The overriding question will always be ‘why make a prequel to The Omen?’ While the late Richard Donner’s supernatural thriller was a sizeable hit at the time, that time was 48 years ago and the film’s cultural footprint has shrunk considerably. My only expectation is that, asides from Hollywood’s conventional wisdom to leave no IP unturned, those heading up 20th Century Studios observed the success found by Warner Bros’ The Nun and Sony’s The Pope’s Exorcist – and heard of Universal’s plans to revive The Exorcist – and simply decided to jump in on the act. As a result The First Omen – directed by Arkasha Stevenson – opens in Australian cinemas today and in the USA tomorrow.

My opinions on prequels in general have never changed. Almost inevitably the result of cold, mercenary intentions, they offer not story but trivia. They may offer a nostalgic thrill to some viewers, but they are constrained by the events of the originating work and rarely result in anything particularly interesting or worthy. Imagine my surprise, then, at finding The First Omen to be an accomplished and oftentimes excellent horror film. The limitations of the prequel format are unavoidable, and the screenplay (by Tim Smith, Keith Thomas, and Stevenson) is rather predictable, but there is enough in the execution and detail to please a thrill-seeking audience. One does not even need to have seen The Omen to enjoy it: rather cleverly, this prequel has enough context and explanations to stand on its own.

Margaret (Nell Tiger Free) is a young novitiate sent to work at an Italian orphanage before taking the veil as a fully-fledged nun. There she meets a 12-year-old girl named Carlita (Nicole Sorace), who is treated differently – and harshly – by the convent. In pursuing Carlita’s case, Margaret begins to suspect a conspiracy that may end in the birth of the Antichrist.

Time and time again the Catholic Church provides a suitable atmospheric and baroque environment for supernatural horror. That is certainly the case here: there is a certain sense of class in the film’s rich cinematography (courtesy of Aaron Morton) and costume design (Paco Delgado). It also boasts a profoundly grim tone. There is scant room for humour in the film, which is positively soaked in Biblical portent.

One big surprise is the level of body horror depicted in the film. Arkasha Stevenson has directed key scenes that are remarkably confrontational for a studio-produced release. There are many techniques for scaring an audience in a horror film: startling them, filling them with suspense, building a sense of dread, and actively revulsing them. Stevenson seems particularly adept at the latter two. Any well-viewed horror fan can spot the influences easily – particularly from Andrzej Zulawski’s Possession (1981) – but they are well-integrated and hugely effective. Of course it is also near-impossible to watch abuse of children by the Church and not resonate with their own real-life record of the same. I am not sure any Hollywood horror film has previously been quite this cynical of Catholicism.

Nell Tiger Free is excellent as Margaret, and she is well-supported by a strong supporting cast. To be fair, Bill Nighy feels rather unengaged as a supportive cardinal who has counselled Margaret since childhood, but he is more than balanced by the likes of Sônia Braga as the convent’s mother superior and Ralph Ineson as Father Brennan – a rogue priest famously played by Patrick Troughton in the original Omen. It is a solid, respectful performance, although it slightly odd to see Ineson cast in the role when the Troughton family itself is positively brimming with professional actors.

The film works best in its first two acts. The climax is overly long, a problem compounded by the predictable nature of the story: what are intended as shocking reveals are easily anticipated. There is also a somewhat tedious attempt to rework the premise of Donner’s Omen to allow for sequels and spin-offs should audiences take to the new film. That in mind, The First Omen is still solid screen horror. Fans of the genre should be well satisfied.