The Omen
by J.M. Kenny, Richard Donner
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DVD details
Actor: Billie Whitelaw, David Warner, Gregory Peck, Harvey Stephens, Lee RemickDirector: J.M. Kenny, Richard Donner
Producer: J.M. Kenny
Producer: Charles Orme
Producer: Christopher Raimo
Producer: Harvey Bernhard
Producer: Mace Neufeld
Writer: David Seltzer
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Unknown; English (Original Language), Unknown
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 111 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-09-04
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: 20th Century Fox
DVD Reviews of The Omen
DVD Review: A believable son of a devil...
Summary: 5 Stars
The Omen was the first "non-slasher" horror movie my (then) young eyes ever beheld and remains a favorite even today. Part murder mystery, part very accurate biblical prophecy, The Omen combines a unique story, a wonderful spooky atmosphere, an incredible soundtrack and top notch performances from a gallery of stars to arrive at an intelligent thriller, all for a budget of $2.8 million.
Gregory Peck is Robert Thorn, a U.S. Diplomat whos wife Katherine, ably played by the late Lee Remick, has just given birth to their first son. Unfortunately, the child is stillborn and Thorn agrees to substitute another child to spare his mentally unstable wife anguish. Shortly afterward, Thorn is made Ambassador to England (the Court of Saint James) and they move into a wonderful old historic mansion. The fun begins.
By any account, Damien (Harvey Stephens in his only role), is a beautiful child. Dark haired, adorable and possessing an enchanting smile, the little bundle of joy seems anything but the hellraiser he's about to become. Into the picture walks Keith Jennings, affably characterized by perennial villain David Warner. He's a news photographer who can't seem to stop damaging the emulsion on his photo's of the Thorn's. He attends Jesus Chris... uh, Damien's fifth birthday party to make sure he gets some snapshots of the tyke's nanny (a cameo by Holly Palance and thankfully not Fran Drescher.) Good thing, because she hangs herself and destroys a really nice window minutes later. Oddly enough, dark lines appear on the nanny's photo. Our expert photog initially thinks it's a flaw, and doesn't bother to look at the negative. Then it occurs to him that this line resembles the noose that's helping keep Andersen in business.
Clues to Damien's past trickle in. A priest, the late great Patrick Troughton (Dr. Who), who claims he was present at Damien's birth. Naturally, he gets cut off by security just as he is about to reveal who our bad boy's mother is. He walks away after being tossed out only to be photographed by our intrepid reporter. Guess what? The Doctor's (uh, Father Brennan's) photo has a line in it too. This one's pointing to his shoulder.
In the meantime, the Thorn's need a new nanny. Enter Mrs. Baylock (a stern English Billie Whitelaw) who mysteriously appears at the Thorn's door. Mary Poppins she ain't. Right after storming into the lives of our troubled diplomats, she barges into our demonic tyke's room, closes the door and tells him "I have come to protect thee". She then proceeds to dismiss the staff and drag a rotweiller into the house. A science teacher told me ages ago this was the movie that gave the breed a bad reputation. They actually have much more stable personalities than Doberman pinchers which are a cross between rotweillers and greyhounds. The one thing Nanny from Hell fails at is stopping Damien from attending a wedding with his "mom" and "dad". In a rather harrowing scene, Damien completely freaks out at the sight of the church and attacks Katherine. How Richard Donner got such an incredible performance out of a five year old, I don't know. But the look on his face as they drive to the church is priceless.
Robert starts to have a glimmer of a doubt. He thinks it's strange that little Damien has never been sick a day in his life. Katherine, of course, just brushes it off. Robert gets called on again by the mad priest who spouts some biblical verse and tells Thorn to do all those things you learn about in Catholic school. He's just in time. As Thorn storms off, the weather acts up (it's England, after all) and Papa Brennan seeks refuge in a local church. As he pounds on the door, a bolt of lightning strikes a metal pole on a steeple which falls and impales him through his shoulder. Hopefully our intrepid reporter is paying attention.
Katherine is healed from Damien's attack and takes him to the zoo. The animals seem to know better than the people, because everyone that so much as lays eyes on the tyke runs away. When they drive through the baboons, they attack "mom's" car. At the same time, our intrepid reporter has fared better than our intrepid priest at attracting the ambassador's attention. In fact, they seem to be on the way to becoming fast friends. Through some connections with the local constabulary, they gain access to the dead Father's apartment, only to find it wall papered with pages of the bible. He's nuts! Or is he? Jennings explains his concerns about the photographs. Thorn asks why he should care. Jennings shows him a photograph of himself he caught in the priest's mirror. There's a slash through his neck! He's also managed to get a photo of the priest's autopsy. They found a little 666 on the priest's thigh. It's a birthmark!
Katherine must be the unluckiest mother in the world. She falls victim to yet another of the Anti-Christ's pranks when he knocks her off a balcony with his tricycle. Now she's in the hospital with internal bleeding, and multiple fractures. Oh my God! She was pregnant! Was being the operative word. And here they thought she couldn't have more children. What's up with that.
Now the situation starts to heat up. Thorn wants to know what's going on. At a moment's notice, Thorn and intrepid report fly to Italy to investigate. They go to the hospital where Damien was born. Uh, oh. It seems the original hospital burned down. And the fire started in the records room. A nun manages to remember who the attending priest was. He was badly injured in the fire, but does direct them to the cemetery where they believe answers lie among the corpses. They do. Thorns real son is buried there with a big hole in his skull. The birth went fine. They murdered the boy as he was born. They open his "mother's" grave only to find a animal skeleton. (In the sequel, you find out this really was his mother.) Oh, no. Katherine's in danger. Thorn phones her and tells her to leave just as anti-Mary Poppins pushes her out the window through the roof of an ambulance a few floors below.
Now Thorn is pissed. Who was that guy the nutzo priest told him to see? Leo McKern, that's who. A quick trip to the Middle East yields a set of daggers that Thorn's gotta plug into his demon boy's body. Hey, wait a minute. What about that picture Jennings took of his neck? Not to worry, in a fit of doubt, Thorn throws the daggers away and Jennings goes to retrieve them. A piece of glass sliding off a truck nicely decapitates intrepid reporter. Thorn flies back to England and Israeli airport security has overlooked the seven weapons he's holding in his lap.
The climax is nearly here. To prove to himself once and for all that his "son" is the prince of darkness, he starts cutting the kid's hair to find the 666 mark on his scalp. Time to drag the son of Satan to church and finish him off. There's one last obstacle. Mary Poppin's evil twin isn't about to let this happen. She attacks him with a bunch of kitchen implements and he has to run over her with his car to get her off his back.
Well Thorn has the boy at the church, right on the altar and is about to do away with him. The best laid plans of mice and men... He gets shot by a local policeman before he can do the deed. The last shot is of Damien's smile at the funeral.
Despite my lighthearted summary, this is an excellent film. I never tire of watching it. The sequels, while enjoyable, do not live up to original film. Lee Remick, in particular gives a stellar performance as the unstable wife torn between the duties of a diplomats wife, a loving mother, and the feeling that something just isn't right. Peck and Remick also have great chemistry on screen. You can really sense that these two love each other. There are true romantic moments buried in between the thrills.
The DVD is packed with some great extras. For the first time, you have a brief interview with the soundtrack composer, Jerry Goldsmith, and hear the inspiration for his creepy and romantic music. By the way, he won an Oscar for his efforts.
There is a 46 minute documentary with many of the crew including the director and religious advisor, and a short piece about a series of accidents that occurred during the filming. Was the film cursed? The obligatory trailers are included and remind us of how bad these things were in years past.
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