THE OMEN (1976)
Starring: Gregory Peck and Lee Remick
Totally kick-ass, big-budget horror film starring Gregory Peck, Lee Remick and little fat-faced Harvey Stephens as Damien, the son of the devil. Peck is named ambassador to London, only to suspect after his nanny hangs herself at Damien's birthday party that the boy (whom he's adopted) may be a little bit more than the family can handle.
A local priest hounds Peck, begging him to kill his own son. The priest winds up impaled by a lightning rod. Then a freelance photographer (David Warner) gets involved, when he realizes that some of his photographs are able to forecast who will be killed as a result of Damien's evil power.
Peck and Warner go on a trek to Israel. The horror highlight of the journey is the most gruesome beheading ever filmed.
Director Donner had previous horror experience making the legendary "Twilight Zone" entry "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet," featuring William Shatner, one of the best episodes of the entire series.
He went on to direct "Superman" and the entire "Lethal Weapon" franchise. "The Omen" was his only horror film. Although not as respected and well-remembered as "The Exorcist," which inspired it, "The Omen" was a huge hit and is as entertaining today as it was a quarter century ago.
One of the best things about the film was the beautiful, gothic score by Jerry Goldsmith, which won an Oscar. Goldsmith's score took the film to a level horror films generally never attained in the 1970s. But the real star of the movie may simply just be the story, which is one helluva great mystery. Unfortunately the sequels could never stack up to the original, because the hook of this film is the search for information about Damien Thorn. Peck's character has to find out whether or not the boy is the antichrist. Where did the boy come from? Who were the priests that set up the child for adoption? What's the story behind the mad priest who keeps warning him about his own son? David Seltzer wrote the brilliant screenplay.
Despite the fact that
this is a great movie, Michael Medved included it in his book "The 50 Worst
Movies of All Time." Truth is, this film helped make big-budget horror
films a possibility. Although not quite up to the level of "The Exorcist,"
this film's two sequels were better than
any of the Exorcist follow ups.