Film Review: The Omen (1976)

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 prophesied events from ever happening. That includes the best known prophecy of all, Book of Revelations. One of the more popular interpretations served as a basis for The Omen, 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) delivered stillborn baby boy. She doesn’t know it yet, so Thorn accepts proposal to switch his stillborn son for live baby whose mother died at childbirth. A boy named Damien follows his parents to London where Thorn will become US ambassador to United Kingdom. Soon strange and disturbing events begin to happen around Damien, who apparently doesn’t want to get to church, makes animals agitated and get new, sinister-looking nanny Mrs. Blaylock (played by Billie Whitelaw) after her predecessor ended her life with spectacular suicide at Damien’s birthday party. When Father Brennan (played by Patrick Troughton), Catholic priest, warns Thorn that his son might not be human he is not willing to listen, but changes his mind after getting in touch with photographer Keith Jennings (played by David Warner), he finally agrees to investigate and the trail lead to Rome where he finds the terrible truth. His real son was killed and replaced with baby which is actually a son of Satan, an Antichrist described in Book of Revelations. 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 film and was often derided by critics for its derivative nature. Comparisons between two films, however, point to very different approaches. Unlike William Friedkin who depicts single case of demonic possession in a realistic New Hollywood style, Richard Donner in his first major production has to deal with the plot about indescribably powerful Evil that threatens to devour the whole world. Donner directs this film in the old style, but on a much grander scale, using high budget that would reflect itself in relatively exotic locations of London, Rome and Jerusalem, as well as upper-class setting and use of top Hollywood stars like Gregory Peck who, as unfortunate protagonist, played one of the most powerful roles of his career. Peck was surrounded by very good cast, which included many top British character actors, while Donner has put child actor Harvey Spencer Stephens to good use, creating one of the most menacing child characters in history of film. The Omen also displayed Donner’s superb directing skills, most notably in very elaborate, inventive and disturbingly memorable death scenes, which includes the best known decapitation in history of cinema. Apart from acting, The Omen was elevated by Jerry Goldsmith’s soundtrack, which, despite being effective and later awarded with “Oscar”, represents one of less memorable works of that prolific composer.

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

RATING: 7/10 (+++)

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