Watch one of the most slept-on horror movies of the last decade while it’s still streaming

Whenever I talk to people about the best horror movies of 2024, I’m always quick to mention two films: Strange Darling and The First Omen. And it’s always to my displeasure to hear folks have never seen either movie. I could harp about both all day, but it’s the latter that has changed how I view an entire franchise. When I first watched The First Omen, I didn’t even realize it was a prequel until nearly an hour in, after one too many death scenes echoing the 1976 classic. By the time the credits rolled, I was ready to toss out the franchise’s third film and slot The First Omen in as the new, definitive way to watch the trilogy.

Movies like The Force Awakens showed filmmakers how to soft-reboot Hollywood favorites. But if you have a cult classic like The Omen, plagued by a 1991 TV movie and a lackluster 2006 reboot, I say this as a stan of the first two films: The First Omen is a textbook example of how to revitalize a slumbering franchise. It pays homage to what came before, while carving out its own path, delving into themes of womanhood and religion against the backdrop of 1960s political and social turmoil in Italy.

The film deserves its flowers, and now that The First Omen is streaming on Hulu, no horror fan reading this should have an excuse for not having seen it yet.

Released in 2024 and directed by Arkasha Stevenson, the story follows a young American woman (Nell Tiger Free) who travels to Rome to serve at a Catholic orphanage amid the political turmoil of late-1960s Italy. There, she confronts a malevolent force that tests her faith and exposes a chilling conspiracy aimed at bringing forth the Antichrist.

What makes The First Omen shine is that it works even if you’ve never seen the franchise; it’s a standout satanic horror film on its own. But for fans of the original and its sequels, the way it honors the series and earns its callbacks makes it even more rewarding.

The First Omen has some stellar cinematography from Aaron Morton that captures not only the ’70s aesthetic evoked in the original film but also its own highly stylized imagery, which is as haunting as it is beautiful. The camera work and sound design make otherwise cheap jump scares look unique, atmospheric, but deliberate, and yet they’re still shockingly effective.

Incredible actors like Charles Dance and Ralph Ineson help ground the film with their performances as priests who secretly know the Antichrist’s birth is upon them, and they play men cursed with knowledge and burdened with finding a way to stop his coming. Free plays the perfect protagonist, as the newly arrived nun serves as a surrogate for the audience, reflecting their reactions to the orphanage’s strange happenings. When she realizes she’s part of their conspiracy, the way she straddles the line of distraught victimhood and hate-fueled revenge is highly effective.

Without giving too much away, Rome and the Years of Lead protest movements are central to The First Omen. The city becomes a character in its own right, with the unrest hinting at a shifting society that challenges old traditions and the Church’s authority. Margaret, played by Free, reflects this changing mindset when she’s labeled as having “disturbing visions” similar to those of another girl in the orphanage. She tries to stand up for herself and advocate for the girl, but the church keeps finding ways to punish her.

Already, this goes layers deeper than anything the original attempted. Classic as it is, the first film never explores the geopolitical climate or its intersection with womanhood and religion. So when the greatest hits roll in, the iconic deaths echo the original, leading into the final 10 minutes, where it effortlessly stitches into the Richard Donner classic, with its previously established connections never feeling shoehorned. And when the credits roll and the iconic “Ave Satani” theme song by Jerry Goldsmith finally plays for the first time, it feels earned, as if it held back out of reverence, rather than milking it in every other scene like John Williams’ score in Jurassic Park 3.

If you’ve read this far, don’t fret, the film has plenty of twists and turns to keep you entertained beyond what I’ve touched on. Not to mention a truly harrowing moment, just as haunting as the scene from the 1981 movie Possession it pays homage to, that still lives rent-free in my mind. The First Omen touches on a subject from the franchise that’s never been addressed, thus it is able to carve out its own identity while snugly fitting in within lore established nearly 50 years ago.