The Omen
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The Omen is a 1976 horror film directed by Richard Donner and starring Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, David Warner, Harvey Stephens, Billie Whitelaw, Patrick Troughton, Martin Benson, and Leo McKern.
The premise of The Omen comes from the end times prophecies of fundamentalist Christianity. Unlike the Left Behind series, this movie had no obvious evangelistic intent and its reading of the prophecies is fairly superficial, using them only as a premise from which to build the larger plot. The story tells of the childhood of Damien Thorn, who was switched at birth with the murdered child of a wealthy American diplomat. Damien's family is unaware that he is actually the offspring of Satan and destined to become the Antichrist.
The movie followed at the tail end of a cycle of 'demonic child' films such as Rosemary's Baby, I Don't Want To Live, To The Devil A Daughter, and most notably The Exorcist, and was itself followed by sequels (see below) and a number of copycat films such as the Italian-made Kirk Douglas movie Holocaust 2000. As a rule of thumb, the children concerned get older as the cycle continues, from the newborn of 'Rosemary' to the teens of such films as Carrie and The Fury (1978).
Template:Spoiler The Omen was memorable for its chillingly effective use of symbolism, such as the birthmark of the number 666 on Damien's scalp, the effective use of crucifixes and statuary for foreshadowing, and the wallpapering of a room with pages from a Bible to ward off evil spirits. Some critics contended that the movie's attempt to portray apocalyptic symbolism reflected the lack of a scholarly grounding in actual prophetic texts. Nevertheless, the movie has chilled and terrified generations of viewers. The movie boasted one of the most disturbing scenes in cinema as a character whose face appeared joyful hanged herself at a birthday party attended by young children.
An original score for the film was composed by Jerry Goldsmith, for which he received the only Oscar of his long career. The score features a strong choral segment, with a foreboding Latin chant. The refrain to the chant is, "Sanguis bebimus, corpus edimus" (Latin, "We drink the blood, we eat the flesh"), interspersed with cries of "Ave Satani!" (Latin, "Hail, Satan!"). Aside from the choral work, the score includes lyrical themes portraying the pleasant home life of the Thorn family, which are contrasted with the more disturbing scenes of the family's confrontation with evil.
During the course of filming, the production was plagued with a series of "curses", which the crew suggested were perhaps supernatural forces trying to prevent the filming of the movie. Such "curses" included: the plane for scriptwriter David Seltzer was struck by lightning; Richard Donner's hotel was bombed by the Provisional IRA; Gregory Peck canceled a flight to Israel, only for the plane he'd chartered to crash, killing all on board; and on the first day of shooting, the principal members of the crew survived a head-on car crash.
Tagline: Good morning. You are one day closer to the end of the world. You have been warned.
The Omen spawned several sequels.
- Damien: Omen II (1978)
- Omen III: The Final Conflict (1981)
- Omen IV: The Awakening (1991, made-for-TV).
- The Omen 666 (2006, remake of the original).
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Cast
- Gregory Peck as Robert Thorn
- Lee Remick as Katherine Thorn
- David Warner as Keith Jennings
- Billie Whitelaw as Mrs. Baylock
- Harvey Stephens as Damien
- Patrick Troughton as Father Brennan
- Martin Benson as Father Spiletto
- Leo McKern as Bugenhagen
Novels
- David Seltzer, The Omen. (Futura, 1976).
- Joseph Howard, Damien: Omen II. (Futura, 1978).
- Gordon McGill, Omen III: The Final Conflict. (Futura, 1980).
- Gordon McGill, Omen IV: Armageddon. (Futura, ??)
- Gordon McGill, Omen V: The Abomination. (Futura, 1985).
The first Omen movie was based on a novel by the same name, also by Seltzer. Among the adaptations was a name-change for Damien's father (from Robert to Jeremy). The second and third novels were novelizations of their respective movies, and reflected movie continuity (for example, in the matter of the name change).
The fourth novel, Omen IV: Armageddon was entirely unrelated to the fourth movie, but continued the story of Omen III. Its premise was that Damien Thorn's one-night stand with a journalist resulted in an act of sodomy, and thence the (rectal) "birth" of another diabolical entity called "the abomination" (presumably after the "abomination of desolation" from the book of Daniel). This novel attempted to patch one of the Omen series' more glaring plot-holes, namely the question of whether the Antichrist could be slain by one of the seven "daggers of Megiddo" (which occurred in Omen III) or only by all of them (as stated in the first book and movie). The solution reached was that one dagger could kill Damien's physical body, but not his soul.
This story was continued in the fifth novel, Omen V: The Abomination, which resulted in the death of that character.
The name "Damien"
The name "Damien" sounds somewhat like the English "demon," and is indeed etymologically related. Its primary reference however is to the daemon of Socrates, which was a positive moral force. Until the Omen series, the most prominent Damien would probably have been Father Damien of Hawaii, who died while establishing leper colonies there — a saintly rather than demonic figure.
The success of the Omen series inspired Marvel Comics to revive the Son of Satan series, whose eponymous hero has the civilian name of "Daimon Hellstrom." Hellstrom, despite his ancestry, wielded his pitchfork for the side of good — at least until the end of his series, and a revival under the slightly-altered name of Hellstorm. Marvel Comics has reportedly promised not to revive the "Son of Satan" name, in response to pressure from Christians concerned about glorifying Satanism.
