The past couple of years have given us some great original horror content. Films like Smile and Barbarian are a reminder that the genre is still finding fresh ways to deliver ample terror. But, even those successes are not stopping the larger moviemaking powers-that-be from still trying to mine cash from old franchises. Sometimes it works, as we saw with Evil Dead Rise and Saw X, both of which got high critical and commercial praise for their storylines and leading performances. Other times, it is an epic failure, like The Exorcist: Believer. This year, we will see which side The First Omen ends up on. Like Saw X, this film takes us back into the past of a world that we are highly familiar with to tell a previously unknown saga. If the trailer for The First Omen is any indication, we will certainly learn something new that changes everything. 

This clip of The First Omen doesn’t give us too much context to its story, but we do get some interesting imagery and many unsettling scenes. That smile certainly reminds us of an unsettling one that we’ve seen before. There’s nothing like nefarious or downright demonic activity to contort a person’s face into a creepy grin, right? Anyway, this synopsis of The First Omen will make the trailer make a little more sense: 

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.

a woman lies on her back and faces the camera with an ominous smile in the first omen trailer
20th Century Studios

What Is the Release Date for The First Omen?

Well, that trailer gives us the warm and fuzzy feelings. This film might be absent one creepy kid who is the Antichrist, but we can see what else awaits us in Rome. The First Omen will hit theaters on April 5.

Originally published on January 3, 2024.