“The First Omen” shares a similar storyline to “Immaculate” — an American novitiate who comes to Italy and unexpectedly falls pregnant — but director Arkasha Stevenson takes a more slow-burn approach to her “The Omen” prequel. The visuals have an eerie elegance that matches the antiquated religious paintings we see throughout the film.
When Margaret comes to teach at a Roman orphanage, she witnesses a woman giving birth. She is restrained with shackles and given a type of gas to subdue her thrashing, screams, and maniacal laughter. Stevenson does not shy away from the often brutal birthing process, focusing on the sharp gynecological tools gleaming in the light and the woman’s naked bottom half perched on the cold stirrups. Much to Margaret’s disbelief, she witnesses a demonic hand slowly clawing out of the woman’s vagina. These provocative and clinical images emphasize the way pregnancy makes women’s bodies never truly their own, leaving them vulnerable to very invasive medical procedures. “The miracle of life can be a messy business,” Margaret’s confidant Cardinal Lawrence says after she faints — the understatement of the century.
“The First Omen” gradually builds to a jaw-dropping ending where Damien’s mother, the Antichrist brought to Earth, suddenly experiences a nine-month pregnancy within the span of a few minutes. In this uncanny spectacle, her belly starts growing while she violently convulses, foams at the mouth, and vomits, then emits guttural screams that almost sound like barking. During the birth scene and flashbacks to Damien’s conception, Stevenson bombards the audience with lurid close-ups of the mother’s belly being cut into and the Devil’s claw slowly tracing her bare stomach while the Satanic cult eagerly watches. Although the story is outlandish, “The First Omen” reminds us how the church regularly uses women’s bodies as vessels for their selfish agenda.
