Koffi (Mac Zinga) has been living for the past 2 years in Belgium with his fiancée, Alice (Lucie Debay), who's pregnant. He returns with her to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to visit his estranged family. When blood from a nosebleed drips on someone's baby that he holds, he's accused of performing witchcraft and causes a chaos. Mujila (Yves-Marina Gnahoua), Koffi's mother, believes that he's demon. Tshala (Eliane Umuhire) learns that she got an STD from her boyfriend. Paco (Marcel Otete Kabeya), a local gang member who embraces sorcery and deals with Simba (Mordecai Kamangu), the leader of a rival gang.

      Writer/director Baloji and his co-writer, Thomas van Zuylen, intertwine the stories of 4 characters, namely, Koffi, Paco, Tshala and Mujila. Exposition is kept to a bare minimum which be confusing at times, but, to be fair, what's wrong with being confused? The answers to most of the questions, like, "What incident(s) led to Koffi's estrangement from his family?" will be answered later on in the film, so the filmmakers trust the audience's patience. Although Omen does veer into thriller and psychological horror, it's often understated and not very palpable. The same can be said for the suspense which is there, but this isn't the kind of suspense that puts the audience at the edge of their seat. Omen basically transcends genre. To describe its plot wouldn't do it justice because it's more than just the sum of its parts. The tension derives from the sense that something bad might happen at any moment and from the anticipation that the stories might lead somewhere very terrifying. Baloji and Thomas van Zuylen rely on the audience's imagination which is more horrifying than what's on screen. Beneath its dark and foreboding narrative, Omen is actually quite poignant, especially during the final story involing Koffi's mother. There's not much levity nor do the filmmakers hold the audience's hand to explain everything and tie it all in a neat bow, so they leave plenty of room for interpretation. That's a rare quality to find in a filmmakers these days when most films suffer from on-the-nose dialogue and resort to spoon-feeding or babying the audience.

      On a purely aesthetic level, Omen is visually stunning and exquisitely shot. Its style becomes part of its substance because it's filled with visual poetry. Even when the story meanders, the visuals alone manage to be engaging. Poetry is often a form of protest for or against something. So, what is Omen a protest for or against? With no voice-over narration, that's also left to the audience's interpretation. The last few minutes are quite powerful and haunting. Patient audience members will be rewarded the most because the film does move at a slow-burning pace. At 1 hour and 35 minutes, is a mesmerizing, elliptical and poignant slice of psychological horror and surrealism.