The First Omen (2024): A Feminist Horror That Demands Bodily Autonomy
The First Omen (2024): A Feminist Horror That Demands Bodily Autonomy “Not every miracle is divine—and not every institution deserves your trust.” — 4/5 Stars In the post-Roe era, horror has become a vital space for reckoning with the erosion of bodily autonomy. The First Omen (2024) doesn’t just participate in that conversation—it weaponizes it. This is not a haunted house story. It’s a procedural thriller about institutional gaslighting, reproductive control, and the quiet violence of faith used as a tool of patriarchal power. Set in 1971 Rome, the film follows Margaret Daino (Nell Tiger Free), a young American novitiate sent to the prestigious Mater Lachrymarum Convent to prove her devotion. But from the moment she arrives, something is wrong. The nuns are cold, the priests evasive, and the orphanage next door houses girls who vanish without explanation. When a series of “miracles” begin to unfold—...