The First Omen’s Performance Highlights A Major Horror Double-Standard

As The First Omen begins to find a new lease of life after its initial theatrical run, the movie’s growing reputation is helping to highlight a wider double standard within the horror genre. As a prequel to one of the most celebrated horror movies of all time, The First Omen was already under pressure to live up to the first movie’s legacy. However, while the movie largely stayed true to the tone and narrative of the 1976 horror classic, it also pushed the franchise in bold new directions, thanks largely to its fresh new perspective.

Despite its somewhat underwhelming box office performance (generating just $53.7 million against a $30 million budget), The First Omen can still be considered a success. Not only was it well-received by critics (registering 81% positive reviews according to Rotten Tomatoes – the second-highest in the series), but it has also received a 69% score from the general public, highlighting its popularity across the board. This reception makes it a welcome addition to The Omen franchise. Beyond this, however, The First Omen‘s initial numbers and release backstory reveal an interesting hypocrisy at the heart of horror.

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The First Omen Brings A Female Perspective To Body Horror

It’s A Departure From The Rest Of The Series

Unlike previous iterations in the series, The First Omen focuses not just on the female perspective – revolving around Nell Tiger Free’s Margaret – but brings visceral body horror to the franchise. Previously, The Omen movies relied on sporadic moments of shocking violence after a slow build-up of tension. Moments like Father Troughton’s memorable decapitation and the nanny’s death by hanging are certainly alarming, but do not dwell on the extent of the injuries, nor revel in physical trauma. By contrast, The First Omen takes a different approach.

Instead, the movie introduces Cronenbergian body horror to the franchise for the first time, memorably during its two horrific birth sequences. In one, Margaret undergoes an involuntary cesarean to birth the antichrist, while another sees a satanic hand emerge from a vagina. While the original Omen also dealt with ideas of motherhood, The First Omen presents the theme in a completely uncompromising way, focusing on the physicality involved. Combined with the film’s centering of Margaret, this makes The First Omen an authentically female-led body horror, bringing a very different perspective to the series.

The First Omen’s Birth Scene Highlighted A “Double Standard” In Horror

It Was Highlighted By The Producer

The First Omen‘s approach, under female direction and with female protagonists, is in stark contrast to many of the most memorable moments from body horror history. In classic body horror movies like Videodrome, Re-Animator, The Fly, and Society, it is often male protagonists that take center stage under male directors. While there are many notable exceptions (especially in the modern canon thanks to directors like Julia Ducournau), it is nonetheless still relatively uncommon to see a body horror story both directed by and starring women.

Such a combination, coupled with The First Omen‘s graphic content, makes it an interesting case study for how body horror is more generally perceived. It also highlights a potential discrepancy between attitudes to male-led and female-led projects. In many male-centric body horrors, for example, even the most gruesome violence rarely results in more than an R-rating. By contrast, even though neither of The First Omen‘s birth scenes is particularly bloody, the movie had to contend with an NC-17 rating without substantial cuts – specifically to the vagina hand sequence.

In an interview with Fangoria, director Arkasha Stevenson explained how she spent a year and a half “fighting for that shot with censors – despite it being central to the theme of the film. The hypocrisy was highlighted further by The First Omen‘s producer, David S. Goyer, who told Fangoria:

“The movie, by its nature, deals with female body horror, and I do think there’s a double standard. That was really interesting when we were negotiating with the ratings board. I think there is more permissiveness when dealing with male protagonists, particularly in body horror.”

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The First Omen’s Female Perspective Is Central To Its Success

It Brings Home The Film’s Key Themes

The fact that filmmakers can face such a battle to include unsettling depictions of birth, compared to more permissive details allowed elsewhere, simultaneously highlights an uncomfortable truth within the industry and demonstrates what makes The First Omen successful. On the surface, The Omen is a story about religion. However, in centering the female perspective, The First Omen combines this primary theme with a message about motherhood and the female experience more broadly. This makes it a much richer and more rewarding viewing experience.

Stevenson herself has underscored the centrality of this theme. In her Fangoria interview, she explained:

“It’s the theme of our film. It’s the female body being violated from the inside outwards. If we were going to talk about female body horror, we were going to talk about forced reproduction, and we have to be able to show the female body in a non-sexualized light.”

This is unconventional territory for many body horror movies and may go some way towards explaining why The First Omen failed to find a massive audience in theaters. However, irrespective of its box office, there’s no doubt that exploring these provocative ideas helped elevate The First Omen above ordinary prequel territory.

The First Omen

Director

Arkasha Stevenson

Release Date

April 5, 2024

Cast

Nell Tiger Free , Tawfeek Barhom , sonia braga , Ralph Ineson , Bill Nighy

Runtime

119 Minutes