The Omen contains many eerie and unsettling moments. You’ve seen the film parodied, you likely know the big revelations already, but this engaging, deliberately paced, ominous story has got some tricks up its sleeve you won’t see coming.
American diplomat Robert Thorn (Gregory Peck) learns his wife Katherine (Lee Remick) has given birth to a stillborn son. To spare her the pain, Robert is convinced by the hospital chaplain (Martin Benson) to secretly adopt an orphan whose mother has just died. When mysterious events start plaguing the Thorn home, Robert begins to wonder if the wild accusations he has been hearing from Father Brennan (Patrick Troughton) and the strange observations by photographer Keith Jennings (David Warner) might not indicate that something supernatural about Damien (Harvey Spencer Stephens).
Director Richard Donner keeps his cards close to the chest and keeps you guessing. There are no shots of Damien smiling as a pet suddenly attacks its master or any behavior that makes him look like anything but a little boy who acts out once in a while, as little boys tend to. I knew the answer to whether the boy is evil or not but if you don’t, I think you’d have a hard time guessing. It could very well be the story of a man who’s stressed out after a shocking tragedy (the best scene in the film, one that made chills go up my spine) and becomes prone to believing the worst of those around him.
Even if you know where things are going, it's as tense as hanging on a ledge by your fingertips and made doubly engaging by strong performances. Gregory Peck is terrific in the role of the torn father. You understand the need for him to find some rational explanations for what is happening, you feel his need for answers, and the fear he holds deep inside that his suspicions may be true. A less talented actor than Peck would've made you lean one way or another. Here, you have no idea. Speaking of which, young Harvey Spencer Stephens is quite good as well. The role is not one that calls for a whole lot of dialogue (he barely has a handful of lines) but that makes the looks he gives and body language that much more critical. A smile in the wrong scene and you’d say “definitely evil”!
In a way, time has not been kind to The Omen. I still highly recommend it, but can't help yearning for a time machine to experience it like those from 1976 would have. The ending is so good people haven’t stopped talking about it since and while waiting for it to come, you’re prone to grow slightly restless. Or you might not. Even now, some of the more chilling scenes still haunt me. It’s a great example of horror done right. You don’t worry about the trivial things, you go for what really frightens people: the unknown, uncertainty, the worst-case scenarios. The Omen is a horror film that has endured for a reason. (On Blu-ray, July 19, 2016)
