The Omen
20th Century Fox
cast: Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, Billie Whitelaw, David Warner,
Harvey Stephens, Patrick Troughton, Leo McKern
director: Richard Donner
rating: R
running time: 111 minutes
1976
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Critically lambasted as a mere shadow of its cinematic brethren, “The Omen” unfolds as a superior shock fest when compared alongside “The Exorcist.” While William Friedkin crafted his stunted exercise in demonic possession by tapping the pulsating vein of 70's cinema verite, Richard Donner's excessive mise en scene was rooted in the sort of filmic indulgences that make the horror genre such a beloved staple amongst students of kinetic filmmaking. Like “Jaws” before it (a prized example of style over substance), the success of “The Omen” ultimately depended on the sum of its parts.
In lieu of mining the age-old cinematic horror device of “Could this really happen?” screenwriter David Seltzer fashioned a story replete with a more disturbing psychological undertone: “Could this really happen… now?” As such Seltzer provides an unusual groundwork of realism to “The Omen”, creating characters the audience can readily identify with. As this script so aptly demonstrates, when it comes to character development, the devil is most certainly in the details.
The film opens with U.S. Ambassador Robert Thorne (a solid Gregory Peck) confronted with the news that his son has just died in childbirth. Keeping this shielded from his emotionally unstable wife (an underrated Lee Remick), Thorne makes the fateful decision to secretly adopt a baby and proceed with the business of raising a family. This early plot point of spousal disconnection is what “The Omen” is ultimately about: family dysfunction on a Biblical scale.
As the film's first act busies itself with establishing the doomed relationship between Thorne and his wife, the second act begins to explore the possibility that the Thorne's adopted son Damien is actually the Devil's child. Instead of relying on moments of boundless exposition to further the spiritual mystery (i.e. “The Exorcist”), director Richard Donner creates a series of horror set pieces (the suicide of a nanny; the bizarre impalement of a priest), which ultimately climaxes inside the confines of a London safari park. As the animals sense the true nature of Damien and act accordingly, so does the terrified Lee Remick - now firmly convinced that her son is evil.
From there “The Omen” strays from unconventional thriller to supernatural horror (demon dogs; satanic disciples) as Robert Thorne races against time to unravel the secrets behind Damien as foretold in the book of Revelations. That evil wins this time around is somewhat of a misnomer given the nature of the subject matter and the eventual outcome, which has been duly prophesized. But the final moment before the fade-out is certainly disconcerting and most unexpected. Isn't the killer supposed to be vanquished in a film such as this? Once again, “The Omen” cleverly sidesteps such obvious conventions.
Be that as it may, “The Omen” is certainly replete with the requisite number of grisly deaths that modern horror audiences have come to expect. Although David Warner's shocking decapitation garnered the most audience fervor, it is the demise of Lee Remick at the hands of the demonic Mrs. Baylock (an Oscar-worthy Billie Whitelaw) that proves to be the film's most unsettling moment. Shown in a series of matching close-ups on the character's eyes (sheer terror; sheer evil), it is a sequence that will forever populate your nightmares.
Perhaps the most impressive contribution to the success of “The Omen” comes from the baton of composer Jerry Goldsmith. By utilizing Gregorian Latin chants, Goldsmith created a self-described black mass that is one of the most singularly terrifying scores in the history of the medium. The pinnacle of the score's ultimate effect is contained in the sequence directly before Remick's fall from the balcony. The camera tracks in close on the eyes of Mrs. Baylock as young Damien rolls around her on a tri-cycle, the music swelling with awesome power as the forces of evil become victorious. It is truly a legendary milestone of film composition.
Although history will most likely remember “The Omen” as the film that first launched Richard Donner into the realm of blockbusters, this movie stands as the ultimate example of horror filmmaking born in a period in which the genre was able to take itself as serious as the filmmakers wanted.
--Yim Kip
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