LOS ANGELES: Set to hit cinemas across Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, “The First Omen” marks the sixth installment in the famed horror series.
Set before the 1976 original fan favorite, the new film marks Arkasha Stevenson’s feature film directorial debut and stars Nell Tiger Free, Charles Dance, Bill Nighy and Ralph Ineson.
“The First Omen” follows a young American woman who is sent to Rome to begin a life of service to the church. While in Italy, she encounters a darkness that causes her to question her faith and uncovers a terrifying conspiracy, according to the movie’s log line.
“I think it's just wonderful having females at the epicenter of these fantastic horror films,” Free said in an interview with Arab News.
“So often the women were used as bait in these horror movies or used as some sort of gratuitous relief for the male audience. And now they're here and they're taking control and they're at the epicenter of all of it. And it's just it's just a wonderful thing to see,” she added.
"The First Omen" brings chilling and controversial scenes reminiscent of the original to the silver screen. Early reviews laud its sound and cinematography and thoughtful discussion of the dangers of fanaticism.
“There's loads of little moments of symbolism in the movie that echo the beginning. The opening scene is also an homage to the first movie, all of our fantastical deaths and crazy violent moments are all very much thematically a nod to the original,” Free noted, referring to the Richard Donner-directed original that follows a married man who agrees to switch his wife's stillborn baby with an orphaned infant, opening the way for a series of chilling events.
British icon Nighy shared the cast and crew’s aims when making the horror flick.
“Someone who saw it in London said, ‘I was traumatized.’ Well, that's pretty much what we're shooting for. So if you want to get traumatized, it's not so much about the themes — it's more about the trauma and being stunned by horror,” he said.
“The people that like to make an appointment with fear actually pay money to get scared. What better way than to do it with a lot of other people? Because then it's like then it's like frightened ‘squared’ … then it's a collective howl of horror,” he added.
