I can’t say I was expecting much from another installment of the long dormant Omen film franchise. I can say I left “The First Omen” wonderfully surprised. I didn’t think it would tell such a smart and entertaining story. I wasn’t expecting such good instincts and control from first-time feature film director Arkasha Stevenson. And I had no idea that Nell Tiger Free would deliver such a bold breakout performance.

“The First Omen” is the sixth feature in the franchise and serves as a prequel to the original 1976 movie starring Gregory Peck. In several ways it resembles other religious horror films – the many church symbols, a handful of genre tropes, a generally predictable story arc. Yet “The First Omen” is a wickedly savvy chiller that has its share of wild plot swings and gnarly twists. Even better, there’s an intriguing supernatural mystery furtively nestled within the film’s classic-styled horror frame.

Set in 1971, a young novitiate named Margaret Daino (Nell Tiger Free) arrives in Rome. She was summoned by Cardinal Lawrence (Bill Nighy) who ran the Massachusetts orphanage she grew up in and has been a father figure to her since she was a child. He assigns Margaret to Vizzardeli Orphanage where she immediately connects with a troubled young girl named Carlita Scianna (Nicole Sorace).

Margaret’s growing relationship with Carlita begins to concern the others nuns, especially the orphanage’s abbess Sister Silvia (Sônia Braga). Her efforts to reach Carlita are often stymied by her superiors who are quick to label the girl “a problem child”. Their cruel and abusive tactics include tying Carlita down with restraints and isolating her in a place dubbed “the bad room”. Perplexed by their treatment, the increasingly defiant Margaret begins pushing back against Sister Silvia’s wishes which creates even more tension.

Meanwhile away from the orphanage Margaret is persuaded by her more ‘adventurous’ roommate, Sister Luz (Maria Caballero) to slip off to a popular nightclub for an evening of unsisterlike revelry. It’s one of several key events that leads the devout yet conflicted Margaret to question much of what she’s known and loved about the church for most of her life. And in several ways that growing inner conflict indirectly drives many of her later decisions.

At this point you may be wondering about the supernatural horror. After all this is an Omen movie, right? To Stevenson’s credit, she takes her time unpacking the story and setting up what’s to come. She patiently defines her characters and their places, allowing things to slowly simmer before ramping up to a scalding boil. Yet even in the earliest scenes, Stevenson develops and maintains a looming sense of evil that steadily intensifies, leading up to utterly terrifying final act that’s not for the squeamish.

Margaret’s story takes its biggest turn when she is approached by the disgraced Father Brennan (played in the 1976 film by Patrick Troughton, here by Ralph Ineson). He was excommunicated following his attempts to expose a sinister plot within the church. He warns Margaret to beware of Carlita and that “evil things” will begin to happen around the girl. An uneasy Margaret doesn’t buy his conspiracy theory. That is until truly horrifying things do indeed happen, leading to some dark and shocking discoveries that just may prove Father Brennan right.

Stevenson ratchets things up in the film’s final third as a blood-soaked wave of revelations come to light. The dark twists work well largely due to the time put into developing Margaret as a character and in turn raising the stakes (in sharp contrast to the somewhat similar and notably flimsier “Immaculate” from just last month). It all culminates into something wicked, grisly, and gloriously bonkers.

I love it when a movie surprises me and “The First Omen” did just that. This isn’t some lazy cash grab meant to milk an established franchise. It’s a smart, crafty, and artfully made horror film that doesn’t rely on cheap jump scares or tired gimmicks. It features confident direction and storytelling topped off with a fearless Nell Tiger Free lead performance. It all works to make a film that doesn’t feel bound by franchise constraints yet still shrewdly compliments and eventually connects with the 1976 original in a number of cool ways. “The First Omen” is in theaters now.

VERDICT – 4 STARS