I have to be honest, I can’t say I’ve been terribly excited for The First Omen. Sure, I love the original The Omen just like everyone else, but do we really need to know more about Damien’s backstory? I wasn’t convinced that we did. In fact, I was concerned that the movie might tell us a bit too much about the character’s origins, but I was still willing to give it a shot. If nothing else, I was curious to see how this seemingly unnecessary prequel turned out, and now that I’ve had the chance to watch it, I’m happy to report that it’s actually pretty good.

The First Omen was directed and co-written by Arkasha Stevenson, and it stars Nell Tiger Free, Tawfeek Barhom, Sonia Braga, Ralph Ineson, and Bill Nighy. The film follows Margaret, a young American woman who travels to Italy to join an order of nuns who run an orphanage, and when she arrives, she takes a special liking to a young outcast named Carlita. The girl seems to be treated poorly by both her fellow orphans and the nuns who run the place, but we soon learn that her abuse is just the tip of the iceberg.

As the movie goes on, Margaret meets Fr. Brennan, the crazy priest from the original The Omen, and he tells her about a sinister conspiracy involving some members of the Catholic hierarchy. A group of priests, bishops, and nuns are trying to bring about the birth of the antichrist, and Fr. Brennan wants Margaret to help him stop this impending apocalypse.

As you can probably guess from that plot synopsis, The First Omen suffers from the same constraint as almost every prequel ever made. The story has to smoothly lead into its classic predecessor, so you know where it’s headed right from the get-go. However, unlike most prequels, that’s actually not a problem here.

Sure, you know that Margaret and Fr. Brennan are going to fail and that the antichrist is going to be born, but you don’t know how the plot is going to get to that preordained conclusion. And for my money, that’s one of the best things about this film. The details of the conspiracy and Margaret’s slow discovery of the truth kept me interested the entire time, and there were even a few twists and turns that genuinely surprised me.

To take just one spoiler-free example, there’s a scene early on where Margaret and her roommate dress in sexy outfits and go clubbing, and when that happened, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. I know several women who’ve chosen to become nuns, and none of them would’ve ever wanted to do that right before taking their vows. I just found the whole thing completely preposterous, but to my surprise, the third act made me do a complete 180. There’s a twist that makes clever sense of this odd turn of events, and it caught me off guard in the best way possible.

On top of that intriguing story, The First Omen also features some amazing acting. Everybody in this cast does top-notch work, but I have to give special mention to Ralph Ineson. He plays Fr. Brennan, and as always, he imbues the role with a gravitas and a solemnity I’m not sure anybody else could’ve pulled off. Whenever this guy speaks, you can’t help but hang on to his every word, so even though he’s only in a handful of scenes, he steals the show every time he’s on screen.

Next, let’s talk about the scares in The First Omen. The movie dips its toes into a few different kinds of horror, and they all work pretty well. For instance, co-writer/director Arkasha Stevenson shows a knack for using sound and darkness to craft some seriously creepy moments, and when she peppers in a few jump scares, they won’t just startle you. They’ll also get under your skin in a way most scares (jumpy or not!) can only dream of.

What’s more, this film also features some genuinely disturbing imagery and a good amount of convincingly disgusting gore, so it bodes really well for Stevenson’s future in the genre. This is only her debut feature, but the wide range of horror styles shows that she can do pretty much whatever she wants, and I can’t wait to see what that might be.

Last but not least, I want to touch on the message of The First Omen. I’ve seen a lot of reviews that interpret this movie as a critique of Catholicism and the Catholic Church, and I agree, but only partially. See, the film is very clear that only a small number of priests and bishops are involved in this diabolical conspiracy, and it even makes a point of saying that there are good people, even clerics, in the Church.

So the way I see it, this can’t be a wholesale attack on the Catholic faith. Instead, I took the movie as an indictment of people who use religion as a pretense for doing evil, and as a Catholic myself, I’m completely on board with that message. There are few things worse than believers, whether priests or laity, who use God as an excuse to commit heinous crimes, so I thoroughly enjoyed this film on every level, even thematically.

And if you’re a fan of satanic conspiracy stories, I think you’ll have an excellent time with The First Omen too. Sure, it suffers from a mild case of prequelitis, but in the grand scheme of things, that’s a very minor complaint. On the whole, this movie tells an intriguing story with amazing performances and some excellent horror, so if you’re on the prowl for a good new horror film to watch, I highly recommend that you check this one out.