“The First Omen” is an often viscerally scary film. A prequel to the first “Omen” movie, it takes a while to get going, but is ultimately satisfying. Set in 1971, the picture effectively uses costumes, scoring and cinematography to set the mood of that time.

The film begins with Father Harris (Charles Dance) visiting Father Brennan (Ralph Ineson) in a confessional. Harris exhibits a world-weariness that seems linked to something intrinsically evil in which he has taken part. He shows Father Brennan a photograph of a child with several clergy and says that the child was unnaturally conceived. He wants Brennan to put an end to the evil, without specifying any details. As he leaves, a stained-glass window above him and Brennan shatters and sprays them with shards of glass. As Harris leaves, we see him with a horrifying smile and a big gash in the back of his skull.

In 1971 Rome, novitiate Margaret Daino (Nell Tiger Free) arrives at the airport. She is met by the young Father Gabriel (Tawfeek Barhom), who guides her to Father Lawrence (Bill Nighy). Lawrence watched over her in the orphanage in Massachusetts where Margaret grew up.

As they drive, protestors pound on their car and say obscenities. Lawrence says that they are counting on Margaret to bring these secularized people back to the church.

Before Margaret takes her vows as a nun, she is supposed to work at an orphanage/school in the Eternal City. Lawrence introduces her to Sister Silva (Sonia Braga), who leads Margaret on a guided tour.

Several oddities immediately reveal themselves. One is a sister named Angelique (Ishtar Currie Wilson), who seems to be daydreaming but displays an eerie demeanor.

Another is her discovery of a girl, Carlita (Nicole Sorace), locked in a room. The young woman draws strange, gloomy pictures. Later we find out that she acts out and occasionally harms other students.

Margaret goes to the apartment which she is sharing with another novitiate. While unpacking, she has a horrible vision and calms down when she realizes that it is not real. We soon discover that all of her life she has had these nightmare visions and hallucinations.

Luz (Maria Caballero), her roommate, comes in dressed to the nines from a night on the town. Her philosophy is to live it up before she marries Christ.

Luz eventually convinces Margaret to go out with her. Luz gives her a very revealing outfit. At the nightclub/disco, Margaret meets Paolo (Andrea Arcangeli) and seems to be having a good time with him. She drinks heavily, however. Eventually she blacks out and awakens with a hangover in her room in the apartment. Luz is coy about the details of how Margaret behaved.

Meanwhile, back at the orphanage, everyone is celebrating. Nuns smoke and jump on trampolines. Margaret is horrified that Angelique and Carlita are looking at a drawing depicting a baby inside the womb of a woman. Angelique eventually goes upstairs to a balcony, douses herself with gasoline, says “It’s all for you,” and incinerates herself as she dangles from a rope. More horrors follow.

“The First Omen” has a tag line, “the most terrifying movie of the year.” Other than the macabre opening scene, the film’s first half is only terrifying in its mundanity. There are too many details about the workings of the orphanage.

It isn’t until Angelique immolates herself that the picture picks up. Once they start, the horrors come faster and faster. All of them revolve around a unique story line that is foreshadowed in the beginning of the film. I liked this twist very much.

This speaks to one of the themes of the movie, institutional power. The Catholic Church was then, and is to this day, a monolithic power in the world. The fact that the story’s premise also includes the supernatural realm only extends this corruption of power.

The picture spends quite a bit of time cutting back and forth to Luz’s marriage ceremony and her installation as a sister. By marrying Christ, the issue of women’s autonomy is brought up. On Earth, the sisters are still under the iron rule of the priests. The lavishness of the ceremony belies the loss of selfhood it involves.

Without giving anything away in spoilers, the film also brings up the issue of sexual assault against women and the bodily autonomy of women. These assaults may be a trigger for some viewers, so consider this an alert to this aspect of the movie.

The aforementioned topic is one of the scariest aspects of this picture. I already mentioned the scene with the falling stained-glass window and Angelique’s death. Other scares include the surreal visions of Margaret and just sheer bloody gore as others die along the way. Jump starts are used effectively. The sense of the sinister pervades the entire second half of the film and creates an anticipatory vibe.

The acting is not world-class. Bill Nighy, Sonia Braga, and Charles Dance, the biggest names in the cast, each have very small roles that do not allow them to use their acting chops to any degree. Nell Tiger Free as Margaret does an adequate job. I did like Maria Caballero’s Luz, both as a free spirit and as the bride of Christ.

The film does a good job depicting what little of the outside world we see in 1971. Costumes of the extras and the songs played in the nightclub seem appropriate. I kept expecting anachronisms but saw none.

The score also evokes the movies made during this time period, at least in the beginning before we start to get demonic music. The leisurely pace of the first half mirrors the music in that part. The cinematography also has the bleached-out look of some 1970’s cinema.

So if you go, allow for the picture to get going. This is the time to go to the bathroom or get refreshments. Once the action starts, you will want to enjoy the ride as stranger and gorier events occur.

This is not suitable for children or tweens. I repeat my trigger warning that sexual assault occurs in this film.

Four out of five stars

When a young American woman is sent to Rome to begin a life of service to the church, she encounters a darkness that causes her to question her own faith and uncovers a terrifying conspiracy that hopes to bring about the birth of evil incarnate

Starring Nell Tiger Free, Tawfeek Barhom, Sonia Braga, Ralph Ineson and Bill Nighy
Directed by Arkasha Stevenson
Story by Ben Jacoby
Screenplay by Tim Smith & Arkasha Stevenson and Keith Thomas
Based on characters created by David Seltzer (“The Omen”)