The Omen

This article is about the 1976 film. For the remake, see The Omen (2006 film).

The Omen
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Richard Donner
Written by	David Seltzer
Produced by	Harvey Bernhard
Starring	Gregory Peck Lee Remick David Warner Patrick Troughton Billie Whitelaw Harvey Stephens Leo McKern Martin Benson
Cinematography	Gilbert Taylor
Edited by	Stuart Baird
Music by	Jerry Goldsmith
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release dates	June 6, 1976 June 25, 1976 December 23, 1976
Running time	111 min.
Countries	United Kingdom United States
Language	English

The Omen is a 1976 suspense/horror film directed by Richard Donner. The film stars Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, David Warner, Harvey Stephens, Billie Whitelaw, Patrick Troughton, Martin Benson, and Leo McKern. It is the first film in The Omen series and was scripted by David Seltzer, who also penned the novelization.

Though part of a cycle of similarly-themed movies, The Omen has gained prestige over time for a number of reasons: its respectability (as a profitable major-studio film with renowned actors), its seriousness (it plays as a contemporary thriller, rather than with the knowing excesses of certain aspects of the horror genre), and the originality of the movie's Jerry Goldsmith score.

The movie followed a cycle of 'demonic child' movies, such as Rosemary's Baby, 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.

A new version, The Omen, was released on June 6, 2006.

Plot

The premise of The Omen comes from the end times prophecies of Christianity. The story, set in Fulham, England; tells of the childhood of Damien Thorn, who was switched at birth with the stillborn child of a wealthy American diplomat with only the husband's knowledge, in order keep it from affecting his wife. Damien's family is unaware that he is actually the offspring of Satan and destined to become the Antichrist. His father, Robert Thorn (named Jeremy Thorn in the original book), eventually begins to realize this with the help of a photographer named Keith Jennings, after numerous people connected to Damien die in tragic accidents. After Damien's first nanny hangs herself at Damien's fifth birthday party, a new nanny, named Mrs Baylock, arrives to tend to him. A priest who knows about Damien begins stalking Robert, and is eventually the one to first point out that Damien is the Antichrist, and that he intends to kill everyone in his way. The priest later dies in a bizarre accident (he is impaled by a church spire hit by lightning), and Katherine Thorn, Damien's mother, suffers a fall after being knocked over a railing by Damien. With Katherine in the hospital, Robert and Keith journey to Israel to find a man named Bugenhagen, an archaeologist who knows how to stop the Antichrist. While there, however, Katherine is killed by Mrs Baylock, who pushes her from the window in her hospital room. Robert learns that he has to stab his son with seven special daggers to prevent the end of the world. Horrified by this, he tosses the daggers aside, only for Keith to run and pick them back up. As he does, a truck rolls down the hill he is on and, seeing it at the last second, crashes and sends a glass pane into his neck, violently decapitating him. Robert returns to London with the daggers, intending to kill his son.

Returning to his mansion, Robert finds Mrs Baylock's guard dog awaiting him. He manages to lock it in a cellar and then goes upstairs to check whether Damien has the "666" birthmark (as explained by Bugenhagen). Seeing it on Damien's scalp after cutting away some hair, Robert has no doubt about Damien's true identity.

Damien's Satanic nanny attacks him from behind. After violently wrestling with her, Robert puts her out of play temporarily with a flying kick in the face. As he drags Damien downstairs, Damien kicks and screams at Robert. Bumping into a light fixture while descending the staircase, Robert and Damien tumble down the stairs, knocking Damien temporarily unconscious. As Robert prepares to exit the home, Mrs Baylock re-appears and the two struggle in the kitchen before Robert finally kills her with a roasting fork to the neck. Robert then exits, tosses a limp Damien into the front passenger seat of the car and proceeds to go to the church where he plans to kill Damien.

As he bursts through the gates of his mansion, his security is alerted and chases his car, followed by the police. Robert drags Damien to the church and, as he is about to stab him on an altar with one of the knives as directed by Bugenhagen, the police arrive and shoot Robert.

The movie ends with Robert's funeral where Damien is seen holding the president's hand. The camera lowers to Damien, who looks at the camera and gives an evil smile in one of the movie's most famous moments before the credits roll.

The Omen was characterized by the chillingly effective use of symbolism, such as the birthmark of the number 666 on Damien's scalp, the effective use of crosses and statuary for foreshadowing, and the wallpapering of a room with pages from a Bible to ward off evil spirits.

Deaths

Character	Cause of death
Holly, Damien's nanny	Commits suicide by hanging herself from the balcony following an encounter with a rottweiller.
Father Brennan	Impaled by a church spire that was knocked down by a lightning bolt.
The Thorns' unborn child	Dies following Kathy's fall from the landing.
Father Spiletto	Dies naturally and pausibly from the damage caused to his body 5 years ago in the fire that destroyed the original hospital in Rome.
The Thorn's Firstborn Son	Was killed by a fracture in the skull as soon as he was born, it was then called an accident so the Thorns would adopt Damien. The body was found buried in the grave next to the demon that gave birth to Damien in a cemetary 50 miles north of Rome.
Kathy Thorn	Pushed out of hospital window by Mrs. Baylock and lands on ambulance below.
Keith Jennings	Decapitated after a pane of glass slides off the back of a truck, cutting off his head.
Mrs. Baylock	Stabbed in the neck by Robert Thorn.
Robert Thorn	Shot by diplomatic police when he tries to kill Damien.

Cast

Actor	Role
Gregory Peck	Robert Thorn
Lee Remick	Katherine Thorn
David Warner	Keith Jennings
Billie Whitelaw	Mrs. Baylock
Harvey Stephens	Damien Thorn
Patrick Troughton	Father Brennan
Martin Benson	Father Spiletto
Leo McKern	Bugenhagen
Holly Palance	Holly (the nanny)

Music

Untitled

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 bibimus, corpus edimus, tolle corpus Satani" (Latin, "We drink the blood, we eat the flesh, raise the body of Satan"), interspersed with cries of "Ave Satani!" and "Versus Christus" (Latin, "Hail, Satan!" and "Hail, Antichrist!"). 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.

Track listing

1. "Ave Satani" – 2:32
2. "New Ambassador" – 2:33
3. "Killer's Storm" – 2:51
4. "Sad Message" – 1:42
5. "Demise of Mrs. Baylock" – 2:52
6. "Don't Let Him" – 2:48
7. "Piper Dreams" – 2:39
8. "Fall" – 3:42
9. "Safari Park" – 2:04
10. "Dog's Attack" – 5:50
11. "Homecoming" – 2:43
12. "Altar" – 2:00

On October 9, 2001 a deluxe version of the soundtrack was released with eight additional tracks.

1. "Ave Satani" – 2:35
2. "On This Night" – 2:36
3. "The New Ambassador" – 2:34
4. "Where Is He?" – :56
5. "I Was There" – 2:27
6. "Broken Vows" – 2:12
7. "Safari Park" – 3:24
8. "A Doctor, Please" – 1:44
9. "The Killer Storm" – 2:54
10. "The Fall" – 3:45
11. "Don't Let Him" – 2:49
12. "The Day He Died" – 2:14
13. "The Dog's Attack" – 5:54
14. "A Sad Message" – 1:44
15. "Beheaded" – 1:49
16. "The Bed" – 1:08
17. "666" – :44
18. "The Demise of Mrs. Baylock" – 2:54
19. "The Altar" – 2:07
20. "The Piper Dreams" – 2:41

Reception

The movie boasted a particularly disturbing scene, in which a character willingly and joyfully hangs herself at a birthday party attended by young children. It also features a violent decapitation scene (caused by a horizontal sheet of plate glass), one of mainstream Hollywood's first: "If there were a special Madame Defarge Humanitarian Award for best decapitation," wrote Kim Newman in Nightmare Movies (1988), "this lingering, slow-motion sequence would get my vote."

Curse

In 2005 a documentary entitled "The Curse of 'The Omen'" was shown on British television. The production of The Omen was plagued with a series of incidents which some members of the crew attributed to the operation of a curse. They wondered if these events were due to supernatural forces trying to prevent the filming of the movie. Instances include the following:

• Scriptwriter David Seltzer's plane was struck by lightning.
• Star Gregory Peck, in a separate incident, had his plane struck by lightning.
• Richard Donner's hotel was bombed by the Provisional IRA .
• Gregory Peck canceled his reservation on a flight. The plane he had originally chartered crashed, killing all on board (a group of Japanese businessmen).
• A warden at the safari park used in the "crazy baboon" scene was attacked and killed by a lion the day after the crew left.
• Rottweilers hired for the film attacked their trainers.
• On the first day of shooting, the principal members of the crew got in a head-on car crash.

Influence

• Damien Thorn appeared as a character in the South Park episode "Damien", and had a cameo in "Professor Chaos". Also, the episode "Tsst" ends in a similar fashion to the film.

• In an episode of WKRP in Cincinnati in which Arthur Carlson's son, Arthur Jr., calls the WKRP staff insulting nicknames, Johnny Fever responds by giving Arthur Jr. an insulting but appropriate nickname: The Omen, referring to Arthur Jr.'s Damien-like attitude toward them all.

• "Damien" is a song written by the American metal band Iced Earth on their 2001 Horror Show album. The lyrics of the song include references and direct quotations from the Omen series.

• The popular British sitcom Only Fools & Horses features a recurring joke in which Rodney Trotter fears that his nephew is the anti-Christ (because he is 'Son of Del'). The boy's name is Damien, and Omen-like music (usually the "Carmina Burana") often plays whenever Rodney sees him.

• The opening musical sequence for The Omen, which features a grimly-singing Catholic chorus and tolling bells, was sped up slightly and used as background music in the anime Hellsing. This shortened (roughly 45 seconds long) version of the opening can be found on the tenth track of the soundtrack titled Raid.

• Popular Belgian hip hop group 't Hof van Commerce uses a pitched-down sample of the aforementioned chorus (the sanguis bibimus part) throughout the song "Tussen Eemle en Elle" (lit. Between Heaven and Hell) on their third album Rocky 7.

• The novel Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman satirizes many aspects of the movie.

• Rap star DMX has a song titled "Damien" on his debut album It's Dark and Hell is Hot. On his second album, Flesh of my Flesh, Blood of my Blood, he has a track titled "The Omen" which features the controversial artist Marilyn Manson. The final in the series of songs is on his album The Great Depression with the song titled "Damien III".

• The short film Six stars Matt Frewer as a new father who awakens one morning to realize that he bears a birthmark which reads "665" behind his left ear. When he frantically telephones his mother (also played by Frewer) with the news, she reassures him that he has always had the mark and that in any case, he shouldn't worry seeing as "your father was 664!"

• In an episode of the television show Roseanne, her mother Beverly acts out of character. Roseanne then brushes her mother’s hair out of the way and says "667, close enough."

• The film is mentioned in the little-known Go-Betweens song "Lee Remick"

• In an episode of That '70s Show titled "Drive In" Kelso tells Eric that he should take (his girlfriend) Donna to see The Omen at the drive in describing the movie as "Make-out city" stating that "horror movies turn chicks on faster than a porno". The episode also featured a trailer of The Omen.

• A reference of the movie appears on Family Guy, on an episode called "Death is a Bitch", where Stewie Griffin tries to kill his mother by pushing her off the stairs with his tricycle.

• The band Fantômas made their own version of Ave Satani for their album Director's Cut

• Metal band Machine Head used Ave Satani as the introductory sound clip to their shows until recently. It is now used by fellow metallers Arch Enemy for the same purpose.

The name "Damien"

The name "Damien" sounds vaguely like the English "demon," but is not at all etymologically related. Damien is the French form of the English name Damian (Latin Damianus), popular as the name of, ironically, a martyred Christian saint of the third century (see Sts. Cosmas and Damian). Another prominent Damien was Father Damien of Hawaii, who died while establishing leper colonies there — a saintly rather than demonic figure. Damien is also the first name of Father Karras in The Exorcist.

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 this series, and a revival under the slightly-altered name of Hellstorm. Marvel Comics reportedly promised not to revive the "Son of Satan" name, in response to pressure from Christians concerned about glorifying Satanism. In June 2006, a new Hellstrom limited series was announced for the Marvel MAX line of adult comics, to debut in October of that year. [1]

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, 1983)
• Gordon McGill, Omen V: The Abomination. (Futura, 1985).

Both the book and the movie were written by David Seltzer. The book preceded the movie by two weeks as an effective marketing gimmick. For the book, Seltzer took liberties with his own material, changing details (such as character names) and often augmenting plot points. The second and third novels were novelizations of their respective movies, and reflected movie continuity, more or less.

The fourth novel, Omen IV: Armageddon was entirely unrelated to the fourth movie, but continued the story of Omen III. Its premise is based on the one-night stand between Damien Thorn and Kate Reynolds in Omen III. This affair included an act of sodomy, and thence Kate gave the (rectal) "birth" of another diabolical entity called "the abomination" (presumably after the "abomination of desolation" from the book of Daniel) in Omen IV. 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 explanation was also explicitly stated in the first movie.

This story was continued in the fifth novel, Omen V: The Abomination, which resulted in the death of this character.

Trivia

• This film was #16 on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments.
• The church featured is All Saints Church, Fulham, London.
• The church at the top of the hill in the early scenes of the film where Damien attacks his mother because he does not want to go inside is Guildford Cathedral, Surrey.
• In the original book, the character Robert Thorn actually had the first name of "Jeremy." His name was changed for the movie and the subsequent novels.
• In the graveyard scene, during the time when several dogs are attacking Keith while he is trying to climb the fence, three men can be seen in the bushes to the right. Possibly dog trainers or other crew members.

The film's original ending had Damien dying and three coffins at the funeral instead of just two. This was changed when Donner came up with the film's now famous scene.

External links

• The Omen at IMDb

Wikiquote has quotations related to The Omen.