Director: Arkasha Stevenson
Cast: Nell Tiger Free, Tawfeek Barhom, Sônia Braga, Bill Nighy
Have I Seen it Before: Never. Been sitting on my to-watch pile for two years, and only just now got around to it, even some time after finishing the rest of the Omen series*.
Did I Like It: A horror series coming in with its fifth mainline entry after not having anything to say for itself in ten years, and ending its original run ove forty years earlier, it might be the most restrained act of franchise work ever in film. Father Brennan (Ralph Ineson, replacing Patrick Troughton from the original) is back, but it’s not like the last reel of the film has the narrative bending over backwards to have him where he needs to be during The Omen (1976). Aside from one of the characters handing another a snapshot of Gregory Peck, the entire film could have played out as a film on its own terms. I am legitimately at loss to think of a prequel or sequel which could 100% stand on its own without just becoming a complete reboot.
Maybe, maybe—and it would be a big stretch to try—one could make the case for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) but even that film hinges a gag on Indiana not being able to open fire on some swordsman hinges somewhat on your familiarity with Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).
This allows me to judge the film on its own merits. As such, its a pefectly enjoyable little religious horror thriller. It’s one hell of a lot better than The Exorcist: Believer (2023). It also manages—give or take a haircut or two—largely looks more believably of the 1970s than most other period pieces can manage.
*Except for the fourth film. Even I have my limits. I had, of course completely forgotten there was a remake in 2006 (simply because no studio executive could resist releasing something Omen-related on 6/6/06, and had absolutely no awareness that the mythos had gotten the Bates Motel treatment back in 2016.