The Omen
released 1976
www.ink2quill.com

“The Omen” is an American, horror, mystery, supernatural thriller produced by Harvey Bernhard, Mace Neufeld and Charles Orme. It was directed by Richard Donner and written by David Seltzer. It stars Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, David Warner, Billie Whitelaw, Harvey Stephens, Patrick Troughton, Martin Benson, Robert Rietty, Tommy Duggan, John Stride, Anthony Nicholls, Holly Palance, Roy Boyd, Freda Dowie, Sheila Raynor, Robert MacLeod, Bruce Boa, Don Fellows, Patrick McAlinney, Dawn Perllman, Nancy Manningham, Miki Iveria, Betty McDowall, Nicholas Campbell, Burnell Tucker, Ronald Leigh-Hunt, Guglielmo Spoletini, Ya’ackohv Banai and many more.

The Omen IMDb webpage

“The Omen” is the story of American diplomat Robert Thorn, played by Gregory Peck, and his wife Kathy, played by Lee Remick, who replace their dead son with an adopted boy named Damien, played by Harvey Stephens. This happens when Kathy has what she thinks is a miscarriage (but is in fact a murder) and Robert does his best to mitigate her pain and fill the void from having lost their son by the adoption of a new child. Now, the circumstances around the replacement of her dead child are incredibly chilling and the background of her newly adopted child is so mysterious. This sets the stage for strange things going on. Immediately upon Damien’s entry into the Thorn’s lives sinister supernatural events take place and their lives descend into horror. Robert eventually sets out to discover the reason for the strange goings on and this leads to a journey that will reveal to him the nature and identity of his child Damien.

“The Omen” is not a story of possession by demons or a cult leader making a pact with the devil. It is nothing less than the story of the Anti-Christ. The son of satan who has come to Earth to destroy mankind. Now that’s heavy. And this film is so well done it is timeless. A person watching it today will still enjoy it and it will still send a chill up their spines. Their are many of these types of films of demons, devils and sinister supernatural forces but this is hands down the best one. It has aged very well.

I loved the way the story is of Robert Thorn investigating into his adopted son. And how his investigation is a journey al over the world and into the sinister supernatural world of the Anti-Christ. He is someone who knows very little on this topic at first, just like us the audience, and as the story progress we are taken along to discover WTF is going on. His investigation takes him to Rome with the photographer Keith Jennings, played by David Werner, and things only get stranger and more dangerous. Bodies start to pile up and Robert eventually starts to believe that something is seriously wrong with his son, Damien.

What are some other elements that make this a great film? Well for starters, the talent are the foundation of this successful projects. The script is great and the actors did a fine job. This role fits smack in the middle of Gregory Pecks limited acting range and he did such a good job as Robert Thorn. Lee Remick did a wonderful job as the wife and mother. It’s too bad she did not get more lines and scenes because she was just that good and she would have elevated the film even higher. I attribute this to the sexism of the day where only people of a specific gender and ethnicity got the most visibility in films. That’s a shame. Either way this film is still well worth seeing and I highly recommend it.

John Ink2Quill

I2Q Blogs / The Visual Medium 1976 / devil / horror / ink2quill / john / omen / quill / satan / warner /