The Omen (1976) 20th Century Fox/Horror RT: 111 minutes Rated R (violence, terror, disturbing images) Director: Richard Donner Screenplay: David Seltzer Music: Jerry Goldsmith Cinematography: Gilbert Taylor Release date: June 6, 1976 (US) Cast: Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, David Warner, Billie Whitelaw, Harvey Stephens, Patrick Troughton, Leo McKern, Martin Benson, Holly Palance. Box Office: $60.9M (US)
Rating: ****
One of the best horror films of the 70s, The Omen (along with The Exorcist) kicked off a whole spate of evil child movies- e.g. Cathy’s Curse, The Child, The Godsend and Bloody Birthday. Like most other things, the original is the best. Nearly 50 years later, The Omen still retains its power to scare the hell out of people. Since it’s been around for so long, everybody knows that little Damien (played by angel-faced Stephens) is the Antichrist. Everybody also knows that people around him tend to die in mysterious and gruesome ways. That second thing is the main reason I was drawn to the Omen movies as a horror and gore-loving preteen. I was 11 the first time I watched The Omen on network TV. It was one of my first horror movies and I loved it.
Gregory Peck (To Kill a Mockingbird) plays Robert Thorn, an American diplomat in Rome whose wife Katherine (Remick, Days of Wine and Roses) has just given birth to a baby boy who dies just moments after being born. A priest at the hospital convinces him to secretly adopt a baby boy whose mother died during childbirth and pass it off to his wife as their own. They name the child Damien. Soon thereafter, Thorn is named Ambassador to Great Britain and the family moves to the UK.
Strange things start happening around the time Damien turns five. His nanny (Palance, The Best of Times) publicly hangs herself during his birthday party. The new nanny, Mrs. Baylock (stage actress Whitelaw), arrives unannounced and tells Damien she’s there to protect him. Damien turns violent when his parents try to take him to church. A priest, Father Brennan (Troughton, Doctor Who), shows up at Thorn’s office and tries to warn him about Damien. It isn’t long before he dies from being impaled by a lightning rod that falls off a church during a sudden storm.
Before he dies, Brennan tells Thorn that Katherine is pregnant and Damien will never allow the baby to be born. Sure enough, Damien knocks his mother over the upstairs railing and causes her to miscarry. Thorn, along with photographer Keith Jennings (Warner, Time After Time), go to Rome to find out the truth about Damien. What they discover is terrifying. They go to Israel to see Bugenhagen (McKern, A Man for All Seasons), an archeologist and expert on the Antichrist. He tells Thorn to look for a birthmark in the shape of three sixes (the sign of the Devil). He also gives him seven sacred daggers from Megiddo, the only things in the world that can kill the Antichrist. He’s told he has to slay the child on holy ground.
Okay, so I already revealed that it’s the gruesome deaths that attract me to the Omen movies. In The Omen, the topper has to be when Jennings gets decapitated by a sheet of glass. It’s shown from three different camera angles. It’s cool! However, lest you think me a total psychopath, I like other things about The Omen as well. The Oscar-winning score by Jerry Goldsmith still gets to me. It features a choral segment with a Latin chant- “Ave, Satani! Ave Versus Christus!” (Latin, “Hail, Satan! Hail, Antichrist!”). It’s so foreboding; it fits the film’s mood perfectly. It’s as memorable a horror movie score as Psycho, Halloween and Friday the 13th.
Peck is very good as the father forced to sacrifice his son for the good of the world. The parallel to Abraham and Isaac is obvious. Remick is also very good as the mother becoming unhinged by the realization that her son is evil. Young Stephens, with that cherubic face, is perfect for the role of Damien. The closing shot of him smiling malevolently and knowingly at the camera is one of the best closing shots EVER. The screenplay by David Seltzer is intelligently written. The guy obviously did his homework when writing the story. Director Richard Donner (Superman) doesn’t make a single wrong move. He takes his time revealing the true origin of Damien, building suspense as people die and Thorn gets closer to the truth. It’s never slow or boring; it’s a taut and tight horror flick. I don’t often say this about movies, but The Omen is perfect. It’s one of those movies that you never completely shake. It’s a must-see for anybody that regards him/herself a cinephile.
