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“How do you control people who no longer believe? You create something to fear.”

Horror in the 1970s was dominated by the catholic church. With the success of Rosemary’s Baby (1968) and The Exorcist (1973), audiences hungered for films centered on demonic possession and satanic corruption. Richard Donner’s 1976 film The Omen followed suit with a young Antichrist named Damien (Harvey Stephens) strategically placed in the home of a powerful politician. The story begins with a cursed birth and fraudulent adoption then skips ahead several years to catch up with a strangely sinister little boy.

But lurking within is another story of unthinkable evil. Arkasha Stevenson winds back the clock with The First Omen, a pregnancy horror film centered on Damien’s unwitting mother. Margaret (Nell Tiger Free) is an idealistic young nun who arrives in Rome only to find she’s the target of a sinister cult hiding in her new convent.

David Gordon Green’s Halloween grossed $259 million against a meager $10 million budget when it was released in October 2018. If anything in Hollywood talks, it’s money, and suddenly, there was a lot of money sitting untouched in horror’s past. Scream came back to critical and commercial success. Texas Chainsaw Massacre topped the Netflix charts (but severed critics). Hellraiser popped by for a hello, and Candyman reintroduced an entire generation to a genre classic. Legacy horror isn’t a new phenomenon, but it is a curious one, especially given the age of the properties Hollywood looks to resurrect. Olwen Fouéré is fantastic, but she’s not Sally Hardesty. The prequel route solves those problems, and The First Omen shows them how it’s done.

In this era of dredging up the past for new audiences, nothing has done so quite as successfully as Arkasha Stevenson’s The First Omen. While...

I recently started a horror movie club with some friends from out of state. The ultimate goal is to slowly desensitize them and later convince them to join a wooded cult I intend to start in the next twenty years. But, in the meantime, it’s an excellent opportunity for me to share some of the horror movies I’ve been loving recently. Our next two films scheduled, for those interested, are Arkasha Stevenson’s The First Omen and Jason Yu’s Sleep. I’m not playing around as curator, okay?

For the inaugural meeting, I had a really hard time narrowing down the list of options. Few of them are horror lovers, and anyone who’s ever helped initiate a new genre fan knows how precise that first horror movie has to be. It’s a make-or-break moment, and through hours of deliberation, I thought of the perfect movie.

Horror in 2024 proved that the genre thrives on reinvention, delivering a lineup as daring as it was unsettling. While the year saw its share of sequels and prequels, what stood out were films that reimagined old tropes with fresh perspectives. From slashers infused with arthouse aesthetics to nuns with evil pregnancies, horror expanded its boundaries. Themes of bodily autonomy and reproductive freedom resonated strongly, reflecting societal anxieties in the wake of seismic legal changes, while other films boldly tackled aliens, vampires, fanatics, and class disparity. The year wasn’t without its disappointments, but when horror soared, it truly transcended. Cinephiles flocked to both indie gems and boundary-pushing studio fare, underscoring a collective appetite for narratives that terrify and provoke. So let us take a look at the ten standout English-language horror movies of 2024—movies that not only chilled us to the bone but also made us think.

10. It’s What’s Inside

“It’s What’s Inside,...

It’s been quite the year for horror fans across the board, and there’s been no shortage of good content. We’ve seen a return for beloved or forgotten franchises, original horror, and horror TV. As someone who tries their best to keep up, I’ve seen a decent amount this year. Of course not everything, because accessibility to film festivals is an issue for me. And there’s still horror media that I haven’t seen quite yet. Why? My watchlist is ever-growing, and 2024 has been…let’s just say a time and leave it at that.

Narrowing down top 10 or top anything, is nearly impossible for me personally. However, I was able to do it and I crawled over mental glass for this task. I’ve decided to go with my favorite performances in horror TV and films from women. As of the time of writing this,...

Worldwide gross figures have been rounded up or down to the nearest million.

By and large, 2024 has proved to be a great year for horror films. The storied genre has produced several critically acclaimed outings, many of which have been lauded as some of the finest horror movies of the 2020s. From exciting new arrivals staking a claim as the genre's new kid on the block to electrifying sequels from prominent horror staples, the year's best horror movies have received rave reviews from fans and critics alike for their innate capacity to shock, disgust, and terrify in blockbuster fashion.

However, while it definitely doesn't hurt, all the critical acclaim in the world is no guarantee of commercial success in Hollywood. While many of the best horror movies of 2024 produced impressive commercial returns to match their glowing reviews, several prominent genre outings proved that good feedback decidedly wasn't a necessity for financial success.

What are the best movies of 2024? That’s incredibly debatable and entirely subjective, but I’ve given it my best effort to narrow the incredible slate of movies this year down to the top 20. From Marvel to musicals, it was a divisive year at the cinemas, so let’s get down to it. Here are the 20 best movies of 2024.

Related The 100 Greatest Movies of All-Time The 20 Best Movies of 2024 20. Wicked

Directed by Jon M. Chu

Wicked achieved the impossible by being a massive box-office success in a time when mainstream audiences are actively avoiding musicals. As an adaptation of the hit stage show, the film had a lot to live up to. Luckily for those involved, a fantastic cast, impressive set design and toe-tapping musical numbers proved to be exactly what audiences were craving.

19. Deadpool & Wolverine

Directed by Shawn Levy

Deadpool entered the Marvel Cinematic Universe at a time that...

This article contains some spoilers for "Nosferatu."

For the most part, a trend that emerges during any particular year of cinema doesn't have anything genuinely competitive about it. Sure, there may be the "Dante's Peak" and "Volcano," "Deep Impact" and "Armageddon" years, where highly similar projects are developed to compete with each other, but most trends that occur are less about an intentional duel and are more an indication of where the culture's head is at. Remember 2017, when a John Denver song turned up in no less than five separate movies? While there's no one catch-all explanation for such a thing happening, it's intriguing and potentially illuminating to identify the trend and see what, if anything, it speaks to in the contemporary real world.

When identifying a trend in art, especially cinema, it's important to remember that films are made on a time delay — the movies of 2024 were shot, for the most part,...

‘Venom: The Last Dance’and’Back To Black’ were the top performing films will a solo female director credit at the UK-Ireland box office in 2024, both taking over £12m.

Kelly Marcel’s third instalment of the superhero film franchise starring Tom Hardy brought in £12.4m for Sony, whileSam Taylor-Johnson’s Amy Winehouse biopic currently stands at £12.3m for Studiocanal.

A total of 13 films were directed by women, with a further three co-director credits, according to Box Office Mojo’s list of the top 100 best performing films of 2024 (excluding re-releases or holdovers from 2023) in the territory.

In 2023, 13 were directed by women,...

Only a few films did a great job at the box office in 2024. While critically acclaimed movies like Deadpool & Wolverine and Dune: Part Two became blockbuster hits, others like Joker: Folie à Deux and Megalopolis faced heavy criticism and flopped at the box office.

There were even surprise hits like Inside Out 2‘s billion-dollar success and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire‘s franchise-topping numbers.

From left to right – The First Omen | Credits: 20th Century Studios; Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga | Credits: Warner Bros. Pictures; and The Fall Guy | Credits: Universal Pictures

However, the failure of a few other critically acclaimed movies broke our hearts. Critics gave them a thumbs up and fans believed they were headed for a blockbuster. However, we later learned that these films fell far short of the required numbers.

5. The First Omen

The First Omen did everything right in its attempt to revive a dormant franchise.

The following article is an excerpt from the new edition of “In Review by David Ehrlich,” a biweekly newsletter in which our Chief Film Critic and Head Reviews Editor rounds up the site’s latest reviews and muses about current events in the movie world. Subscribe here to receive the newsletter in your inbox every other Friday.

Well, 2024 is coming to an end, and what a year it’s been. So many things happened! Most of them were very, very bad — like “Madame Web.” But some of them were also kind of incredible and worth cherishing on their own magical terms — like “Madame Web.”

For 2024’s final edition of “In Review,” I thought that it could be a refreshing change of pace to focus on the latter category of things and highlight some of the random movie things that made me happy this year. The “Reggie” sequence in “Bad Boys: Ride or Die.

Horror, namely how it finds its audience, continues to evolve in ways that confound studio executives and in the process prove the durability of the genre. For all the hand-wringing about supposed “horror fatigue” and the persistent urge to bury a genre that’s remained profitable even in (oftentimes especially in) the worst of times, 2024 proved once again that demons and psychos and killer clowns are as popular as they’ve ever been—just not necessarily those that have a big studio label seared into their clammy flesh.

If horror in the 2010s was dominated by aging juggernauts like Paramount and molded by the growing dominance of younger, hipper, genre-focused studios like A24 and Blumhouse, the chaotic 2020s are, fittingly, increasingly being shaped by less predictable players. Damien Leone’s Terrifier 3, distributed by Cineverse, kicked Joker: Folie à Deux to the curb in its first weekend, and now it...

The First Omen is the latest sequel to a long-standing horror franchise, following the example of other series like Halloween or The Exorcist that have received modern reinventions and expansions. Directed by Arkasha Stevenson, 2024's The First Omen is directly connected to the series and serves as a prequel to the original The Omen. The First Omen's ending leads straight to the events of the first film in the series and serves as an unexpected explanation of Damien Thorn's birth parents.

In the process, The First Omen quietly makes a lot of changes to the lore established in the original 1976 film, The Omen. This includes retconning Damien's mother and the circumstances of his birth, as well as introducing a new wrinkle in the form of a twin sister. The First Omen also steadily reveals the surprising group that's behind the events of the series, and why they worked to create the Antichrist.

What are you looking for in a sequel? Dependable familiarity or narrative evolutions? Parker Finn's Smile 2 is a sharper, meaner, and despicably addictive amplification of Smile that doesn’t tamper with what works. Finn's execution of trauma-driven haunts is an upgrade across the board, albeit recognizable. It's funnier, flashier, scarier, and doesn't feign complacency even for a millisecond. Smile 2 is an invigoration of exposed demonic templates (typed by someone lukewarm on Finn's successful original). Move over, Lady Raven; Skye Riley's taking center stage.

Naomi Scott is a knockout as pop music megastar Skye Riley, an ex-addict who's just announced her hotly anticipated "Welcome Back" tour. She's a sober and rebranded shell of herself but pushes forward, driven by the pressures of not letting down her ravenous fans, profiting record executives (Raúl Castillo), or supportive loved ones. Skye's mother and acting manager, Elizabeth (Rosemarie DeWitt), keeps a...

Join ussss this week as we delve into one of the year’s most discussed, dissected, and downright creepy horror movies! Kimmi & Jon are pulling out the pentagrams and turning our crosses upside down on this week’s episode of Nightmare on Film Street horror movie podcast as they break down all the brain-shattering revelations of Arkasha Stevenson’s The First Omen (2024).

Expanding the foundation of a movie that haunted moviegoers in 1976, The First Omen peels back the layers of Richard Donner’s The Omen to explore a sinister satanic cult embedded deep within the Roman Catholic Church. Striking a balance between franchise expectations and fresh nightmare imagery, The First Omen is a haunting story of religious horror and proof that prequels can be just as bone-chilling as their predecessors. Tune in as we explore the dark origins of evil, uncover shocking secrets, and get into the nitty gritty of...

Damien Thorn is the Antichrist, and the trilogy that tells his unholy tale remains popular almost fifty years later. Indeed, while putting together this movie ranked list and revisiting the original Omen franchise, we were surprised at how well the old movies held up. Omen fans will be happy that the series has been restarted in a pretty interesting way earlier this year, with The First Omen a surprisingly excellent prequel to the original trilogy (check out our interviews with the director and cast here), even if it takes one large liberty involving Damien’s birth that some fans may have an issue with. So, how do the Omen films rank against each other? Let’s take a look, but remember that the TV series Damien (which lasted for one season in 2016) is not included, as we’re sticking with feature films.

The Omen (2006)

There’s honestly no reason for this movie to exist.

Natalie Erika James’ “Apartment 7A” crumbles under circumstantial pressures. Visual blemishes don’t mar the “Rosemary’s Baby” prequel — James can shoot with effusive competence (see “Relic”). This film sleepwalks as a routine horror prequel clinging to classic nostalgia, unlike how “The First Omen” nailed the formula mere months ago. “Apartment 7A” achieves basic prequel accomplishments without finding its independent voice, playing with Roman Polanski’s characters and plotlines like a dull recreation. There’s nothing here we couldn’t already presume from watching “Rosemary’s Baby,” as James finds herself handcuffed to an original in a needless attempt to revive an existing intellectual property.

As seen in its Friday premiere at Fantastic Fest, Julia Garner stars as Terry Gionoffrio, who you’ll remember as a dead body in Polanski’s devilish maternity tale. We meet Terry as a bright-eyed Nebraskan girl with song-and-dance aspirations before a career-threatening injury. She eventually meets...

Earlier this year, "The First Omen" arrived in theaters, offering us a prequel to the 1976 Satanic horror pic "The Omen." In theory, this sounded like a bad idea: a lazy way to cash-in on brand awareness without offering anything new to the horror genre. But surprise, surprise! "The First Omen" turned out to be surprisingly good, especially for a studio mandated horror prequel. It may not have set the box office on fire, but in the sturdy hands of filmmaker Arkasha Stevenson, "The First Omen" was smart, captivating, and most of all, scary. Now, here comes "Apartment 7A," which is following a similar formula: It's another prequel to a devil-themed horror classic, in this case Roman Polanski's "Rosemary's Baby." My knee-jerk reaction was to be skeptical to this entire endeavour, but I was also skeptical about "The First Omen," and that turned out to be a wonderful surprise. Could it happen again?...

Horror enthusiasts have just a few weeks left to catch the 2006 remake of The Omen on Hulu before it exits the streaming platform on August 31. While the remake aimed to modernize the originals unsettling narrative, it ultimately garnered a mixed reception, leaving fans divided over its merits.

This supernatural horror film, directed by John Moore and written by David Seltzer, revisits the chilling story first brought to the screen in the 1976 classic of the same name. The Omen (2006) is the fifth installment in the Omen series, but rather than continuing the story, it reimagines the plot of the original film.

Related How The First Omen Connects to the Original Trilogy

Although The First Omen pushes the franchise in a new direction, it shares several connections with the original Omen trilogy.

The remake stars Liev Schreiber as Robert Thorn, an American diplomat who unknowingly adopts the Antichrist, Damien, after his wife Katherine,...

The 2024 Fantastic Fest lineup is ushering in spooky season.

IndieWire can announce the full program for the 19th edition of the beloved genre festival. This year, the festival features 28 World Premieres, 23 International and North American Premieres, and 15 U.S. Premieres, including the highly-anticipated releases of “Rosemary’s Baby” prequel “Apartment 7A” and “Terrifier 3.”

Fantastic Fest will take place at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar in Austin, TX, from September 19 through 26. The festival will open with the world premiere of “The Rule of Jenny Pen,” which stars Geoffrey Rush stars as a judge that encounters a bizarre nursing home resident (John Lithgow) who is hellbent on terrorizing the patients.

The Opening Night gala will include “Terrifier 3” and Lionsgate’s horror psychological thriller “Never Let Go” starring Halle Berry and produced by 21 Laps. The film is directed by Alexandre Aja and is a classic home invasion thriller with a supernatural twist.

Grindhouse Releasing has announced the U.S. home video debut of Hollywood 90028, a rediscovered 1970s shocker from writer-director Christina Hornisher!

Hollywood 90028 stars Christopher Augustine as Mark, an alienated porno film cameraman turned serial murderer. The film co-stars Jeannette Dilger, Gayle Davis, and Dick Glass.

Also known as The Hollywood Hillside Strangler and Twisted Throats, Hollywood 90028 has now been rescued from obscurity, lovingly restored in 4K from the original camera negative, and revived to international acclaim at film festivals including Sitges, Night Visions, Fantasia, and the upcoming Mayhem Film Festival.

Following a sold-out Los Angeles premiere at the American Cinematheque and screenings at Quentin Tarantino’s New Beverly Cinema, Hollywood 90028 drew shocked and amazed raves from critics and contemporary filmmakers including Arkasha Stevenson (The First Omen), Ti West (MaXXXine), Anna Biller (The Love Witch), Sean Baker (Anora) and Nicolas Winding-Refn (The Neon Demon).

The new Blu-ray edition exclusive to GrindhouseReleasing.

Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster: "Everyone’s favorite (and only?!) zombie paradise action game, Dead Rising™ Deluxe Remaster, hits store shelves in malls and more around the world with a physical release starting on Friday, Nov. 8, 2024, for PlayStation®5 and Xbox Series X! Additionally, the game’s developers showcased an array of content from the remaster like quality-of-life improvements, new features to spruce up in-game photos, and deeper introductions to some of the characters.

Brought back to life with Capcom’s Re Engine, Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster is the definitive remaster of the classic Dead Rising™ game from 2006, with improved 4K resolution graphics and a 60 Fps frame rate. Zombie slayers can experience a fresh take on the zombie genre with incredible action, over-the-top combat, hordes of weapon choices, eccentric costumes, and a comedic yet compelling storyline. Digital versions of Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster launch on Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024 across Xbox Series X|S,...

Stars: Nell Tiger Free, Ralph Ineson, Sônia Braga, Tawfeek Barhom, Maria Caballero, Charles Dance, Billy Nighy, Nicole Sorace | Written by Tim Smith, Arkasha Stevenson, Keith Thomas | Directed by Arkasha Stevenson

Typical. You wait years for a movie about a teenage American nun who becomes mysteriously pregnant when she travels to an Italian nunnery and then two come along at once. Consequently, The First Omen – a prequel to the 1976 horror classic – has had its thunder stolen somewhat by Michael Mohan’s excellent Sydney Sweeney-starring nunsploitation picture Immaculate, but still delivers its fair share of tense atmospherics, jump scares and impressive body horror.

The film begins in 1971, with virginal young American novice Margaret (Nell Tiger Free) travelling to Rome, where she’s met by kindly Cardinal Lawrence (Bill Nighy), before beginning her apprenticeship at the Vizzardeli Orphanage, where she will eventually take her vows. Soon, Margaret’s attention is drawn by Carlita...

The Omen's eerie events during production, like lightning striking and plane incidents, add to the film's cursed reputation. Real-life incidents eerily mirrored movie scenes, from impalement to beheading, sparking fears of a curse on the cast. Animals on set at Windsor Wild Safari Park went wild, attacking and even killing people, adding to the film's creepy aura.

Theres a phenomenon called a cursed horror movie where really weird things happen to the cast outside of filming, movies like Poltergeist and Rosemarys Baby, whose plots revolve around demonic entities. The Omen (1976) is one of those particular films that follows Robert, an American ambassador, who adopts a child after his wife delivers a stillborn baby, but with horrid realizations, Robert discovers the boy he adopted is the Antichrist. The films exploration into what the Antichrist is and how it was created is heavily investigated, and its truly horrifying, but whats even...

The Fangoria Chainsaw Awards are back this year and bigger than ever.

Once again airing on AMC’s Shudder, the 2024 Fangoria Chainsaw Awards has shifted the annual awards show’s shift to October; as such, the window of this year’s eligible horrors is an expanded one, encompassing all of 2023 and the first half of 2024. That means a much bigger selection of horror titles to pull from, and with the expanded categories this year, that means a massive list of 46 nominees. They even have a new category this year: Best Video Game.

Here’s where you come in; Fangoria needs your vote to decide on the winners! We have it on good authority that some of the categories are extremely competitive right now. And voting happens to be officially open for the awards show.

Participants can cast their votes via the official Fangoria website at www.fangoria.com/vote/. Voting...

The First Omen reimagines Damien's origins, introducing Margaret as the mother of the Antichrist and breaking away from the original jackal myth. Filmmaker Arkasha Stevenson's new entry into The Omen franchise honors the past while expanding the mythology with a unique story. The eerie tale of Margaret and Damien's birth in The First Omen sets the stage for potential sequels exploring the consequences of their lineage.

Towards the end of Richard Donner's 1976 horror classic The Omen, Robert Thorn discovers that his son Damien is the Antichrist, born from the body of a jackal rather than a woman. This information about Damien's mother was considered canon for the next four decades; however, the franchise's newest film, The First Omen, dares to ask: What if Damien's mother wasn't a four-legged beast but a human being instead?

The First Omen is the eerie tale of a woman named Margaret, haunted by...

Quick Links The First Omen's Margaret Is Not Alone in Her Suffering The First Omen Reveals Two Antichrist Babies The First Omen Turns Carlita Into a Hero The First Omen Teases a New Hunt The First Omen Introduces Plot Points That Conflict with The Omen's Established Lore The First Omen focuses on the birth of Damien and introduces new elements to The Omen lore. Margaret is part of a cult aiming to create an Antichrist, revealing a plot that involves rape and infanticide. The movie's ending sets up a potential sequel where Margaret, Carlita, and Damien's sister form a new family.

The following includes a mention of sexual assault and infanticide.

One of the things The First Omen promised was that it would be the most terrifying horror movie of the year, and it does a pretty commendable job. It acts as a prequel to 1976's The Omen, which...

The only award season that matters is here! Joking (kind of), but seriously, Fangoria just released the complete list of nominees for the 2024 Fangoria Chainsaw Awards. Considering how often horror gets shut out of the mainstream award shows, it's nice to have at least one thing we can rely on year after year.

Last year's Chainsaw Awards included big wins for movies like The Black Phone, Terrifier 2, and Prey. This time, the categories are again stacked, with films like Abigail, Evil Dead Rise, The First Omen, Talk To Me, Late Night with the Devil, and many more going head to head.

Specific performances are also being highlighted, like Tobin Bell in Saw X and Kathryn Newton for both Lisa Frankenstein and Abigail. It's been a fantastic few years for horror, and it'll be exciting to see which movies pull ahead this time around.

In addition to popular categories such as Best Wide Release,...

Ouija: Origin Of EvilImage: Universal Pictures

Making a good prequel is hard, but making a good horror prequel has always felt especially challenging. After all, the more you explain a monster, the harder it is for the fear of the unknown to creep into the story, and that means horror...

The release of First Omen has encouraged many fans to revisit The Omen franchise ( Photo Credit – Facebook )

First Omen has rekindled the viewers’ interest in the classic horror franchise The Omen, prompting many fans to revisit the iconic series. Here, we have explored The Omen franchise in a chronological order. This series has left an indelible mark on the horror genre, and understanding its sequence will enhance your viewing experience, allowing you to appreciate the evolution of its dark and haunting story.

First Omen (2024) Director: Arkasha Stevenson Cast: Nell Tiger Free, Ralph Ineson, Sonia Braga, Tawfeek Barhom, Maria Caballero Available on: Hulu (US) & Disney Plus hotstar (India) IMDb rating: 6.5/10

Begin your journey into the omen franchise with the movie First Omen that sets the plot in motion for the birth of the Antichrist. Nell Tiger Free stars as a nun sent to a secretive church in Rome, where she unravels...

The First Omen is now a streaming hit, ranking in the top 10 titles across all platforms. Despite disappointing at the box office, the film justified its existence with genuine scares and female empowerment themes. The movie's success on streaming platforms proves that it deserved a larger audience and recognition in the horror genre.

Its been a delight to see the brilliant The First Omen find such a massive streaming audience after earning well below what it deserved to make at the box office. Set in a troubled Rome in 1971, The First Omen revolves around an American novitiate named Margaret Daino, whos sent to work alongside nuns and priests at a mysterious orphanage. While shes there, she uncovers a sinister conspiracy within the church to impregnate the offspring of a jackal demon with the Antichrist in order to get church attendance numbers back up.

Franchise reboots tend to be uninspired retreads of familiar storylines,...

“You always attack a movie scene as late as you possibly can. You always come into the scene at the last possible moment.” This bit of advice from the great screenwriter William Goldman has guided most moviemakers. The overwhelming majority of films begin with trouble already brewing and end before everything can be settled. But sometimes, a filmmaker takes the opposite approach. These visionaries begin as early as possible, even after the opening of a different movie. Thus, the prequel was born.

Seriously though, most prequels come less from the minds of creatives and more from studios trying to milk every dollar from their sweet, sweet IP. For that reason, audiences have rightly developed a general skepticism toward the concept. But every once in a while, a genuinely talented filmmaker finds value in telling the story before the story. They use the plot beats we already know to give their...

A new streaming popularity chart sees The First Omen rank as the sixth most popular title for the week of May 30 June 5. The horror prequel earned positive reviews, but struggled at the box office. The First Omen likely struggled due to its higher budget and lack of audience interest in continuations of decades-old horror properties.

The First Omen has become a streaming success after its lackluster box office performance earlier this year. Directed by Arkasha Stevenson, the prequel to Richard Donner's 1976 film, The Omen, stars Nell Tiger Free as Margaret, an American woman who joins a convent in Rome before uncovering a dark conspiracy to bring about the birth of pure evil. The First Omen reviews were mostly positive from critics, but the film struggled at the box office and has only earned $53.8 million worldwide.

Now, a new streaming popularity chart shared by Reelgood reveals that The First Omen...

The First Omen is praised as a top Omen installment with nods to iconic moments from the original film. The demonic pregnancy storyline mirrors Rosemary's Baby, exploring themes of female bodily autonomy. The forced impregnation scene is practically a shot-for-shot recreation of Rosemary's Baby, adding to the horror.

The First Omen is technically a prequel to Richard Donners 1976 classic The Omen, but its demonic pregnancy storyline is much closer to a different horror movie masterpiece. Set in 1971, The First Omen revolves around an American novitiate named Margaret Daino, whos sent to work at an orphanage in Rome and ends up uncovering a sinister religious conspiracy. As it turns out, shes the offspring of a jackal demon and shes been earmarked by a cult to become the mother of the Antichrist.

Its been praised as one of the best entries in The Omen franchise, and it has plenty of references to...

Irish folklore and supernatural mystery collide in Ishana Shyamalan’s debut feature The Watchers, adapted for the screen by Shyamalan from A.M. Shine’s novel of the same name, The Watchers follows a group of strangers trapped in a remote Irish forest. Each night they are visited by unseen creatures who threaten to kill them all if they dare leave. It’s a strong, although familiar, premise that leaves room for endless speculation. What is watching them at night? And worse, what do they want?

In this weird world of hidden monsters and impossible situations, a group of travelers held captive rescue Mina at nightfall after her car breaks down while travelling through the countryside. Inside a building that looks like a studio apartment turned into a zoo attraction, Madeline, the group’s de facto leader, explains that she has unknowingly wandered into a trap and that there are rules...

“The First Omen” is a 2024 movie written and directed by Arkasha Stevenson starring Nell Tiger Free. With Ralph Ineson, Sônia Braga and Bill Nighy.

Hulu has done it again: the streaming network has taken a classic horror film, “The Omen” (1976), and created an intriguing prequel that pays homage to and respects the original. The prequel vividly depicts the birth of Damien with stunning effects and a sense of spectacle. It also expresses a profound respect and reverence for one of the greatest horror films of all time.

Plot Summary

A novice arrives to take her vows as a nun but soon finds herself entangled in a demonic plot where priests are attempting to bring the Anti-Christ to life.

The First Omen “The First Omen”: A Grand Tribute and a Novel Movie

Comparing a prequel with its iconic 70s horror movie original may seem inevitable. The original was...

The director for The First Omen has confirmed what many fans have suspected about the inspiration for the sequel-hooking ending.

The prequel was welcomed with open arms by critics and the horror community, but even some of them couldn't help but make comparisons to the ending. One critic even called it "the Rouge One of Omen movies."

Other fans couldn't help but compare Ralph Ineson's Father Brennan to a Catholic Nick Fury named-dropping the next big villain, but director Arkasha Stevenson doesn't deny the comparison—she even embraces it.

Read full article on The Direct.

June is already here, which means that we’re rapidly approaching 2024’s halfway point. While many of the year’s most anticipated horror releases are still on the horizon, it’s been a crowded year so far for new releases, from theatrical to streaming. So much so that the overwhelming selection of releases makes it tough to keep up.

This week’s streaming picks highlight five 2024 horror releases, most of which have quietly flown under the radar. Whether you’re looking to catch up on new titles or revisit recent faves, this week brings everything from found footage creature features to cosmic nightmares.

Here’s where you can stream them this week.

For more Stay Home, Watch Horror picks, click here.

Disappear Completely – Netflix

Tabloid photographer Santiago (Harold Torres) will go to great lengths to get the perfect shot, tact and morals be damned. His insensitivity even extends to his home life,...

Brilliant performances elevate The First Omen's well-executed chills and thrills to a terrifying experience. Despite struggling at the box office, The First Omen received rave reviews from viewers and critics. Director Arkasha Stevenson's forte, along with Ben Jacoby's taut writing, make The First Omen a compelling and immersive horror.

The First Omen's well-executed chills and thrills are further elevated by the brilliant performances of its cast members, who perfectly portray their respective characters. Serving as a prequel to the horror classic The Omen, The First Omen walks through the conspiracy that led to the birth of the Antichrist from the original movie. Despite having a compelling storyline and a talented filmmaker like Arkasha Stevenson at its helm, The First Omen struggled to leave its mark at the box office and only earned close to $54 million worldwide against a budget of $30 million.

However, despite not being commercially successful,...

The First Omen repeats a major casting trick by featuring Ralph Ineson. Ineson previously played a similar character in 2015's The Witch. While The Witch's Ineson role is scarier, both movies offer compelling performances from the actor.

The First Omen has utilized a casting trick that helped a nine-year-old horror movie excel. A prequel to the 1976 classic The Omen, the movie was directed by Arkasha Stevenson and features a cast that includes Servant's Nell Tiger Free, Kiss of the Spider Woman's Snia Braga, and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales' Bill Nighy. The movie took in $53.7 million at the global box office, becoming the third highest-grossing horror movie of the year so far behind Exhuma ($97 million) and Night Swim ($54 million).

This may not have been enough for the First Omen release to break even theatrically, given its $30 million budget. However, it was well-received on Rotten Tomatoes...

This is a slow weekend in an already slow summer movie season, so it’s the perfect time to catch up with spring’s best horror release and a handful of new indies that are debuting on digital platforms.

The contender to watch this week: “The First Omen“

At a time when many franchises are slowly cratering, “The First Omen” has turned out to be one of 2024’s biggest surprises. Arkasha Stevenson‘s handsome and terrifying prequel depicts the events right before Demian, the Og Antichrist, came around. If that sounds unnecessary, it is — and yet the film’s quality absolutely justifies its existence. “The First Omen” is still playing in a smattering of theaters, having grossed $53.7 worldwide, but now it’s available for $19.99 on VOD.

Other contenders:

“Gasoline Rainbow”: Mubi is having a major year, with two buzzy Cannes titles — “The Substance” and “The Girl with the Needle...

Prequels continue to receive a bad rap, which unfortunately makes sense considering how weak many of them are. Sometimes a prequel will stand out and even improve upon its original, like Ti West's Pearl, but a lot of the time they will underwhelm and even prove unnecessary, like 2011's The Thing. However, the occasional phoenix will rise from the ashes, which will add to the lore as well as tell its own story. Arkasha Stevenson's The First Omen, which is now available to watch on Hulu, is an intelligent and thoughtful film paying respect to the original; but it also manages to carve out its own identity. Richard Donner's 1976 original, The Omen is a powerful and legendary film within the horror genre, and yet this new film might be even deeper. The helplessness and anxiety are retained here, but what makes this stand out is its supporting characters,...

The First Omen premiered in theaters on April 5, 2024, after an 18-year break in the Omen franchise. Horror movie fans can experience communal scares in theaters or enjoy thrills at home once streaming options are available. The First Omen is now streaming on Hulu after debuting on digital on May 28, 2024.

The Omen franchise is back in 2024, and there are different options for where to watch The First Omen. The horror movie franchise that originated in 1976 returns with a prequel to Richard Donner's original movie. The First Omen is directed by Arkasha Stevenson and stars Nell Tiger Free as Margaret, an American sent to a Roman church for work. The movie chronicles her discovering the dark master plan at work in the church to help create the Antichrist. It is the sixth installment of the Omen franchise overall, but its the first since 2006.

As one of the biggest 2024 horror movies and part of a major franchise,...

Only four months into 2024 and it seems safe to say this is the year of nun horror. Coming off the heels of Michael Mohans Immaculate is the prequel/franchise reboot The First Omen from Brand New Cherry Flavor and Legion director Arkasha Stevenson. While Immaculate borrowed from films like the original The Omen and Rosemarys Baby, The First Omen shows Immaculate how it should be done, crafting an unsettling, strange, and disturbing film that manages to surprise despite us knowing where this story ends up.

It’s a big week for horror, with two recent theatrical releases coming home, one of the best slashers of the modern era hitting theaters, and a new Takashi Miike film coming to Netflix.

Here’s all the new horror releasing May 27, 2024 – June 2, 2024!

For daily reminders about new horror releases, be sure to follow @HorrorCalendar.

After scaring up $53 million at the worldwide box office, director Arkasha Stevenson’s prequel The First Omen is now available for Digital purchase ($19.99) at home.

The First Omen is available to own at digital retailers such as Apple TV, Prime Video and Fandango at Home. It also arrives on Hulu May 30 and comes to Blu-ray and DVD July 30.

The First Omen is an exceptional expansion on a classic, earning rave reviews across the board and impressing all of us here at Bloody Disgusting. Meagan Navarro wrote in her review, “Thanks to the exquisite craftsmanship on display,...

After scaring up $53 million at the worldwide box office, director Arkasha Stevenson’s prequel The First Omen is available for Digital purchase ($19.99) at home beginning today.

The First Omen is available to own at digital retailers such as Apple TV, Prime Video and Fandango at Home. It also arrives on Hulu May 30 and comes to Blu-ray and DVD July 30.

Certified-Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, The First Omen comes with never-before-seen bonus extras on the May 28th digital release and also on the Blu-ray/DVD release arriving July 30.

Additionally, the Limited edition Blu-ray and DVD packages include collectible artwork and special edition packaging designed to celebrate the legacy of The Omen franchise.

One of the bonus features included with the release is titled “The Mystery of Margaret,” and you can watch an exclusive sneak peek clip from that featurette down below.

Director Arkasha Stevenson explains, “When I first read the script, one...

Your browser does not support the video tag. Screen Rant presents a featurette clip from the home release of The First Omen. The full featurette, "The Director's Vision", details Arkasha Stevenson's work on the horror prequel. Get ready for a haunting experience on digital platforms, Hulu, and Blu-ray/DVD.

The First Omen revitalized a long-dormant film franchise in style by taking things back to (before) the beginning. Sidestepping 2006s The Omen reboot, The First Omen is a prequel to Richard Donners 1976 original film and details the birth of The Omens Damien. The prequel film was directed by Arkasha Stevenson (Legion) and written by Stevenson, Tim Smith, and Keith Thomas.

Screen Rant is happy to present a look at one of the bonus featurettes included with the home release version of The First Omen. Screen Rants The First Omen review was a glowing endorsement of Stevensons visual storytelling ability and the films strong cast,...

"The First Omen" was one of the biggest movie surprises of the year. What could've easily been a cheap, lazy cash-in on IP awareness turned out to be an inventive, smart, and surprisingly disturbing horror movie that just happens to be a prequel. As Witney Seibold wrote in his /Film review: "In an age when long-in-the-tooth horror franchises like 'Halloween' and 'The Exorcist' are being tiresomely revived without a trace of creativity, it's refreshing and splendid to see a picture that is thoughtfully menacing, uniquely stylish, deathfully intense, and utterly terrifying. 'The First Omen' is a film of dank, bloody, spittle-flecked dread, made no less powerful by the foregone conclusion."

In "The First Omen," we follow a young novitiate (Nell Tiger Free) who is sent to help at an orphanage in Rome. Once there, she begins to experience terrifying visions that hint at a grand conspiracy involving unspeakable evil.

Dante Alighieri's legendary "Inferno," the first of three parts making up his epic poem The Divine Comedy, has served as inspiration or a direct reference for countless stories across all mediums for its depiction of Hell and the journey closer to God. In 2024, the concept of descending into the depths of despair and sin was once again invoked for The First Omen, director Arkasha Stevenson's prequel to the 1976 horror classic The Omen. Starring Nell Tiger Free, the film follows an American nun-in-training named Margaret who arrives in Rome, only to find her faith challenged as she uncovers a conspiracy to bring about the Antichrist. Ahead of the film's digital release, Collider can share an exclusive sneak peek that sees Stevenson drawing comparisons from Margaret's quest to bring the evil to light to Dante's journey through the nine circles of Hell.

It's time to revisit 2024's scariest movie yet, The First Omen, from director Arkasha Stevenson. On May 13, 20th Century Studios announced that the film would be coming to Hulu this May. It will be released via digital platforms beginning on May 28 before arriving on DVD and Blu-ray on July 30.

Set in 1971, The First Omen is a prequel to the 1976 film that started it all. Servant's Nell Tiger Free stars as a novice nun, Margaret, who travels all the way from America to Rome to take up the veil. The film chronicles the horrific events that lead to Damien's eventual birth.

Starting May 28, you can rent or purchase the movie digitally from retailers like Prime Video, Fandango, and Apple. If you're more of a physical media fan, you'll want to keep an eye out for the DVD and Blu-ray (Blu-ray + Digital Code) releasing on July 30.

Digital buyers can get the film in 4K Uhd,...