Given that most of the good (read: evil) stuff happens once demonic sprog Damien arrives, you might wonder what there is to explore in a prequel to the 1976 horror classic The Omen. Still, someone wants to try, as a film called The First Omen is being set up at 20th Century Fox.
Antonio Campos is the director in negotiations to make this one for David Goyer, who is producing via his Phantom Four company. Ben Jacoby has written the script, which is being kept locked away for now. So we don’t know what the story will be, though it could well follow the dark forces that were rising to welcome Damien into the world, or even the building of the Evil Nanny Training Academy that churned out Billie Whitelaw’s iconic Mrs. Baylock, AKA Scary Poppins.
Richard Donner‘s original film has since hit most of the points for a nostalgic favourite these days; a handful of sequels, a remake in 2006 and several novels around the subject. A TV series follow-up from former Walking Dead show-runner Glenn Mazzara is on the air now, so we suppose a prequel is just the next step.
Campos has horror form: he directed Simon Killer in 2012 and had based-on-reality drama Christine at Sundance this year. Can he make something that lives up to the first film? We’ll have to wait and see. It’s all for you Damien! You devilish little squib.