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, 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 evangelical intent and its reading of the prophecies is fairly superficial, using them only as a premise to unleash a supernatural menace on the hapless world. The story tells of the childhood of Damien Thorn, who was switched at birth with the murdered child of a wealthy diplomatic family. Damien's family is unaware that he is actually the offspring of Satan and destined to become the Antichrist.
The Omen was memorable for its chillingly effective use of symbology, such as the birthmark of the number 666 on Damien's scalp, the effective uses 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 symbology lacked a scholarly understanding of actual prophetic texts, and was written more for popular appeal. Nevertheless, the movie has chilled and terrified generations of viewers, which is the true test of time for a horror film. Early on, the movie boasted one of the most disturbing scenes in cinema as a character hanged herself at a birthday party attended by young children, with a look of joy on her face.
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" (trans. "We drink the blood, we eat the flesh"), interspersed with cries of "Ave Satani!" (trans. "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 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 movie - 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. 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.
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