By AARON VON LUPTON
A return to the Omen franchise shouldn’t be too surprising given the recent returns of Halloween and Exorcist films, but THE FIRST OMEN seemed to hit theatres with little hype or forewarning. Regardless, Easter weekend seemed like a good time to witness the rebirth of the Antichrist, bolstered by the last-minute news that the film contained a scene so graphic and taboo-smashing that it nearly received an NC-17 rating.
Directed and co-written by Arkasha Stevenson in her feature debut, THE FIRST OMEN serves as a prequel to the original 1976 Satanic Panic hit, and stars Nell Tiger Free (Servant) as a woman traveling to Rome to take her vows, where she eventually discovers that what goes on at the Vatican is very different than what she learned before deciding to enter the convent.
RUE MORGUE caught up with Stevenson and Free to discuss what it’s like making a Satanic-themed horror film at a time when so much of mainstream society has turned its back on the Catholic Church as a symbol of good and embraced the Devil instead.
The original Omen film was released during a very different time when the Devil could actually be considered scary and a legitimate threat. We are now in a society in which Satan, more often than not, is presented in a positive rather than negative light. What was it like making a horror film when the monster isn’t really considered that scary anymore?
Arkasha Stevenson: That’s a really great question. When we inherited the script, we had this ending that answered where Damien came from. So, we were left with a lot of room to play with, and that led me to doing a lot of research into times when hell has been brought to earth. We were looking at a lot of Bosch’s hell tableaus and at images from World War II and realizing that there’s a lot of parallels. I think one of the philosophies that this film comes from is that the devil isn’t really scary. The Devil is really just a tool, and it’s man who really, really conjures evil. And so, you could remove the supernatural element from this movie, and I think it would still be a horror film.
Nell Tiger Free: There are so many different portrayals of the devil that we see in pop culture today and in television series, and it’s often, like, a sexy guy in a tux. I think that’s just human beings being nuanced and strange and trying to find humanity in things that are supposed to be completely void of that. It’s the same with how God is portrayed in movies and TV shows. It’s often charismatic people and people that you like or that you feel a connection to. It just plays on the emotion that we’re always trying to humanize everything and everybody. In this film, the main thing that we’re asking you to be afraid of isn’t actually the Devil; It’s the experiences that this young woman is going through. I think that’s the thing that we’re asking you to fear more.
For Nell, how much knowledge did you have of Catholicism going into this? Did you have to do anything to kind of prepare for the role?
NTF: No, I didn’t actually do anything really to prepare for the role. I know it sounds quite bad, but Margaret’s a completely new character in the franchise and in the story, so I just kind of went in with what I had on the page, and then, Arkasha and I got to work forming this person. It was such a fun thing to find these little nuances of her and find these pieces of her. She’s so devout in her faith and in her belief.
Women have a much more prominent role in horror entertainment these days. Do you think this is an important movie for women in horror?
NTF: I think, to be honest, if a female is at the center of it and it’s horror, it’s an important movie for women in horror. This story lent itself very much to having a female protagonist. Sometimes, it doesn’t, and you shouldn’t make the protagonist a woman for the sake of it. It should be if the story demands it. With Arkasha being the director, she was the exact right person to direct this movie – man or woman, you know. She handled it fantastically.
What was it like working with Arkasha as a director?
NTF: She was a dream. Everything that she does, to me, feels like strength. She’s so hands-on. Like, you know, if something is wrong in the frame, she’s not shouting from behind the monitor. She is running with her monitor in hand and fixing it. She does this amazing thing where, you know, you could be in a room full of a hundred people and she’ll just lock in on you and give you 1000 percent of her attention. All of her notes are so nuanced and so detailed. It was just really fabulous.
How familiar were you with the Omen franchise before doing this film?
NTF: Oh yeah, big time. I’m a massive fan of the original Omen. I watched it when I was, like, 11. I’m a massive horror fan. Doing this and being a part of this franchise is a pretty big deal for me. I feel like I’m constantly geeking out about the role that I now play in this story. It’s very satisfying for somebody who, you know, has grown up watching these films and others like it.
Arkasha, what sort of atmosphere did you aim to achieve in the film? It opens up in a rainy cemetery, which is great at pulling the audience in, but did you worry that it might not be as effective for modern audiences?
AS: No, it was the opposite. I think a lot of the discussions that we had were about how are we going to make something new and fresh but also couch it within the universe of the Omen franchise. I’m a huge fan of ‘70s horror, and so, we wanted it to feel like a horror movie that was shot in the ‘70s. I think that a film that opens in a cemetery during a cloudy day like that has a sense of nostalgia for me that makes me feel very comfortable and makes me think that I know exactly what kind of film I’m getting into. But then, I like to think that we pull the rug out from underneath you, not using modern filming techniques or any stylish panache that feels overly modern. I think some of the swings that we take kind of speak to the fact that this is a contemporary film.
Obviously, the big swing that people will be talking about is the infamous birthing scene that led to a potential NC-17 rating. Did you realize how badly you were pushing the envelope when you did it, or how much you were pushing the envelope?
AS: I think part of being delusional is just running fearlessly straight ahead, you know? It’s kind of a gift and a curse. At the end of the day, this film is about female body autonomy and about forced reproduction and rape. You can’t make a movie about that without showing the imagery and showing it in a non-sexualized light. It was the whole team that was really on board with that. We really felt that this shot was the theme of the film. We all felt we couldn’t make this film without that image. That’s why we were so willing to go to battle with the ratings board.
I also love the scene where Nell is holding Andre Arcangeli and then realizes he’s been severed in half.
NTF: It was all practical. I’m really holding half of a severed Andrea. Don’t worry; Andrea is alive and well, but yeah, I’m holding his body, and we did that all with a trick of the camera and a switcheroo. It’s very heavy that thing, and it’s a shocking sight to see they did it so fantastically. Andrea was walking around holding it.
Can I ask about the costume design? It seemed there was a tension between making the film classic vs. modern through costume design.
AS: Paco Delgado designed our costumes. You go into this movie, reading this script, and you picture all of these costumes in your head, and he brings something completely new and completely different to the screen with every character. I think the nun habits were so interesting because he put so much of this beautiful detail into [them] – like the skirt makes them walk like this metronome, but their veil feels like this kind of ghostly figure. It’s very light and breezy. And I think that he did such a great job of being reverent to the 1970s and to the religious outfitting but also letting us have our own sense of style for a film, which I really loved.
You had the great Canadian composer, Mark Korven, do the score. Did you have any sort of say or oversight into it?
AS: Yeah. I am obsessed with Mark Korven and just loved collaborating with him. I joke that whenever I picture Mark composing, I just picture him flying on a broomstick through hell singing opera. He really has his hand in this whole other world. He works a lot from character and story. Everybody always asks, “Are you gonna use Jerry Goldsmith’s score?” I think what Mark did that was so brilliant is that he created something that was so distinct and so tailored to the themes of our film, but also seemed to speak back to Goldsmith. He mostly uses vocals. I think it’s like a really beautiful sister score.
What do you think is next for The Omen? Is this the rebirth of the franchise?
AS: Man, I really hope so. There’s a reason that religious horror is so pertinent and why it’s so loved because I think it’s just a really great way to express personal and societal anxieties and with The Omen, there’s a lot to play with. At the end of THE FIRST OMEN, there’s a lot more questions that have been asked, and you can go in a lot of different directions with that. So, I hope so.
