#15 THE OMEN: Horror Countdown to Halloween

This October we here at Dark of the Matinee are counting down our 31 favorite horror films. Join us daily as we countdown from #31 starting on October 1, 2012 leading up to #1 on Halloween!

 

#15 – The Omen (1976)

Dir. Richard Donner

 

The fear of children goes biblical in this 1976 horror flick from none other than Lethal Weapon and The Goonies mastermind Richard Donner. This is Donner's only venture into the horror genre, but as The Exorcist and The Shining prove, that isn't a handicap.

Robert and Katherine Thorn (Gregory Peck and Lee Remick) want children. When Katharine has a stillborn child, Robert is approached by a priest at the hospital to take a healthy newborn whose mother has just died in childbirth. Without telling his wife he agrees but soon the child, Damien, proves to possibly be the antichrist. Holly Palance plays Damien's overly devoted nurse.

What does The Omen give us other than ruining the name Damien and adding to the "killer kid" genre? Well for one thing it has one of my favorite subplots of all time in it. A photographer starts to notice that the photos he takes are a prophecy of the murders caused by Damien. In a freaky scene he keeps noticing a bar going through the priest in all his photos. The priest meets his demise by getting a steeple impaled through him. The photographer eventually begins to help Peck

Another thing that makes The Omen great is the performances. All around the performances are stellar. Peck and Remick are so committed to their characters. At a certain point Peck realizes what he must do. The anguish he feels is written on his face. The audience believes he is willing to hurt this child in order to stop the antichrist. Peck's performance is where the film hangs its  believability even when things get a bit silly here and there.

Overall The Omen is like two different horror films, one about our fear of children and the other about our fear of religion. There is a lot of commentary here on the church and the notion of faith. The film was followed by three sequels and a recent remake. That should speak to the power this original film had. The Omen may not be the scariest film out there but it's influence and enjoyment aren't hard to find.




written by Matthew G. Robinson