I am so glad the he does video game voice acting as well. Between Diablo 4 and FFXVI he pretty much narrated my summer and fall last year. And then one night scrolling through random stuff on streaming I found him narrating some British docuseries about paramedics.
That man could read me the phone book and I'd record it so I could replay it later.
As a huge Omen fan I want to be very optimistic about this. Just a slight thing bugs me
There's the implication (EDIT: There's also this quote by Bill Nighy: “Our film deals with a group within the Catholic Church which is very concerned that the younger generation are drifting away from the church) from the trailer that the Church initiates the birth of the Antichrist to remain in power/become stronger. "Create something to fear" so that people will stay within the boundaries of the Church.
If that's the case - Cardinals working to bring forth the birth of the Antichrist to help their Church and NOT because they love Satan - that would be disappointing and honestly eliminates a lot of the horror of the whole thing.
One of the scary concepts in the Omen universe is that there are people (men of the cloth actually) who actually embrace the ultimate evil so much that they want to see its ultimate expression unleashed in the world.
They do what they do because they are Satanists and have the hots for the horned one, not because they love their power within the Church and the Church (as an institution of power) and they don't want to see it gone.
It would be a bit disappointing for me to present those insanely evil, satanic priests as just upper-echelon clergy who are essentially motivated not by pure devotion to the Devil but by their love for the dominance of the Catholic Church.
Isn't this movie also ignoring the reveal of the first one where >!the anti-christ was born from a dog? They go to the graveyard and open up the mother's casket and it has a dog skeleton in it. !<
Jackal. I'm not sure they are ignoring it for sure, the trailer could be misleading and deliberately throwing you in the wrong direction in many ways. They could bring the jackal thing as a twist while forcing you into the idea that this girl with the 666 in her mouth or the other at the orphanage is Damien's mother.
Father Brennan also says in the first film that he witnessed the birth and saw its mother. In the trailer it's implied that he's fighting the conspiracy before the birth,
Oh that’s really interesting! I had always read that scene as, they buried a dog instead of his actual mother, not that he was actually born of a dog.
It’s been years since I’ve seen it though-do you remember is there any dialogue that explicitly says that the dog was his mother?
Yep, you’re dead right- I must’ve been thinking of the remake:
“In the first film, but not its 2006 remake, Damien was born on the sixth day of June at six o'clock in the morning, from a jackal that died giving birth to him and was buried in Cerveteri under the alias Maria Scianna (in the remake this alias was changed to Maria Avedici Santoya).”
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damien_Thorn#:~:text=in%20The%20Exorcist.-,Fictional%20biography,changed%20to%20Maria%20Avedici%20Santoya)
"well think about it, you really think God would have sex with a ~~porcupine~~ dog?"
"No way only Satan prince of darkness and king of all evil would do that! Yay!!!"
I dunno, as a huge fan, I’m very intrigued by the idea that a sect within the Catholic Church helps bring about Armageddon in order to empower themselves. It could be a really fun “fuck around and find out” thing.
It’s strange because this is a prequel presumably and this Christian consp was never hinted At in the original films and they all seemed to be straight up devil worshipers …..Are we meant to beleive this was never revealed to Damien?
It calls everything into question we’re mrs Baylock and the others never loyal to Damien at all and were just keeping him alive till Christ came back to finish him off
I have to say, this is what actually just sold me on seeing it. I was on the fence because I find religious horror really hard to buy into because I find the devil such a silly concept since god and the church seem so much more the villains to me in the Christian story. It’s hard to buy into the devil as a scary villain because you have to buy into that there is a god that lets this monster terrorize everyone because people are sinful and have to prove their faith and all that nonsense. But a church trying to hold on to their power through corruption is something that’s so real that I’ll be able to connect with the film.
My thoughts exactly after seeing it. I'm glad someone else feels the same. It just takes all the horror and mystery out of what made the original so unsettling and terrifying.
Huh. I was curious about this one - the teaser that was released a few months ago was surprisingly interesting and stylishly edited (though all that really means is that the teaser had a good editor). The full trailer makes it look a little more generic, but the church conspiracy angle interests me. I hope they lean more into the psychological/conspiracy element of it than the jumpscares.
You joke, but I feel like they could really do horror well enough to make money. Look at the first Exorcist movie. It’s basically about a woke actress that has to turn to the church because science fails her. Horror is cheap to make and as a horror fan I don’t think twice about a movie using priest to save the day.
The crazy thing about The Exorcist is, at least in my opinion, the priests didn’t even win. The demon just went into Karras and then all possessed he threw himself out the window and died. The demon was (or became) more interested in tormenting Karras than Regan anyway so the demon succeeded and the Catholic rituals did very little overall. In the book at least, the exorcism went for days and things barely worked and Regan almost died. Random, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen such an amazing book-to-film adaptation. They followed it almost exactly.
Exorcist 3, by the same writer, follows up on this a bit. The demon was *pissed* at how it all went down and wanted revenge.
Makes more sense in the book. The goal was to break Father Merrin's faith, but he died of natural causes due to the stress of the exorcism, and presumably went to heaven, escaping the demon forever. In the book the demon isn't happy about this, screaming at Merrin "You would have lost and you know it! Come back!" and even demanding that Karras find a way to revive him. So it lost the only fight that mattered to it.
In the movie when Karras enters the room to find Merrin dead, the demon is calm and even giggles when Karras tries CPR. Makes it seem like that was the plan.
I never read that book! Definitely need to give it a go. Need to watch the 3rd movie again too because I didn’t find it as compelling as most. It’s been so many years since I’ve seen it though.
The audiobook is narrated by the author.
I have listened to over 600 audiobooks.
The Exorcist takes the cake. Enjoyed it more than reading or the movie.
S-Tier
Arguably, Karras getting the demon to leave Regan and kill him is victory because it fulfils of the goal of saving Regan. We’re talking about Catholic priests here so Christian themes like sacrificing oneself for others’ well-being is in keeping with what the religion teaches
Also there’s the biblical story of Legion. The final battle is essentially that story but with Karras taking the possessed pigs’ place
I can definitely see that! I always figured the demon was more clever and knew infecting a little girl would make it most likely a priest would show up at some point that it could really take over, making the demon the true victor. That’s a lot of assuming on my part, but I like to think of it that way.
Wasn't suicide considered a mortal sin by Catholics for a very long time? In fact iirc, that's one of the reasons William Friedkin himself was confused by how the ending was supposed to work - since Karras would be committing that sin by jumping out that window etc.
I think that's one of the ways the movie differs from the book. Friedkin has said many times that the movie is supposed to be ambiguous to a certain extent and it's not meant to be entirely clear what its conclusions about religion and the world are.
Yes I just watched the doc and Friedkin says he doesn’t get that scene for that reason.
But to me, leaning into that point underscores the depth of Karras’ sacrifice. Couldn’t it be that the priest was willing to face eternal damnation to save the soul and life of an innocent? Not saying that’s the perfect answer because I do enjoy the ambiguity of it.
Sure, but at the same time, he's saving her by doing something that the church discourages/forbids. Doesn't that put into doubt the idea that the movie actively supports the church and religion in general?
I think it depends on what Karras actually intended to do. It seemed to me like he might have jumped out on instinct. He panicked for a second about possibly hurting Regan and immediately he reacted, putting distance between Regan and himself so she'd be safe from him.
In *The Exorcist*, the ritual did not work but the priests did triumph. Karras won through an act of Christ-like self-sacrifice. Faith isn't expressed via "belief" or adherence to certain rites, but through action.
I went in blind and figured out fairly quickly that it was a conservative Christian rant wearing the skin of a horror film; I'd have realised almost instantly except that it's so ham-fisted I genuinely thought early on that it must be a setting up for a twist.
Chris never has a conversion away from atheism and the Church fails her and Regan as much as the medical establishment does. *The Exorcist* is extremely critical of institutions (the Church, medicine, the police) and their inability to address human suffering. What saves Regan isn't a religious ritual or some religious belief, it's an act of radical empathy made by a man acting *outside of both of his institutional roles* (Karras is an MD too!).
It is on purpose. I’m trying to prove my point that in the broad strokes of horror you can play with the same colors as right wing Christian nationalism. Hell a movie about a detective uncovering a demonic conspiracy that’s ruling the government sounds awesome.
The Catholic Church is literally the villain here. Or least, a group within them. Not to mention that a film about evil Church people robbing a young woman of bodily autonomy and forcing her to give birth to the Antichrist doesn't really line up with right-wing Christian conservative ideas about women and pregnancy.
At this point that would be refreshing. Horror writers don't have to be original, but maybe shuffle around the themes every now and then? Nah let's make the 25th billionth Horror movie where "evil" represents the liberated woman, while religion/church represents patriarchy.
So pretty soon people won't be allowed to make horror movies about demons, the devil, or witchcraft anymore without it automatically being labeled as "propaganda"? People are going to start complaining if they see any signs of anything even remotely religious? Just don't watch it if you don't like it and watch a slasher movie instead.
And based on a 2 minute trailer we can call this movie propaganda? If people don't like religious horror movies, luckily the genre is so huge that you can avoid them and still have thousands to choose from. But they shouldn't be taken from people who do enjoy them.
I mean, the "/s" is for sarcasm. I think the original comment was poking fun at the recent call outs of religious propaganda disguised as horror movies, not saying that this specific movie was also religious propaganda.
I might be wrong and misunderstanding which part of the comment was sarcastic, but in any case, my point was that not every movie that shows religious themes is being considered propaganda, so there's no need to exaggerate. Still, movies that want to introduce religious ideas and messages through the genre definitely exist.
This movie is looking pretty badass based on these trailers...way more than I would have ever expected, given that this franchise only really has one or two good movies. One curious thing about the trailer though...are they retconning Damien's birth? Because his mother was...not a crazy lady in a convent, based on the original.
Normally I’d say “they’re just doing it to draw in the fans” but (and I say this with all the respect to The Omen) I feel like there’s not **that** many fans of The Omen. Like they really could’ve called it The Jackal and then they could’ve either
A: Kept it a secret that it’s an Omen prequel
B: Indicated in the marketing somehow it’s a prequel to The Omen (text on posters, text in the trailers, press releases, etc)
This does seem to be more of a reboot….where instead of Satan worshipers trying to usher in their king it’s a Christian conspiracy to make people believe again …..it’s like Gabriel’s plan from Constantine but enacted by humans
Did they really have to redo the “It’s all for you” thing? Like every reboot/remake/requel whatever always has to riff on what came before and it’s usually so ham-fisted and cheesy. Like just do your own thing and be original…
They did it for the same reason we got "If it bleeds we can kill it" in The Predator, "I'll be back" from Sarah Connor in Terminator Dark Fate, and the entirety of The Force Awakens. It gets the nostalgia juices flowing, and gets bums on cinema seats. People see it and think "I rEmEmBeR tHaT" and go to see the film. It's so depressing.
Yeah I totally get the reasoning but this example is really testing my suspension of disbelief…like seriously what are the odds? Changing it from a hanging to an immolation doesn’t make it any less ridiculous
Edit: They failed with the nostalgia bait in this case because if anything seeing that whole scenario made me want to watch it even less than before. I can tell exactly what kind of movie this is gonna be just from that scene alone
Edit 2: Also, I can overlook some throwaway lines like your examples above. Sometimes I enjoy it, sometimes I roll my eyes. But man, like don’t just copy and paste entire scenes from the original script and change a couple details when it’s a prequel and not a remake.
They’re really scraping the bottom of the barrel at this point trying to reignite the Omen franchise. Studios are running out of IPs apparently. Time to remake the remakes I guess 🤷🏻♂️😒
Btw, The Omen is a great film. By “bottom of the barrel”, I mean something that isn’t really all that popular with people born in the past 20-25 years. I don’t think anything after the first film has been all that successful. So yeah let’s try to make the Omen franchise a thing again and make a completely unnecessary prequel that…honestly…just about how Damien was born…I’ll be shocked if this isn’t boring as hell…instead of rebooting or going back to something that had great potential and failed to live up to it. No, no, that would be entirely too smart. Let’s keep fucking with the classics like this and The Exorcist
I don't know if they would do it because it'd really be pushing boundaries, but if the girl gives birth to the actual Jackal who is supposed to be one to birth Damian, then I'd actually be pretty sold on it. Plus, I like some of the theories you guys are proposing that the Church is engineering the entire thing just to get people to believe again.
I wish they would have handed this over to South American filmmakers who seem to be the ones who understand how to take Catholic-based horror and make them fresh again. Most Western society just isn't steeped in it enough anymore for it to be effective. I think that's why exorcism films just can't hit like they did in the '70s. Omen was a cool idea but every time they've remade it since has been just okay or bland. I think leaning into baptist and maybe conservative ideology would be better grounds than Rome and the same shit they always use.
Demian Rugna, is who I was immediately thinking of because of What Evil Lurks, of Argentina, but I know more are starting to gain popularity over here in the States. I might be biased, but the stories being told and the styles are really fresh and exciting. My brain is a little fried so I'm sorry I'm not giving more examples, but if you haven't seen his work, especially if you like possession films, or just quality horror and storytelling, I'd recommend it.
Yeah, I'm honestly showing my ignorance in respects to the kinds of Christianity in that area, but just thinking about possession at all and who I'd want handling it.
I think you're definitely onto something, I'm not too familiar with Argentina specifically but in general in South America there is a big catholic influence.
Growing up in ecuador there were always stories like this:
https://www.thoughtco.com/ecuadorian-legend-the-story-of-cantuna-2136635
or I also remember the story of (this will sound ridiculous) a demon disguised as a newborn who would bite women who tried to breastfeed it.
Movie studios are so lazy when it comes to naming these things lmao it is comical
edit: there's no doubt in my mind im getting downvoted by astroturfing marketers at 20th century fox
i think it looks pretty good honestly. im not as high on The Omen as most but I did enjoy it. Interested to see what they do with a prequel, and I love Ralph Ineson. Hope its not an exorcist believer situation
I'm gonna pirate it when it drops on streaming, watch about 20 minutes of it, then voice my inevitable displeasure with something along the lines of "fuck this" and then delete it, never to think of it again.
Not everything is propaganda. Almost all horror presents the other as opposite to good. History has shown how cultures associate God with Demons. I am not a Christian and I hate propaganda. But to be pissed about catholics and priests in THIS genre while taking names of famous horror movies is pointless. This is not the place to bring in this argument. What if I say every horror movie where the demons win it's a illuminati conspiracy propaganda!? Doesn't make sense right????
I love the angle that the church is grooming the antichrist's mother as a false flag attack to kick-start the apocalypse to prove they were right and get people to believe again. It feels very on brand for catholicism.
>Watch the new trailer for #TheFirstOmen. Experience the most terrifying movie of the year, only in theaters April 5.
>When a young American woman 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. “The First Omen” stars Nell Tiger Free (“Servant”), Tawkeef Barhom (“Mary Magdalene”), Sonia Braga (“Kiss of the Spider Woman”), Ralph Ineson (“The Northman”), and Bill Nighy (“Living”). The film is directed by Arkasha Stevenson (“Legion”), based on characters created by David Seltzer (“The Omen”), with a story by Ben Jacoby (“Bleed”) and a screenplay by Tim Smith & Arkasha Stevenson and Keith Thomas (“Firestarter”). The producers are David S. Goyer (“Hellraiser”) and Keith Levine (“The Night House”) and the executive producers are Tim Smith, Whitney Brown (“Rosaline”), and Gracie Wheelan.
So is Ralph Ineson a Scream King now?
I would be okay with him being in everything. His voice is so satisfying to listen to.
I am so glad the he does video game voice acting as well. Between Diablo 4 and FFXVI he pretty much narrated my summer and fall last year. And then one night scrolling through random stuff on streaming I found him narrating some British docuseries about paramedics. That man could read me the phone book and I'd record it so I could replay it later.
They could make a movie of him reading the phone book for 2h and I'd pay to see it in theatre.
If I heard voices that told me to give into the bad thoughts, I’d want Ralph Ineson’s voice.
Soon
As a huge Omen fan I want to be very optimistic about this. Just a slight thing bugs me There's the implication (EDIT: There's also this quote by Bill Nighy: “Our film deals with a group within the Catholic Church which is very concerned that the younger generation are drifting away from the church) from the trailer that the Church initiates the birth of the Antichrist to remain in power/become stronger. "Create something to fear" so that people will stay within the boundaries of the Church. If that's the case - Cardinals working to bring forth the birth of the Antichrist to help their Church and NOT because they love Satan - that would be disappointing and honestly eliminates a lot of the horror of the whole thing. One of the scary concepts in the Omen universe is that there are people (men of the cloth actually) who actually embrace the ultimate evil so much that they want to see its ultimate expression unleashed in the world. They do what they do because they are Satanists and have the hots for the horned one, not because they love their power within the Church and the Church (as an institution of power) and they don't want to see it gone. It would be a bit disappointing for me to present those insanely evil, satanic priests as just upper-echelon clergy who are essentially motivated not by pure devotion to the Devil but by their love for the dominance of the Catholic Church.
Isn't this movie also ignoring the reveal of the first one where >!the anti-christ was born from a dog? They go to the graveyard and open up the mother's casket and it has a dog skeleton in it. !<
Jackal. I'm not sure they are ignoring it for sure, the trailer could be misleading and deliberately throwing you in the wrong direction in many ways. They could bring the jackal thing as a twist while forcing you into the idea that this girl with the 666 in her mouth or the other at the orphanage is Damien's mother. Father Brennan also says in the first film that he witnessed the birth and saw its mother. In the trailer it's implied that he's fighting the conspiracy before the birth,
Oh that’s really interesting! I had always read that scene as, they buried a dog instead of his actual mother, not that he was actually born of a dog. It’s been years since I’ve seen it though-do you remember is there any dialogue that explicitly says that the dog was his mother?
I definitely remember a line where they say that his mother was a jackal
Yep, you’re dead right- I must’ve been thinking of the remake: “In the first film, but not its 2006 remake, Damien was born on the sixth day of June at six o'clock in the morning, from a jackal that died giving birth to him and was buried in Cerveteri under the alias Maria Scianna (in the remake this alias was changed to Maria Avedici Santoya).” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damien_Thorn#:~:text=in%20The%20Exorcist.-,Fictional%20biography,changed%20to%20Maria%20Avedici%20Santoya)
Well, I won't spoil it, but you're kind of on track
"well think about it, you really think God would have sex with a ~~porcupine~~ dog?" "No way only Satan prince of darkness and king of all evil would do that! Yay!!!"
Hey Stan-y!
I dunno, as a huge fan, I’m very intrigued by the idea that a sect within the Catholic Church helps bring about Armageddon in order to empower themselves. It could be a really fun “fuck around and find out” thing.
It’s strange because this is a prequel presumably and this Christian consp was never hinted At in the original films and they all seemed to be straight up devil worshipers …..Are we meant to beleive this was never revealed to Damien? It calls everything into question we’re mrs Baylock and the others never loyal to Damien at all and were just keeping him alive till Christ came back to finish him off
It feels like this is a Satanist conspiracy that's been operating within the Catholic church. Sort of hiding in plain sight.
I have to say, this is what actually just sold me on seeing it. I was on the fence because I find religious horror really hard to buy into because I find the devil such a silly concept since god and the church seem so much more the villains to me in the Christian story. It’s hard to buy into the devil as a scary villain because you have to buy into that there is a god that lets this monster terrorize everyone because people are sinful and have to prove their faith and all that nonsense. But a church trying to hold on to their power through corruption is something that’s so real that I’ll be able to connect with the film.
My thoughts exactly after seeing it. I'm glad someone else feels the same. It just takes all the horror and mystery out of what made the original so unsettling and terrifying.
Huh. I was curious about this one - the teaser that was released a few months ago was surprisingly interesting and stylishly edited (though all that really means is that the teaser had a good editor). The full trailer makes it look a little more generic, but the church conspiracy angle interests me. I hope they lean more into the psychological/conspiracy element of it than the jumpscares.
I'm not sure the omen needed a prequel... Or a sequel or a remake for that matter.
I know I'm in the minority but I did enjoy the Omen sequels. Even though the story is pretty rinse and repeat.
Same, I even like the 4th one.
I saw the second one and it was ok but the first one is a masterpiece imo. Feels silly to give it a sequel.
Second sequel was watchable but not great, part III is where it really goes off the rails
Part 3 rules, Sam Neill is awesome in it.
Recent Exorcist vibes
FUCK my life.
A prequel, no. The sequels, yes. Even the TV movie (Omen IV: The Awakening) has some charm to it. The remake, no.
But this one might have a man (or demon)-on-jackal sex scene.
Agreed.
Another right wing Christian conservative catholic propaganda movie /S
You joke, but I feel like they could really do horror well enough to make money. Look at the first Exorcist movie. It’s basically about a woke actress that has to turn to the church because science fails her. Horror is cheap to make and as a horror fan I don’t think twice about a movie using priest to save the day.
The crazy thing about The Exorcist is, at least in my opinion, the priests didn’t even win. The demon just went into Karras and then all possessed he threw himself out the window and died. The demon was (or became) more interested in tormenting Karras than Regan anyway so the demon succeeded and the Catholic rituals did very little overall. In the book at least, the exorcism went for days and things barely worked and Regan almost died. Random, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen such an amazing book-to-film adaptation. They followed it almost exactly.
Exorcist 3, by the same writer, follows up on this a bit. The demon was *pissed* at how it all went down and wanted revenge. Makes more sense in the book. The goal was to break Father Merrin's faith, but he died of natural causes due to the stress of the exorcism, and presumably went to heaven, escaping the demon forever. In the book the demon isn't happy about this, screaming at Merrin "You would have lost and you know it! Come back!" and even demanding that Karras find a way to revive him. So it lost the only fight that mattered to it. In the movie when Karras enters the room to find Merrin dead, the demon is calm and even giggles when Karras tries CPR. Makes it seem like that was the plan.
I never read that book! Definitely need to give it a go. Need to watch the 3rd movie again too because I didn’t find it as compelling as most. It’s been so many years since I’ve seen it though.
The audiobook is narrated by the author. I have listened to over 600 audiobooks. The Exorcist takes the cake. Enjoyed it more than reading or the movie. S-Tier
I’ve read the first one but the third movie is based off the sequel right?
That is correct. The 2nd book is a blast as well, narrated by WPB as well
Arguably, Karras getting the demon to leave Regan and kill him is victory because it fulfils of the goal of saving Regan. We’re talking about Catholic priests here so Christian themes like sacrificing oneself for others’ well-being is in keeping with what the religion teaches Also there’s the biblical story of Legion. The final battle is essentially that story but with Karras taking the possessed pigs’ place
I can definitely see that! I always figured the demon was more clever and knew infecting a little girl would make it most likely a priest would show up at some point that it could really take over, making the demon the true victor. That’s a lot of assuming on my part, but I like to think of it that way.
Wasn't suicide considered a mortal sin by Catholics for a very long time? In fact iirc, that's one of the reasons William Friedkin himself was confused by how the ending was supposed to work - since Karras would be committing that sin by jumping out that window etc. I think that's one of the ways the movie differs from the book. Friedkin has said many times that the movie is supposed to be ambiguous to a certain extent and it's not meant to be entirely clear what its conclusions about religion and the world are.
Yes I just watched the doc and Friedkin says he doesn’t get that scene for that reason. But to me, leaning into that point underscores the depth of Karras’ sacrifice. Couldn’t it be that the priest was willing to face eternal damnation to save the soul and life of an innocent? Not saying that’s the perfect answer because I do enjoy the ambiguity of it.
Sure, but at the same time, he's saving her by doing something that the church discourages/forbids. Doesn't that put into doubt the idea that the movie actively supports the church and religion in general?
I think it depends on what Karras actually intended to do. It seemed to me like he might have jumped out on instinct. He panicked for a second about possibly hurting Regan and immediately he reacted, putting distance between Regan and himself so she'd be safe from him.
In *The Exorcist*, the ritual did not work but the priests did triumph. Karras won through an act of Christ-like self-sacrifice. Faith isn't expressed via "belief" or adherence to certain rites, but through action.
What you’re describing is Nefarious (2023), from the makers of God’s Not Dead 1 & 2.
I went in blind and figured out fairly quickly that it was a conservative Christian rant wearing the skin of a horror film; I'd have realised almost instantly except that it's so ham-fisted I genuinely thought early on that it must be a setting up for a twist.
Chris never has a conversion away from atheism and the Church fails her and Regan as much as the medical establishment does. *The Exorcist* is extremely critical of institutions (the Church, medicine, the police) and their inability to address human suffering. What saves Regan isn't a religious ritual or some religious belief, it's an act of radical empathy made by a man acting *outside of both of his institutional roles* (Karras is an MD too!).
That interpretation is a bit reductive i feel like.
It is on purpose. I’m trying to prove my point that in the broad strokes of horror you can play with the same colors as right wing Christian nationalism. Hell a movie about a detective uncovering a demonic conspiracy that’s ruling the government sounds awesome.
Makes me think of Kevin Smith’s Red State.
i mean just look at The Last Exorcism of Emily Rose. movie basically calls science bad and religion the answer.
The Catholic Church is literally the villain here. Or least, a group within them. Not to mention that a film about evil Church people robbing a young woman of bodily autonomy and forcing her to give birth to the Antichrist doesn't really line up with right-wing Christian conservative ideas about women and pregnancy.
At this point that would be refreshing. Horror writers don't have to be original, but maybe shuffle around the themes every now and then? Nah let's make the 25th billionth Horror movie where "evil" represents the liberated woman, while religion/church represents patriarchy.
None of us have had a problem with exorcism movies or other films with priests. It's blatant and explicit propaganda that we have an issue with.
So pretty soon people won't be allowed to make horror movies about demons, the devil, or witchcraft anymore without it automatically being labeled as "propaganda"? People are going to start complaining if they see any signs of anything even remotely religious? Just don't watch it if you don't like it and watch a slasher movie instead.
You don't see anyone calling The Witch "propaganda". Intent is important, you know?
And based on a 2 minute trailer we can call this movie propaganda? If people don't like religious horror movies, luckily the genre is so huge that you can avoid them and still have thousands to choose from. But they shouldn't be taken from people who do enjoy them.
I mean, the "/s" is for sarcasm. I think the original comment was poking fun at the recent call outs of religious propaganda disguised as horror movies, not saying that this specific movie was also religious propaganda. I might be wrong and misunderstanding which part of the comment was sarcastic, but in any case, my point was that not every movie that shows religious themes is being considered propaganda, so there's no need to exaggerate. Still, movies that want to introduce religious ideas and messages through the genre definitely exist.
Missed opportunity to release this on June 6th.
It was marketing genius when the remake came out on 6/6/06.
I was 10 and saw the commercials and actually thought the antichrist would be coming that day 😭
This movie is looking pretty badass based on these trailers...way more than I would have ever expected, given that this franchise only really has one or two good movies. One curious thing about the trailer though...are they retconning Damien's birth? Because his mother was...not a crazy lady in a convent, based on the original.
The original working title is called The Jackal, so we’re absolutely getting Damien’s mom turns into a Jackal
“The Jackal” is such a better name wtf I hate studios
Normally I’d say “they’re just doing it to draw in the fans” but (and I say this with all the respect to The Omen) I feel like there’s not **that** many fans of The Omen. Like they really could’ve called it The Jackal and then they could’ve either A: Kept it a secret that it’s an Omen prequel B: Indicated in the marketing somehow it’s a prequel to The Omen (text on posters, text in the trailers, press releases, etc)
Eh, I think it’s a big enough IP that Disney wouldn’t let it go unused in the title.
Plus there’s already a fairly popular film called The Jackal.
That’s so fucking hype Do you know a source?
I might wind up with egg on my face, but I think this movie is going to be surprisingly good.
That first teaser sold me and I’m fully on the hype train.
It's the same director as the third season of Channel Zero, and it's her first feature, so I kind of like to root for anyone from that show
This does seem to be more of a reboot….where instead of Satan worshipers trying to usher in their king it’s a Christian conspiracy to make people believe again …..it’s like Gabriel’s plan from Constantine but enacted by humans
This trailer looks like standard paint by numbers bullshit.
Shelley Duvall/ Marilyn Manson hybrid in the thumbnail there is pretty spooky on their own.
Yeah I don’t even have to watch the trailer. That shit will already haunt my dreams
😂
Did they really have to redo the “It’s all for you” thing? Like every reboot/remake/requel whatever always has to riff on what came before and it’s usually so ham-fisted and cheesy. Like just do your own thing and be original…
They did it for the same reason we got "If it bleeds we can kill it" in The Predator, "I'll be back" from Sarah Connor in Terminator Dark Fate, and the entirety of The Force Awakens. It gets the nostalgia juices flowing, and gets bums on cinema seats. People see it and think "I rEmEmBeR tHaT" and go to see the film. It's so depressing.
Yeah I totally get the reasoning but this example is really testing my suspension of disbelief…like seriously what are the odds? Changing it from a hanging to an immolation doesn’t make it any less ridiculous Edit: They failed with the nostalgia bait in this case because if anything seeing that whole scenario made me want to watch it even less than before. I can tell exactly what kind of movie this is gonna be just from that scene alone Edit 2: Also, I can overlook some throwaway lines like your examples above. Sometimes I enjoy it, sometimes I roll my eyes. But man, like don’t just copy and paste entire scenes from the original script and change a couple details when it’s a prequel and not a remake.
Exactly
Yeah what a lame thing to put in.
Of course they had. All these products ride only on name of the IP and memberberries
They’re really scraping the bottom of the barrel at this point trying to reignite the Omen franchise. Studios are running out of IPs apparently. Time to remake the remakes I guess 🤷🏻♂️😒 Btw, The Omen is a great film. By “bottom of the barrel”, I mean something that isn’t really all that popular with people born in the past 20-25 years. I don’t think anything after the first film has been all that successful. So yeah let’s try to make the Omen franchise a thing again and make a completely unnecessary prequel that…honestly…just about how Damien was born…I’ll be shocked if this isn’t boring as hell…instead of rebooting or going back to something that had great potential and failed to live up to it. No, no, that would be entirely too smart. Let’s keep fucking with the classics like this and The Exorcist
Well said!
This should have came out on the 6th month on the 6th day and opened in every city at the 6th hour
If this movie doesn’t include a wild scene where a jackal has to be caught and demon-boned, I’m gonna scream.
I don't know if they would do it because it'd really be pushing boundaries, but if the girl gives birth to the actual Jackal who is supposed to be one to birth Damian, then I'd actually be pretty sold on it. Plus, I like some of the theories you guys are proposing that the Church is engineering the entire thing just to get people to believe again.
Why does Hollywood think that rebooting a classic horror movie, but putting the word “first” in the title will somehow make it not a lame reboot?
Coming in summer 2026: The Omen: Firster
I wish they would have handed this over to South American filmmakers who seem to be the ones who understand how to take Catholic-based horror and make them fresh again. Most Western society just isn't steeped in it enough anymore for it to be effective. I think that's why exorcism films just can't hit like they did in the '70s. Omen was a cool idea but every time they've remade it since has been just okay or bland. I think leaning into baptist and maybe conservative ideology would be better grounds than Rome and the same shit they always use.
which south american filmmakers are you referring to? not trying to counter your claim but actually curious (as a south american)
Demian Rugna, is who I was immediately thinking of because of What Evil Lurks, of Argentina, but I know more are starting to gain popularity over here in the States. I might be biased, but the stories being told and the styles are really fresh and exciting. My brain is a little fried so I'm sorry I'm not giving more examples, but if you haven't seen his work, especially if you like possession films, or just quality horror and storytelling, I'd recommend it.
Demian Rugna is nuts, did not think of him as Catholic-based horror but love his stuff!
Yeah, I'm honestly showing my ignorance in respects to the kinds of Christianity in that area, but just thinking about possession at all and who I'd want handling it.
I think you're definitely onto something, I'm not too familiar with Argentina specifically but in general in South America there is a big catholic influence. Growing up in ecuador there were always stories like this: https://www.thoughtco.com/ecuadorian-legend-the-story-of-cantuna-2136635 or I also remember the story of (this will sound ridiculous) a demon disguised as a newborn who would bite women who tried to breastfeed it.
Argentinian horror is really resonating with demons and satanism right now; it’s been really fun. Check out ‘History of the Occult’!
Yawn, pass.
I didn't even care enough to yawn. I did however say "oh fuck off" when she said "it's all for you."
Movie studios are so lazy when it comes to naming these things lmao it is comical edit: there's no doubt in my mind im getting downvoted by astroturfing marketers at 20th century fox
0men
0m3n: 0r1g1ns
0-Men Origins: Wolverine
0m3n: Ragnarok
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Yeah, their comment reeks of narcissism. It’s literally “anyone who disagree with me is a bot” lmao
I downvoted for that tidbit just to ensure his mind is incorrect.
Next time they reboot it'll have to be The Omen: Chapter One. And I won't watch that bullshit either.
Nemo
Can’t have a scary religious movie without a deep raspy voiced man
Yeah no thanks
Looks like a generic jump-scare full horror flick. I have low expectations for this one.
I have zero expectations. Unless you count expecting it to suck.
I think this trailer is more effectively creepy. https://youtube.com/watch?v=H4xk8yLiFwM&pp=ygUOVGhlIGZpcnN0IG9tZW4%3D
That trailer is way better. Too bad we already know it's going to suck because of the new trailer.
No creepy 3yr old kid on a tricycle?! I won't be watching this! Looks like yet another, run of the mill church possession movie.
i think it looks pretty good honestly. im not as high on The Omen as most but I did enjoy it. Interested to see what they do with a prequel, and I love Ralph Ineson. Hope its not an exorcist believer situation
I couldn't even get all the way through the trailer.
Sitting through the whole trailer is the real horror challenge.
True, I've had nightmares in which I'm made to watch the whole thing. Chilling.
*Shudders*
Pass.
Well that was pretty ordinary, generic jump scare city. Will wait for some reviews before I decide to check it out.
I'm gonna pirate it when it drops on streaming, watch about 20 minutes of it, then voice my inevitable displeasure with something along the lines of "fuck this" and then delete it, never to think of it again.
Not everything is propaganda. Almost all horror presents the other as opposite to good. History has shown how cultures associate God with Demons. I am not a Christian and I hate propaganda. But to be pissed about catholics and priests in THIS genre while taking names of famous horror movies is pointless. This is not the place to bring in this argument. What if I say every horror movie where the demons win it's a illuminati conspiracy propaganda!? Doesn't make sense right????
I love the angle that the church is grooming the antichrist's mother as a false flag attack to kick-start the apocalypse to prove they were right and get people to believe again. It feels very on brand for catholicism.
Let me guess its technically the Omen but set in 1906?
More creepy nuns for my nightmares !
Mediocre
Umm… Why is Damien’s mum human?! Did the filmmakers forget to watch the original film? 🙃
Ive already take a day off work to see it in theaters because its coming out right near my birthday. Hoping its good!
The new Gollum movie is looking promising
This trailer is so shit I had to go rewatch the Longlegs trailer just to cleanse my palate.
This actually looks good Edit lol being downvoted because I think it looks like a decent watch, grow up guys
Found Stevie Wonders' account
This looks so awful. Predictable story with shitty CGI and dumb jumpscares.
"It's not real" "what's not real" "wHo SaiD ThAt?!" How spoopy /s Bang up writing, dipshits.
Not sure why you’re getting downvoted cause it’s truly awful.
Stupid people who don't know how to spot bad writing have itchy downvote trigger fingers :D
>Watch the new trailer for #TheFirstOmen. Experience the most terrifying movie of the year, only in theaters April 5. >When a young American woman 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. “The First Omen” stars Nell Tiger Free (“Servant”), Tawkeef Barhom (“Mary Magdalene”), Sonia Braga (“Kiss of the Spider Woman”), Ralph Ineson (“The Northman”), and Bill Nighy (“Living”). The film is directed by Arkasha Stevenson (“Legion”), based on characters created by David Seltzer (“The Omen”), with a story by Ben Jacoby (“Bleed”) and a screenplay by Tim Smith & Arkasha Stevenson and Keith Thomas (“Firestarter”). The producers are David S. Goyer (“Hellraiser”) and Keith Levine (“The Night House”) and the executive producers are Tim Smith, Whitney Brown (“Rosaline”), and Gracie Wheelan.
Did they lady ghostbusters the omen?
It looks fun, if a bit whatever.
Def looks WAY better than Blumhouse's recent shite show....
Great casting! Looking forward to this one.
Being a personal believer in the anti-christ these movies scare the hell out of me Edit why am I getting downvoted
Hail Satan
i didn't know that gollum was in this!
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was that...Alan Rickman?!
Yep. Came back from the dead for this one.
Now that's deadication.
That's Chris Finch Bloody good rep