Coming soon from 20th Century Studios, prequel The First Omen is rated “R” for “Violent content, grisly/disturbing images, and brief graphic nudity,” but director Arkasha Stevenson reveals in a new chat with Fangoria that it was almost too extreme for that rating.

Without spoiling anything, Stevenson explains to Fangoria that there’s a sequence in The First Omen where a woman is forced to give birth, and the “graphic nudity” in that scene is what almost landed the upcoming prequel movie an NC-17 rating from the MPA.

Stevenson previews, “The horror in that situation is how dehumanized that woman is. 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.”

Producer Keith Levine adds, “We had to go back and forth with the ratings board five times. Weirdly, avoiding the NC-17 made it more intense.”

The article from Fangoria goes on to note that the shot originally lasted 13 seconds but was trimmed back to achieve the R rating. Learn more by reading the full article on Fangoria now.

Nell Tiger Free (“Servant”) stars in The First Omen, which 20th Century Studios will unleash on April 5. In the film, “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.”