The Omen (1976)

 

During the 1970s, a slew of Satanic panic films were made to cash in on the craze of the time. You know: kids gone wild, everything is the devil's fault... The usual stuff. The things they keep recycling every few years when everything else seemed to have failed, as they did in 1999 as well. Now 'The Omen' is often mentioned in the exact same breath as 'The Exorcist' and 'Rosemary's Baby' and even though this film is certainly good (for the time and subject matter), it is by far the least of those three. It lacks the shock value and memorable scenes of the first and it definitely lacks the suspense and dread of the latter.

You can't win them all, I guess.

Diplomat Thorne (Peck) is in Italy when his wife gives birth to their child. Turns out the baby died shortly after and to avoid hurting his wife, he swaps his child for a very healthy baby who happened to have been born at the exact same time. 

Well, the dodgy looking priest is quite persistent in convincing Thorne of this plan. Yes, your alarm should already be tingling.

Things go fairly well for a while and Thorne gets reassigned to the UK. But when during a birthday party for Damien (the boy) the nanny hangs herself in spectacular fashion in plain view, more and more little things start to happen. There's a crazy priest who desperately wants to convince Thorne that Damien is the actual son of the devil, but why believe a crazy priest? 

And what is going on with the overly protective new nanny? I mean, except she's obviously an agent of evil. Minor mishaps turn into bigger mishaps and deaths, but it takes the death of his wife and a little push from an inquisitive photographer to finally get Thorne to try and piece together what has transpired here. 

Will he manage to end the as yet budding reign of the Antichrist? Or was it all a ploy of another ilk?

Well no, the kid is actually Satan's son, but everybody already knew that. 

As silly as the idea is, the main actors all sell the preposterous nature with a zeal that a film like this needs. Otherwise it becomes a comedy. Gregory Peck is the face of seriousness and especially Lee Remick as the mother is really good. You also can't fault David Warner, because that man enjoyed the everloving fudge out of anything he ever did. 

But this film still disappoints, because it is anything but scary. The contrivances are hamfisted, the deaths vary from utterly predictable to ludicrous, except for the young nanny who hangs herself. 

No really: David Warners' death is actually rather hilarious, as is Patrick Troughton's. 

And the kid isn't endearing but just a little shit, so there's no inkling of doubt as to whether or not he is evil, even if he doesn't really do anything. 

Dare I say it? 'The Omen' is actually a bit boring. 

But if you want the trifecta of Satanic 70s films, this needs to be there. Just adjust your expectations.