You know what I love about The Omen? I love that Satan doesn't fuck around. You know I love possession movies, but let's face it: whether it's The Exorcist or Beyond the Door or whatever else, poor demon-riddled saps lie around in bed sounding scary and looking gnarly. That's great! It's one of my favorite things in horror movies! But I ask: to what end? What is your purpose, Pazuzu? Sure, once in a while someone dies courtesy of a flying credenza or something, but what's the bigger picture? This is tragedy on a personal level: oh no, our daughter is swearing and gross-faced because of some demon, let's save her! And then they do, the end.
As HBIC, however, Satan has very clear plans. Those plans entail siring an Antichristacular spawn and getting shit done, world-domination style. The son of Satan is gonna rise to power, bring about Hell on Earth, and woe be to anyone who gets in his way, whether it's earthly mommy and daddy or some nosy priest or YOU...and don't fool yourself- by "woe" I mean "death". The Omen is chock full of Final Destination-worthy death scenes that continue to shock nearly 40 years after the film's release. What's most shocking, perhaps, is that the movie doesn't feel at all dated. The shenanigans of Satan are timeless!
I love that there are so many freak-out scenes. I love that Damien is an evil kid without being an "evil" kid. I love that he's five and he's already got minions, both human and doggie, ready to do his bidding and give their lives to protect him. I love that it's got a downer of an ending. I love the weird nun elevator in the hospital. I love that there are so many eye closeups, you might think this is a Lucio Fulci film. Fuck yeah, I love The Omen!
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I've always wondered who had the goods on Gregory Peck to force him to star in this film. It's Atticus Finch vs. Satan, for heaven's (or hell's) sake. ... And it's got Weird old David Warner before he was Weird old David Warner of Tron and Time Bandits and ... of all things ... Titanic. Good call on the Final Destination comparison, by the way. The death scenes are, indeed, macabre.
ReplyDeleteI'm soooo glad you brought up the nun lift in Rome. I remember watching it as a kid and thinking, "man I would LOVE to ride that!!!"
ReplyDeleteIn fact, I think this is the first horror film I love that gets away with having ascots.
I like that every once in a while- most notably, in the moments preceding the infamous beheading- you can see Gregory Peck cry a little on the inside. But hey, it pays the bills!
ReplyDeleteDon't forget the music! creepy singing music, lightening and thunder!
ReplyDeleteI love that Satan finally gets his shit together in this movie & actually wins. Good job, Satan! I'm also deeply conflicted about how hot I think Gregory Peck is versus how he was pretty much Father of the Millennium as Atticus Finch.
ReplyDeleteI love that it's got Dr Who running around in a panic because he knows he's going to Hell.
ReplyDeleteI read somewhere that the filmmakers had to hide from Gregory Peck the fact that it really was a film about supernatural shenanigans and not just a drama about a man losing his grip on reality. If I remember correctly, they convinced him that it wasn't really going to be a horror movie at all, because he didn't want any part of that.
ReplyDeletei saw this in the theater, back in the Good Days, at least three times. it was a heck of a fun ride. remember, them rottweilers were 15 feet tall on the big screen.
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