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The Omen (1976)
- Review Date: July 17, 2007
- R
- Genre: Horror
- 1976
Common Sense Media says
Gory original Satanism saga; popular but plodding.
Parents say
QUALITY
Kids say
QUALITY
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that this is a downbeat horror feature, with a child complicit in his (adoptive) mother's own death and evil triumphant in the end (with the qualifier that it was conceived as just the first in a series of films, so it's just the opening installment, not the whole story). It casts a small boy in an especially negative light as the literal antichrist, for whom the only fair treatment, according to this, is a ritual execution by knife. The gory deaths and injuries, including decapitation and impalements, were considered shockingly explicit in their day.
What's the story?
In Europe, U.S. ambassador to Britain Robert Thorn (Gregory Peck) spares his wife Katherine (Lee Remick) from the tragic news that she's lost her first-born son in childbirth by substituting an orphaned baby. The boy is brought up in their wealthy English household as Damien (Harvey Stevens), a quiet kid around whom weird and scary things seem to happen. A priest warns Thorn that Damien is Satan's spawn. As the creepy incidents pile up, Ambassador Thorn, with the help of a reporter and few other allies, starts investigating Damien's shadowy origins, and begins to uncover that he's been conned by an underground conspiracy of devil-worshippers into adopting the legendary antichrist. This incarnation of all evil will usher in the End of the World.
Is it any good?
This 1976 shocker is sturdily built but predictable and downbeat, with its extravagant death scenes tending to stand out more so than the lugubrious narrative. The plot sounds pretty compelling indeed, but in cinematic terms it mostly translates as a string of spectacular deaths (usually in horrendous accidents that are not exactly Acts of God) for anyone who poses a threat to Damien -- with lots of "dead" space in between, as Thorn struggles to confirm/deny the omen-ous truth. Characterizations don't go very deep.
As far as themes or any sort, there's the sense of a modern, secular world in which the bulwarks of traditional Christianity are absent or weak. Thus even decent people like the Thorns are powerless when an unseen but very hands-on devil and his minions take the offense.
What families can talk about
Families can talk about why this movie was popular. Do you think it's a "religious" film in any sense? How does it compare with the Left Behind book-and-movie-and-radio blockbuster series? You can look up the Bible passages and interpretations this movie cites to see how Hollywood played fast-and-loose with Scripture, and maybe study what historians have to say about Satanic lore and its popularization by both church authorities and horror-storytellers.
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AGE
The Omen - A Classic (Horror?) Film
This is by far the absolute best movie I have ever seen in my life. Now, the violence isn't as graphic as CSM and some others say, and to be honest, it's quite cheesy. I don't fully understand why people believe that this is a horrible movie; it's just the opposite. It's basically about an American Ambassador who learns that his wife's baby son died and seeks to adopt another from a priest, pretending that the baby he used to replaced the other. Yet, the priest never told him that the babe was in fact born from that of a jackal, making it an important part of the movie. After a few years have gone by, he learns to his horror from the priest that his son is the literal anti-christ, and that he must destroy it before it can mature into adulthood. With the help of a photographer, he embarks on a bit of a quest to see if what the priest tells him is true. Now, yes, this movie is quite dark and has quite a few scenes of violence. The worst two are a nanny with a noose around her neck jumping off a multi-story building, snapping her neck halfway down and swinging/breaking through a glass window. The other is a man being decapitated by a glass pane on a truck, the reddish insides of his neck and head shown in a semi-graphic manner while you can see his head flying and blood spewing about. (to be honest, it looks like a mixture of ketchup and tomato juice) I would recommend this movie to older teens (15, 16) and older. Suggested MPAA Rating: Rated R for Disturbing Violent Content and Images.
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AGE
The Omen
Great movie! Not much scary as it is creepy. The killings are graphic, but the story itself is well made.
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AGE
Clasic Evil Child flick is not for most teens.
The original Omen is a fairly disturbing, Gothic and of course, very offensive movie for hard-core Christians and firm believers in the religion, although I seriously doubt that you would actually want to see this movie if you were like that. Anyways, while it is fairly tame compared to most modern day horror movies, it is still very disturbing since the themes of Satan and a young boy being involved, and also because of some of the first inventively gruesome deaths in Hollywood. Still, I will always enjoy this horror classic, and if you can take a little bit of smarts with your horror movie, unlike most of the one's that we have today, you will probably enjoy it about as much as I do.
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AGE
Wait for double didgets
Excellent and interesting unsuitable for kids under 10, old movie, not much in it
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AGE
Not even that scary or bloody as it seems. The deaths are really badly performed and fake, but the movie overall is INTERESTING, but not scary at all.
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AGE
Very Good
This is a great movie with little blood at all, but the ways people get killed creep you out anyway. The soundtrack is great, the kid playing Damien is great, everything is great. Everyone should see this movie, but it is difficult to watch, despite the lack of blood and gore, at parts.
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AGE
Some of the Greatest Death Scenes
A great movie. The death scenes are fantastic, with some great suspense scenes. Truly great horror thriller.
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AGE
very good
This movie is really not that scary. It is a bit creepy at times, though. It is very well made and is still a classic to this day.
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AGE
AMAZING!!!
Parents should note, that while this movie is celebrating its 31st anniversary this year, it's still pretty nasty. A priest gets stabbed by a falling lightening rod, a news reporter gets his head chopped off my a piece of glass that slides of off a flatbed truck (No blood, just inside view of neck) A nanny hangs hreself, and a boy's mother gets pushed out of a hospital window by the replacement nanny, and falls right through an ambulance (suprisingly, only a bloody nose, but still resulting in death). This movie should still be rated R and is not for anyone under 13, but if your child is scared easily, 16. Please note: IT IS STILL VERY VIOLENT BUT IT IS AN AMAING MOVIE!!! 5 STARS!!!
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Kid, 11 years old
February 5, 2011
AGE
Horrible Movie
It is by far the WORST MOVIE EVER! It's terrible. It's not even really scary! I watched it with my cousins and they were super scared.
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| Studio: | Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment |
| Director: | Richard Donner |
| Cast: | Billie Whitelaw, David Warner, Gregory Peck, Harvey Stevens, Lee Remick |
| Genre: | Horror |
| Run time: | 111 minutes |
| Theatrical release date: | June 25, 1976 |
| DVD release date: | June 20, 2006 |
| MPAA rating: | R |
| MPAA explanation: | restricted |
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