The First Omen is officially rated R for “violent content, grisly/disturbing images, and brief graphic nudity,” but the nudity wasn't always quite so brief, and the sequence in question almost landed the horror prequel a dreaded NC-17 rating.
While speaking to Fangoria, first-time feature director Arkasha Stevenson revealed that she was involved in a "long battle" with the ratings board to push the movie through with an R-rating after one particularly graphic - though not in a sexualized manner - shot of a woman giving birth gave them cause for concern.
“The horror in that situation is how dehumanized that woman is," explains Stevenson. "This has been my life for a year and a half, fighting for the shot. It’s the theme of our film. It’s the female body being violated from the inside outwards. If we were going to talk about female body horror, we were going to talk about forced reproduction, and we have to be able to show the female body in a non-sexualized light. I’m very proud of this shot.”
Producers David Goyer and Keith Levine (Hellraiser, The Night House) backed their director, but it took a lot of work to convince the board to allow them to keep a shorter version of the shot in the movie. “
"We had to go back and forth with the ratings board five times," notes Levine. "Weirdly, avoiding the NC-17 made it more intense.”
Goyer went on to speak about the “double standard” that became clear while fighting the NC-17 rating.
“The movie, by its nature, deals with female body horror, and I do think there’s a double standard. That was really interesting when we were negotiating with the ratings board. I think there is more permissiveness when dealing with male protagonists, particularly in body horror. That birthing scene is super intense, I also have three kids and have been at their births. It’s intense!”
"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. The First Omen stars Nell Tiger Free (Servant), Tawfeek Barhom (Mary Magdalene), Sonia Braga (Kiss of the Spider Woman), Ralph Ineson (The Northman), and Bill Nighy (Living).
The film is directed by Arkasha Stevenson based on characters created by David Seltzer (The Omen), with a story by Ben Jacoby (Bleed) and a screenplay by Tim Smith & Arkasha Stevenson and Keith Thomas (Firestarter). The producers are David S. Goyer (Hellraiser) and Keith Levine (The Night House) and the executive producers are Tim Smith, Whitney Brown (Rosaline), and Gracie Wheelan.
The original movie, which still retains its power to chill, told the story of an American ambassador (Gregory Peck) and his wife (Lee Remick), who slowly come to the realization that their adopted child, Damien, is the son of Satan ("his mother was a jackal!"). The movie spawned a pair of inferior sequels and a 2006 remake which, while technically well-made, completely failed to recapture the dread of the '70s film.
The First Omen is set to arrive in theaters on April 5. Do you plan on checking it out? Drop us a comment down below.