret Brennan deserve more development considering how important the story wants him to be he deserved to be further developed Beyond what we actually got from him while there was a moment of exposition dumping I can appreciate that this didn't come after the movie had made it very clear what was going on So it's not beating me over the head as though I'm a complete freaking idiot The scares in the screenplay are mostly body horror and there is a lot of it So many grotesque depictions are used to sustain the tension and unnerving atmosphere One in particular involved in a hand coming out of a specific area Made it clear to me why this film almost got an NC 17 rating when the body horror is absent Creepy behaviors from other characters keep the proceedings disturbing Every interaction feels authentic thanks to competent dialogue Which I will always praise because convincing dialogue seems to be becoming a thing of the past depending on what you're watching I guess the first omen not only relies on its body horror in the screenplay But there's silent misdirection sprinkled throughout the story as well Some of this mixed misdirection contributes to the alterations of previously established omen lore But none of it goes too far and just kept the story suspenseful the further we peel back the layers of what's happening At this orphanage Stevenson's direction is fantastic nil tiger free gives a terrific performances margaret every emotion margaret is feeling She's conveying it very well and convincingly on screen There's a moment after a car crash during the third act where she had me glued to the screen It's a pretty irresistible sequence due to her tremendous screen presence It involves body contortions is all I'll say when you see it. You'll know what I'm talking about This Is my first project that I've seen of her so I'll have to dig into her other works Another standout performance came from ralph inison who again didn't have the best character development As the brennan character Still when he's on screen his voice alone demands your attention The cinematography is also breathtaking and nearly made me forget that this film is from the 2020s and not the 70s Most of the frames were visually appealing making it easy to stay engaged with the story A lot of that has also do the films color grading It was just an atmospheric ride from the title card up until the credits and while the pacing was solid There's a club sequence that seemed to overstay its welcome and didn't fit with the rest of the movie But that's really all I'll say in terms of the pacing and other technical aspects I want to get into outside of the screenplay I thought that the score that the that was present in the film Definitely added to a lot of the bone chilling sequences that you have featured throughout definitely kept me on the edge kept me Just perplexed by a lot of the happenings that were going on at this orphanage I was very suspicious of everything going on Largely due to the score that chimed in at all the right moments the strong performances again all Attributed to the strong direction from Stevenson. This is a well crafted religious horror film I would say without having revisited a lot of the more recent Not that we've had a had like a slew of them I haven't revisited the more recent omen entries in this franchise But for my own memory This has to be the strongest one That I've had to had the pleasure of experiencing because I think the only one that's come out since I've been alive I could be could be mistaken is the 2006 remake would leave schreiber Who you know, it's cotton. We're from the screen franchise. This is the strongest one. I've seen in my lifetime Or I've been around to experience as a new release I would still give credit obviously to the original as the strongest This might be like the second or third strongest in the franchise. Some might even say it's the strongest I've seen some feedback from others saying this is the strongest film in the franchise It's been a minute since I've checked out the original movie I'm gonna have to revisit that to see if it actually is better I doubt that it is because again the way it ends up connecting to the original movie It's all in the vein of taking liberties with the story your retcons and some people aren't gonna like it But all in all it's properly executed or adequately executed It's a pretty effective religious horror movie does all the right things doesn't rely on jump scares It relies on building tension building atmosphere body horror very Disturbing body horror again. I will say I would give the first omen a solid seven and a half out of ten It's not the greatest thing, but it's also not a complete train wreck like some of the more recent films We got last year That's just believer Let me know what you guys think about this down in the comment section below if you haven't already of course Make sure you go ahead and subscribe Turn on post notifications so that you never miss a video in the description I will have links to all of my social media accounts. I am on facebook twitter and instagram You can message me there of course to let me know if there are any movies news or reviews You let me to cover in the future and with all that in mind guys. I will see you in the next video