Film Review: The Omen (1976)

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The problem with prophecies is that they are always vague and open to different interpretations, which, on the other hand, makes sense because perfect hindsight would prevent many of the prophesied events from ever happening. That includes the best-known prophecy of all, the Book of Revelation. One of the more popular interpretations served as the basis for The Omen, the 1976 horror film directed by Richard Donner.

The plot begins in 1970 Rome when US diplomat Robert Thorn (played by Gregory Peck) learns that his wife Katherine (played by Lee Remick) has delivered a stillborn baby boy. She doesn’t know it yet, so Thorn accepts a proposal to switch his stillborn son for a live baby whose mother died in childbirth. A boy named Damien follows his parents to London, where Thorn will become the US ambassador to the United Kingdom. Soon, strange and disturbing events begin to happen around Damien, who apparently doesn’t want to go to church, makes animals agitated, and gets a new, sinister-looking nanny, Mrs. Blaylock (played by Billie Whitelaw), after her predecessor ended her life with a spectacular suicide at Damien’s birthday party. When Father Brennan (played by Patrick Troughton), a Catholic priest, warns Thorn that his son might not be human, he is not willing to listen. But after getting in touch with photographer Keith Jennings (played by David Warner), he finally agrees to investigate, and the trail leads to Rome, where he finds the terrible truth. His real son was killed and replaced with a baby who is actually the son of Satan, the Antichrist described in the Book of Revelation. Thorn learns that the only way to stop the Apocalypse is to kill Damien.

Made three years after The Exorcist, this film was often interpreted as an attempt to exploit the popularity of Satanic themes in modern horror and was frequently derided by critics for its derivative nature. Comparisons between the two films, however, point to very different approaches. Unlike William Friedkin, who depicts a single case of demonic possession in a realistic New Hollywood style, Richard Donner, in his first major production, has to deal with a plot about an indescribably powerful Evil that threatens to devour the whole world. Donner directs this film in an old style, but on a much grander scale, using a high budget that would reflect itself in relatively exotic locations like London, Rome, and Jerusalem, as well as an upper-class setting and the use of top Hollywood stars like Gregory Peck, who, as the unfortunate protagonist, played one of the most powerful roles of his career. Peck was surrounded by a very good cast, which included many top British character actors, while Donner put child actor Harvey Spencer Stephens to good use, creating one of the most menacing child characters in the history of film. The Omen also displayed Donner’s superb directing skills, most notably in very elaborate, inventive, and disturbingly memorable death scenes, which include the best-known decapitation in the history of cinema. Apart from acting, The Omen was elevated by Jerry Goldsmith’s soundtrack, which, despite being effective and later awarded an Oscar, represents one of the less memorable works of that prolific composer.

Despite often unkind critics, The Omen proved to be a great commercial success and, like The Exorcist, spawned a number of sequels. Its success can, just as in the case of Friedkin’s film, be explained by the increasing insecurity of the audience in the mid-1970s, burdened by a serious economic crisis and the loss of traditional beliefs – both secular and religious – which many tried to compensate for by embracing fundamentalist interpretations of Christianity. This included the American evangelist writer Hal Lindsey, whose bestselling book The Late, Great Planet Earth about the impending Apocalypse would inspire screenwriter David Seltzer for his own interpretation of the Book of Revelation. These included even passages about the European Economic Community, the precursor of today’s European Union, being described as the “revived Roman Empire” ruled by the Antichrist. When the film first arrived, such predictions were ridiculed by critics. Nowadays, when a different sort of apocalypse is unfolding within an entity presided over by Ursula von der Leyen, such prophecies might still look unfulfilled, but fewer people are laughing.

RATING: 7/10 (+++)