The Omen
(1976)
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A staid American ambassador (Gregory Peck) and his wife (Lee Remick) are heartbroken when their child is stillborn, but their heartbreak is only beginning when they adopt an orphan. As the boy grows, disaster surrounds him, beginning with the suicide of his nanny, and as the bodies pile up, his horrified father begins to believe that the boy is evil incarnate and must be destroyed. The unique climax paved the way for the two popular sequels, DAMIEN: OMEN II and OMEN III: THE FINAL CONFLICT. Composer Jerry Goldsmith won an Academy Award for Best Score. |
This big-budget horror blockbuster is given class by a distinguished cast (Gregory Peck battling the Antichrist? Whatever next!) and an unsettling atmosphere created by director Richard Donner. Cleverly borrowing a prophecy from the Book of Revelation about Armageddon, scriptwriter David Seltzer has fashioned a supernatural terror tale of religious epic proportions and hit the fright franchise jackpot with three sequels to date. Yet this is still the best episode because it carries its suspenseful premise with such uneasiness. And David Warner's grisly beheading is only one of several remarkably imaginative ghastly deaths.
Halliwell's Film Guide
Commercially successful variation on The Exorcist, quite professionally assembled and more enjoyable as entertainment than its predecessor.