The Omen (1976) Movie Review

The Omen (1976)

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Written by: David Seltzer
Directed by: Richard Donner
Starring: Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, Harvey Stephens
Rated: R
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Plot
Mysterious deaths surround an American ambassador. Could Damien, the child that he is raising, be the Antichrist?

Verdict
This is a classic in the horror genre. The story is engrossing, relying on a sense of dread instead of gore or jump scares. This weaves the fear of the Antichrist with passages from the Bible, which I'm sure hit even harder when this came out. Also, kids can be creepy.
Watch it.

Review
This starts with a secret adoption. Ambassador Thorn, adopts Damien when his child dies during birth. This wastes no time getting started, as we jump to Damien's fifth birthday party and a woman hangs herself by jumping off the roof proclaiming it's all for Damien.

Gregory Peck plays Ambassador Thorn.

A dog at the party is used for foreshadowing before an unknown nanny shows up. The nanny is a bit mean and frequently over steps her boundaries. She's a bit eerie by herself. I don't think anyone would let her get away with that, at least not today. She's telling the Thorn's how to raise their own kid. Well, only the Ambassador knows it's not their biological son. He does stand up to her about the dog when she says Damien needs it.

We realize something isn't right with this kid. A preacher tries to warn Thorn, but appears to be crazy. He seems like he's threatening Thorn. The movie easily could have made him seem less crazy, but it definitely adds to the mood. Thorn eventually gets help from a photographer that's noticed strange images superimposed on his photographs.

It all comes down to the number of the beast. This is a good movie outright with a solid and coherent story, which is rare for a horror movie.

The final image of the movie.

I love how this ends. It may be the best ending with text I've seen. Most of the time text is a snapshot of the future, something wistful or depressing, This text punches you.