What actually happens
A novice nun's first disco
The movie opens in Rome in 1971, where Father Brennan is questioning Father Harris about an occult conspiracy. Harris passes him a baby photo with the name Scianna inscribed on it, and then a pipe falls from a scaffold at a church construction site and kills him. Margaret Daino, an American novice nun, arrives at the Vizzardeli Orphanage in the middle of political protests. She meets Cardinal Lawrence, Father Gabriel, Abbess Silva, Sister Anjelica and her roommate Luz, who is also a novice. Luz brings Margaret along to a disco, and two men join them. Margaret dances with one of them, Paolo, and then blacks out. The next morning she wakes up unable to recall any of it.
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A conspiracy with a mission statement
Margaret bonds with Carlita, a mistreated orphan plagued by disturbing visions. Father Brennan warns Margaret that evil things will happen around the girl. Carlita shows Sister Anjelica a drawing of a restrained woman who is pregnant, and moments later Sister Anjelica sets herself on fire and hangs herself. Brennan then explains the plan: radicals inside the Church are afraid of losing power to secularism, so they plan to arrange the Antichrist's birth and scare disbelievers back, with Carlita meant to be the mother. A riot erupts during a field trip, and Margaret has a demonic hallucination, after which the Abbess postpones her vows and orders her to keep away from Carlita. Margaret runs into Paolo, who is horrified to see her, tells her to look for the mark, and is hit by a truck.
A filing system in the basement
In the Abbess's office Margaret finds a hidden underground chamber full of files, all labeled Scianna. They hold photos of deformed babies, each marked with a birthmark shaped like three sixes. Carlita is the only one who lived to adolescence. Margaret tries to leave with Carlita, gets caught, sees the mark on the roof of Carlita's mouth and is locked up. Father Gabriel lets her out, and the two of them go through the stolen files with Brennan and find that a second baby survived. Margaret then spots the mark on her own scalp and abruptly remembers that she was forcibly impregnated in a satanic ritual on the night she blacked out. The conspirators decided that the Devil must mate with his own offspring to conceive the Antichrist. Carlita was too young, so Margaret was brought to Rome instead, and the two of them turn out to be half-sisters.
A delivery with a board of directors
Margaret, Gabriel and Brennan drive toward a doctor who can end the pregnancy, and a second car hits theirs on the way. Everyone is incapacitated except Margaret, who staggers from the wreck as her body suddenly swells with pregnancy. This is the scene people brace for, and it happens near the end. She wakes up strapped to a hospital bed with Cardinal Lawrence standing over her, and the cardinal and the other conspirators watch while she gives birth by cesarean section to a girl and a boy. The boy is declared to be the Antichrist. Luz is among the conspirators, and so is the man who had been with Paolo at the disco. That is the full scene: a birth, an audience and a boy who gets a welcome from everyone in the room except his mother.
The ending, explained
Margaret stabs Cardinal Lawrence, then finds she is unable to kill her son. Luz stabs Margaret, and the conspirators run off with the boy after lighting the chamber on fire to hide the evidence. Carlita rescues Margaret and her daughter, and on the way out Margaret glimpses a demonic jackal screaming amid the fire. The boy is handed to an American diplomat named Robert Thorn, who uses him to replace the baby his wife Katherine supposedly lost to a miscarriage. Years afterward Margaret is hiding out up in the hills with Carlita and her daughter, and the three of them make a happy household. Brennan visits to tell her the conspirators are coming for her, and that her son now goes by Damien.
The post-credits ruling
There is no post-credits scene. You can leave when the credits start.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: fine, no dog dies.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is The First Omen scary?
Yes, The First Omen is a 5.5 out of 10. The dread level is medium, and the fear comes from a convent conspiracy and some jump scares, with one hospital scene near the end that people dread.
How does The First Omen end?
Margaret escapes with Carlita and her daughter, and the conspirators take her son and hand him to Robert Thorn. Years later she is living in the mountains with them, and the boy has been named Damien.
Does the dog die in The First Omen?
No, no dog dies in The First Omen. Near the end Margaret glimpses a screaming demonic jackal in the flames, but no dog dies.
Is there a post-credits scene in The First Omen?
No. The First Omen has no post-credits scene, so you can leave when the credits start.
Who is Carlita in The First Omen?
Carlita is a mistreated orphan at the Vizzardeli Orphanage who has disturbing visions. The conspirators meant her to be the mother of the Antichrist, and she turns out to be Margaret's half-sister.
