Movie review: ‘The Omen’

FloridaGator80

There was a time when horror films didn’t have to rely on sickeningly gross special effects to scare audiences. Most horror films star unknowns and some become major stars, such as Jamie Lee Curtis from the original “Halloween” (click here for my review). Still, pure tension with just the right amount of gore is what horror films are all about. “The Omen” from 1976 is the perfect example of this kind of film: The tension builds impressively; the story isn’t too outlandish; and there’s just enough gore in a few death scenes that tightens the metaphorical noose on the audience. “The Omen” also has one of Hollywood’s true legends – Gregory Peck – and it shows with his work to make this one special – along with a special effort from the very solid supporting cast.

‘The Omen’
(1976; 111 minutes; rated R; directed by Richard Donner and starring Gregory Peck, Lee Remick and David Warner)

THIS MOVIE WILL GIVE YOU A JOLT

(NOTE: I expanded this review with additional trivia and opinion and the updating of links on Dec. 8, 2018.)

I have always thought that “The Exorcist” is just about the scariest film I’ve ever seen – the memory of Linda Blair’s antics as “Regan” chill me even today with just the mention of the film’s title. The second scariest I’ve ever seen, like so many seconds in life, doesn’t come to the fore very often, but I just caught it on one of the cable movie channels. It’s “The Omen” and it is truly scary and is a pure lesson in how to use tension and mystery to great effect in a motion picture.

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Of course, I’m sure you remember that “The Omen” is an anti-Christ story and offers up the possibility of an apocalyptic future. It spawned several sequels and was remade in 2006 with a less-than-decent outcome. The film gives the name “Damien” to the child who is the anti-Christ and was popular enough that a rowdy child in public might have drawn a comment or two about “that ‘Damien’ over there.”

As a film, “The Omen” does a great job of building the story and therefore the tension. From a beginning where you know no good will come from anything to an unforgettable birthday party for the anti-Christ to a variety of deaths (including a beheading that’s the biggest piece of gore in the film), the film gathers speed until you know it will not stop until a giant crash. The best part is that the boy “Damien” (played by Harvey Stephens) doesn’t attempt much acting, but his expressions are just perfect. I’m glad the filmmakers didn’t try to give him more lines and left the acting to headliner Gregory Peck and the rest.

In a nutshell, as the film opens the U.S. ambassador to Italy has a wife in labor. However, he’s told the baby died in childbirth and to prevent grief by his wife he adopts a baby born that same night and doesn’t tell her. You know things are going to go wrong because of all the mystery surrounding the boy’s birth.

Well, the ambassador gets a promotion and becomes ambassador to the United Kingdom and that’s where you meet “Damien.” Things go south and the ambassador, “Richard Thorn” played by Peck, keeps getting mysterious warnings from a priest about the boy and what’s going to happen. The story picks up speed as boy’s nanny kills herself, the priest is killed in an “accident” and a photographer convinces Peck that he needs to investigate the boy’s background.

It all plays out with Peck ultimately trying to kill the child, but he winds up dead in the attempt and the boy, his evil smile in place, closes out the film at the funeral for his “parents.”

The story is well-crafted from the evil new nanny, who is a protector for the anti-Christ to be, to even the dog that becomes the boy’s familiar (one definition found at answers.com: “A familiar is a supernatural spirit in the form of an animal”) and Peck’s puzzlement at first that turns to disbelief and then homicidal intentions toward the evil child.

Here’s a look at the cast’s work:

  • An Oscar winner and four-time nominee, Peck, who had been out of filmmaking for a couple of years when “The Omen” was made, is his authoritative and stoic best here. Peck’s mere presence is enough to take command of a scene and he’s easily the best actor working here. He won his state for “To Kill a Mockingbird” and was nominated for the other four including “Twelve O’Clock High” and “The Yearling.” Peck was also in “Roman Holiday,” but my vote for his best movie is easy: “The Guns of Navarone” (why no Oscar win, much less a nomination, for this best-in-his-career effort?) – click here for my review. Peck died at 87 in 2003.
  • An Oscar nominee, Lee Remick is Peck’s co-star as his wife “Katherine Thorn.” Although the part could have dissolved into window dressing, Remick’s talent comes through especially in expressions of horror at the birthday party to communicating with Peck from her hospital bed after “Damien” tries to kill her. Remick was good in the espionage thriller “Telefon” with Charles Bronson the next year (click here for my review) and wonderful in the little-remembered but simply terrific “The Competition.” She won her statue for “Days of Wine and Roses” and died at the young(ish) age of 55 in 1991 of cancer.
  • Stephens, who was five at the time of the film, cannot be judged as an actor here as “Damien” and he had only two more credits in his very brief career – the last coming in the 2006 remake of the film as a “tabloid reporter.”
  • A Primetime Emmy winner, David Warner plays photographer “David Jennings” and is an early paparazzi. Warner, who is quite a versatile actor, manages just the right amount of casual interest in Peck at the beginning until he gets into high gear as he uncovers clues about “Damien.” Warner was excellent and much better as the villain in “Time After Time” (click here for my review) and was in “Titanic,” “Tron” and the remake of “Planet of the Apes.” He was also solid in Sam Peckinpah’s only movie about World War II: “Cross of Iron” (click here for my review).
  • Billie Whitelaw plays “Mrs. Baylock” and she comes into Peck’s life ostensibly as the replacement nanny but is actually “Damien’s” protector. Whitelaw does a superior job of conveying menace through nuance and just her presence. Whitelaw does a good job with her lines, but it is her physical presence that makes her the perfect casting choice. Whitelaw won one and was nominated five times for BAFTA awards (the British equivalent of the Oscars). Her last film was “Hot Fuzz” in 2007 and she died at 82 in 2014.

“The Omen” was the fifth ranked film at the U.S. box office in 1976 with $60.9 million in ticket sales, according to Wiki. It was made on a budget of $2.8 million. The No. 1 film of the year was “Rocky” with $117.2 million. The other films I’ve reviewed from that year are:

Assorted film and cast notes (via IMDb.com):

  • “The Omen” won an Oscar and was nominated for another. Really? Yes. For what? Acting? No. Special effects? No. Music? There you go! Legendary composter Jerry Goldsmith won for Best Original Score and was nominated for Best Original Song. Incredibly, he was nominated for 16 other Oscars before his death at 75 in 2004 of lung cancer.
  • Peck accepted a smaller contract to be in the film, but took a guarantee of 10-percent of the movie’s box office gross. Good movie, Mr. Peck. It would gross more than $60 million and be his biggest paying performance of his career.
  • “Damien’s” “familiar” is a Rottweiler. The dog breed saw an increase in interest after the film premiered.
  • Spoiler alert: Warner’s character is beheaded and he kept the prop head for years – until his former wife won custody of it in divorce proceedings. IMDb.com’s entry on this does not explain how she got custody of his head.
  • I don’t like using such a long paragraph directly from com, but I cannot resist this one: “Having changed its title from ‘The Antichrist’ to ‘The Birthmark,’ the film seemed to fall victim to a sinister curse. Star Gregory Peck and screenwriter David Seltzer took separate planes to the UK … yet BOTH planes were struck by lightning. While producer Harvey Bernhard was in Rome, lightning just missed him. Rottweilers hired for the film attacked their trainers. A hotel at which director Richard Donner was staying got bombed by the IRA; he was also struck by a car. After Peck canceled another flight, to Israel, the plane he would have chartered crashed … killing all on board. On day one of the shoot, several principal members of the crew survived a head-on car crash. The jinx appeared to persist well into post-production … when special effects artist John Richardson was injured and his girlfriend beheaded in an accident on the set of A Bridge Too Far (1977).”
  • Finally and also directly from IMDb.com: “When the fishbowl falls to the ground, (dead) sardines painted orange were used in place of actual goldfish, which director Richard Donner refused to kill for the sake of making a movie.”
  • Click here for IMDb.com’s extensive trivia page for “The Omen.”

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