£16 in premium fund, thanks Ciao :-). You can also read my reviews at http://lou-reviews.blogspot.co...
£16 in premium fund, thanks Ciao :-). You can also read my reviews at http://lou-reviews.blogspot.co m/
Member since:25.11.2008
Reviews:136
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The Omen is probably one of the few films I ever found remotely horrifying, not because of people getting their heads chopped off or throwing themselves off buildings, but because of the thought of the devil himself (or his son) living among us.
Synopsis
The Thorn Corporation and family are one of the richest and most influential families in the world Robert Thirn is the newly appointed American Ambassador to The UK. But money can't buy health, and when Mrs Thorn (Katherine) goes into labour with their first child all their money can't stop the baby being still born. Mr Thorn (Robert) can't bear to tell his wife that the baby is dead, so he enters into an agreement with one of the priests at the clinic; they will swap the dead baby with one born at exactly the same time in another room, whose mother was on her own and died during childbirth.
What Robert
doesn't know is that the priest is actually a disciple of the devil and the boy he has just handed over was actually born from a jackal. Things seem to be fine at first, except animals seem to have a strange dislike of Damien, and his own mother doesn't feel like she can bond with him. Mr Thorn hires a nanny (Mrs Baylock), who is strange to say the least, and comes complete with a pair of vicious rottweillers. Soon strange and horrible things start to happen to the people around Damien, and Robert can't help but wonder if he made a mistake when he swapped his child, especially when a seemingly mad priest comes to visit ranting about the son of Lucifer and quoting bible passages.
Cast
Gregory Peck as Robert Thorn Lee Remick as Katherine Thorn David Warner as Jennings Billie Whitelaw as Mrs. Baylock Harvey Stephens as Damien Patrick Troughton as Father Brennan Martin Benson as Father Spiletto
My Thoughts
I first watched this film when I was about 10, and at the time I was at a Catholic primary school, and this was in the days when the Catholic schools never even acknowledged any other religions, never mind teach them like they do now, and you would get a playtime detention on Monday mornings if you didn't attend mass the day before. Therefore much of the teaching was about hell and damnation, so watching a film about the devil's child walking amongst us was quite scary. It also set tongues wagging about one particular boy in the class who wasn't the nicest of people! So whilst it wasn't a scary movie per se, it had a psychological darkness to it.
The casting on the whole was brilliant, Harvey Stephens was just perfect as Damien, he had a stare and such evil eyes that meant he didn't need to speak or act to send a chill up your spine. Billy Whitelaw was also brilliant as the nanny Mrs Baylock; Mary Poppins she most definitely wasn't, again she just had that look to her that meant even before she spoke you could tell she was evil. Gregory Peck was superb, his range of emotions and his ability to give just the right amount to each scene is one of the reasons the film is so successful.
The film is over 30 years old now, so the special effects aren't great, but the film didn't really need them, the drama and the suspense were enough to keep everyone enthralled, in fact I think being able to produce such a great film without relying on glitzy effects it testament to the strength of the actors and the script writers. The film relies on the imagination of the viewer rather than have in your face scenes which explain everything down to the nth degree, with is a problem with many movies today; they cater for the lowest common denominator rather than accord the audience a little intelligence.
The film also shows an anguish that many parents face (on a much lesser scale), Robert Thorn was torn between wanting to believe his child was just normal and everything he was being was just lies, just as parents of delinquent children are always hoping that their child is well behaved and it is in fact the children around them that are dragging them down. So Robert Thorn has to do what so many parents do and open their mind to the fact their child isn't who they thought he or she was, of course most parents don't have to go to the extremes that Robert does.
There's not much of a soundtrack to this film, except for the truly excellent Ave Satani, a Gregorian chant containing lyrics hailing the Antichrist, which added so much to the suspense of the film.
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its mixture of Gothic horror and mystery and its plot about a young boy suspected of being the personification of the Antichrist. Directed by Richard Donner (bes...
Postage & Packaging: free Super Saver Delivery Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
![The Omen [DVD] [0000]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78540840.jpg "The Omen [DVD] [0000]")
Nov 7th, 2009
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