GOOD MORNING. YOU ARE ONE DAY CLOSER TO THE END OF THE WORLD!
In 1973, The Exorcist had been a tremendous hit and came to spawn copies throughout the 1970s. The most successful of these diabolical films became The Omen, a thriller that would launch the career of director Richard Donner and give aging movie star Gregory Peck a lucrative part. They would both, however, be outshone by a pane of glass.
The new ambassador to Britain
This is the story of how a fallen angel sent his only son to the world to destroy it. Robert and Kathy Thorn (Peck, Lee Remick) move to London when he’s appointed new ambassador to Britain. They have a son, Damien (Harvey Stephens), a boy with a pale face, a sullen demeanor and dark, almost black hair. Kathy doesn’t know that he isn’t really hers; her real son died after being born and the heartsick husband decided to replace him with an orphaned child and say nothing to his wife.
The years go by and the family is happy, but when Damien turns six years old scary things begin to happen. Something is terribly wrong; with a little help from the Catholic church, even Robert Thorn begins to realize the awful truth about his son.
Struggling with a dilemma
Remick is very good in one of her most memorable performances as the mother who stops feeling safe in her home because of her boy; we can truly sense her fear. The great, classic question of this tragedy is what would you do if you knew that your child would grow up as something worse than Hitler. Peck’s character struggles with the question and so do we; he is in essence our representative in this story. There are moments when we can’t quite believe the true nature of the child, but just like Robert Thorn we become convinced of what must be done; the future of mankind is at stake. Young Stephens is very effective as Satan’s son. We certainly feel like strangling him at times (that final, haunting shot is ingenious)… but he’s also eerily intimidating.
Using a choir, Jerry Goldsmith’s ominous orchestral work is like a call for Satan, a dedication
Donner keeps the movie spine-chilling, its atmosphere boosted by Jerry Goldsmith’s outstanding music score. Using a choir, his ominous orchestral work is like a call for Satan, a dedication; perhaps its full horrifying effect is complete if played with your lights out. The movie also has several impressively staged sequences. The nanny’s suicide, the impaling of the priest, the dogs in the cemetery… it is all outdone however by the scene where the nosy, doomed hippie photographer (David Warner) is beheaded by a pane of glass. A true classic, the scene still stands as one of the great horror moments in cinema history, still shocking thirty years later.
The Omen does owe a lot to its famous predecessor, but thanks to the talent involved it stands on its own and has in turn spawned many other more or less worthless imitations. There’s a lot to be said for a film so perversely clever it makes its audience root for a father who looks at his son and considers murder.
The Omen 1976-U.S. 110 min. Color. Widescreen. Directed by Richard Donner. Screenplay: David Seltzer. Music: Jerry Goldsmith. Cast: Gregory Peck (Robert Thorn), Lee Remick (Kathy Thorn), Harvey Stephens (Damien Thorn), Billie Whitelaw, David Warner, Patrick Troughton, Leo McKern.
Trivia: William Holden, Roy Scheider, Charles Bronson and Charlton Heston were considered for the part of Robert Thorn. Followed by three sequels, starting with Damien: Omen II (1978), a prequel (The First Omen (2024)), and a TV series, Damien (2016). Remade as The Omen (2006).
Oscar: Best Original Score.
Last word: “The Omen had been around for a long time. It was called The Antichrist and eventually every studio in town turned it down. When I read it, the reason I thought they turned it down was because it was a horror film and if they turned it into what I believed was a mystery-suspense-thriller and got rid of the cheesy cloven hoofs and devils, that maybe it would have a chance. My thoughts were echoed by Alan Ladd Jr who was then head of Fox Studios, who said make it and do a mystery suspense and you’ve got a deal.” (Donner, Movies in Focus)
