The First Omen

This sixth entry in the long-running Catholic horror franchise goes back to the beginning in a prequel with atmospheric echoes of the original 1970s films. American novice nun Margaret (Nell Tiger Free) joins forces with a troubled Irish priest (Ralph Ineson) who is convinced he has uncovered an unholy conspiracy in Rome. It seems the religious elders running an orphanage plan to use one of its young girls to conceive the offspring of Satan thereby inciting a global panic that will bring people rushing back to Catholicism for salvation. Director Arkasha Stevenson steers clear of 21st-century gloss and moves the narrative along at a slow-burning pace, while her film's ruminations about the role of the church in modern society are touched upon with a frustrating lack of substance. The leads are solid, if unspectacular, with Bill Nighy ticking all the right boxes as Margaret's avuncular mentor, and the shocks are executed with style, despite being telegraphed far too well in advance.