The First Omen: Unveiling the Sinister Secrets of the Backwards Teaser

The Eerie Backwards Teaser

The First Omen serves as a prequel to 1976's The Omen, and the first teaser trailer set the tone for the movie with a creepy backward layout. The trailer for The First Omen showcases many of the disturbing images that will be found in the movie, as any good horror trailer would, but the snippets of footage are played in reverse throughout the minute-long teaser. The original movie is one of the most celebrated classic American horror movies, and the unsettling trailer for The First Omen points to the prequel following in its footsteps.

Damien stands in a cemetery at the end of 1976's The Omen

The backwards footage certainly makes the teaser trailer stand out, but there is a deeper meaning behind its unique nature. The Satanic spirit of The Omen franchise likely has something to do with it, and it also provides some insight into the film's overall plot. The first look at images from The First Omen definitely hinted at how creepy the movie will be, but the backwards trailer has taken that element to the next level.

A woman screaming in distress in The First Omen

The backwards trailer for The First Omen first and foremost points to the movie being a prequel. As the scenes from the teaser trailer play backwards, they represent the long-running franchise going back to the origin of the evil at its center. While details are still limited, the released plot synopsis indicates that the movie will follow a young woman who travels to Rome hoping to dedicate her life to the Church. However, she discovers a dark and sinister conspiracy that ultimately brings about the birth of the Antichrist--the child Damien Thorn from 1976's The Omen.

A creepy smiling woman in The First Omen

Surprisingly, through three middling sequels and a poorly-received 2006 remake, no movie from The Omen franchise has ever examined the origin of Damien Thorn. Many long-running horror franchises dip into that well fairly quickly, regardless of whether fans actually want to know about the origin of their favorite horror villain or not. Given how horrible the critical and fan reception has been to The Omen's sequels, moving backwards in the timeline should be a welcome change of pace.

A burning altar from The First Omen

The Sinister Representation

The backwards trailer also carries a more sinister representation than simply showing how the franchise is moving backwards in time. There is a widespread belief among conspiracy theorists that some media, particularly vinyl records, contain hidden diabolical messages when played backwards. This practice is called 'backmasking', and while there are some very legitimate examples of intentionally hidden backwards messages, most of them are funny and innocent.

A child postpartum in The First Omen

Conspiracy theorists claim that many rock groups from the 1970s and 1980s hid nefarious and sometimes Satanic subliminal messaging in their music, which could be revealed by being played backwards. Famous examples can be found in Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway to Heaven', Queen's 'Another One Bites the Dust', and The Eagles' 'Hotel California'. VH1 has compiled a list of some of the creepiest potential backwards messages, in fact, but many examples are typically easy to debunk or dismiss. The First Omen's backwards trailer is almost certainly an homage to the history of evil messages in backwards media.

Nell Tiger Free standing among candles in a church in The First Omen's trailer

The Origin Story Unveiled

The First Omen's backwards trailer shows how it's an origin story. It represents the franchise going back to how the terror of the child Antichrist began. As the scenes from the teaser trailer play backwards, they represent the long-running franchise going back to the origin of the evil at its center.

While details are still limited, the released plot synopsis indicates that the movie will follow a young woman who travels to Rome hoping to dedicate her life to the Church. However, she discovers a dark and sinister conspiracy that ultimately brings about the birth of the Antichrist--the child Damien Thorn from 1976's The Omen. Surprisingly, through three middling sequels and a poorly-received 2006 remake, no movie from The Omen franchise has ever examined the origin of Damien Thorn. Given how horrible the critical and fan reception has been to The Omen's sequels, moving backwards in the timeline should be a welcome change of pace.