The Omen (1976)

Satan's son has arrived on Earth and He's not about to let human parents get in the way. When his wife Katherine's (Lee Remick) pregnancy ends in a stillbirth in a Rome hospital, U.S. diplomat Robert Thorn (Gregory Peck) substitutes another baby, whose mother died. Little Damien (Harvey Stephens) thrives, but, at his fifth birthday party, his nanny mysteriously dies; Father Brennan (Patrick G. Troughton) also expires after warning Thorn that he has adopted Lucifer's son. While sinister new nanny Mrs. Baylock (Billie Whitelaw) assiduously protects Damien, Thorn's fears escalate when photographer Jennings (David Warner) shows him pictures from Damien's party with marks suggesting how the nanny and Brennan would die. Thorn seeks out Bugenhagen (Leo McKern), an exorcist who confirms Damien's identity and tells Thorn that the only solution is to kill his adopted son. As the bodies pile up, Thorn tries to do his duty, but trust the law to get in the way of saving the world from future Armageddon.

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Review By Brendon Hanley

Fueled by advances in special effects, the birth of the midnight movie, and a cultural fascination with mysticism, the horror genre achieved a status in the 1970s not seen since its glory days of the 1930s. Of all the occult horror films that surfaced in the wake of 1968's Rosemary's Baby, Richard Donner's phenomenally successful The Omen (1976) was the slickest and least subversive. Derivative but effective, the film was Gregory Peck's box-office comeback, and it offered a convincing turn from Lee Remick as well. The Omen never achieved the cult status of other specimens of the genre, but it paved the way for such 1980s big-budget mystical horror films as The Howling (1981) and Poltergeist (1982). The film's success also ensured more big-screen projects for Donner, including the Lethal Weapon series.