Review
The Amateur: surprisingly cool for a «part-time spy»
by Patrick Vogt
Reviewing a classic – watching The Omen from 1976
26.10.2023
Translation: Jessica Johnson-Ferguson
The Omen is considered a horror classic. It’s often mentioned together with The Exorcist. Can a low-budget movie that’s nearly 50 years old and has no special effects still be scary today? I watched it.
A horror movie knockoff that almost wasn’t produced. That’s The Omen in a nutshell. Author David Seltzer really only wanted to jump on the «evil child» bandwagon that was drawn by Rosemary’s Baby in 1968 and followed by The Exorcist in 1973. Eventually, Warner Bros. bought the story. However, Charlton Heston, who was meant to play the main character, refused to star in this type of film. And so, Warner sold it on to Fox.
Despite a tight budget of just USD 2.8 million and zero special effects, The Omen has joined the hall of fame of horror classics – both in terms of pop culture and finances. The movie made USD 61 million in the U.S. alone. This inspired the creators to produce two sequels within five years. How did the film manage to be such a success?
What’s The Omen about?
The life of the Thorns is all plane sailing. Robert Thorne (Gregory Peck) is a consul at the U.S. Embassy in Rome and enjoying a successful career. His wife Kathy (Lee Remick) is pregnant and gives birth to their child at 6 a.m. on 6 June. Sadly, the child’s a stillbirth. Kathy Thorn, however, doesn’t know this, as she passes out from the pain.
Father Spiletto, a priest attending the birth, advises Robert to adopt an infant whose mother died during childbirth. And to do so immediately – before his wife Kathy comes to. By doing this, he would help prevent trauma. Thorn does as he’s told. They name the child Damien (Harvey Stephens).
Life carries on as usual and even has a positive surprise in store. Thorn’s appointed ambassador and posted to the U.S. Embassy in London. Damien’s fifth birthday party (i.e. marking the beginning of his sixth year) is when things start to change. His nanny proclaims that she loves Damien and is only doing this for him – «this» being hanging herself in front of the all the party guests. Damien’s unfazed face witnessing this tragedy is the first clue that something’s off.
The plot thickens
The pace picks up from here. Damien gets a new nanny called Mrs Baylock. Although she has no qualifications, she’s hired. Initially, she’s caring, endearing but resolute in a kind of Mary Poppins way. But unlike Disney’s flying nanny, there’s something eerie about Mrs Baylock.
Fatal accidents start to happen around Damien. When Kathy Thorn becomes pregnant again, Robert’s visited by Father Brennan. Brennan tells him his adopted son Damien is descended from a jackal and was sent to earth by Lucifer himself. Father Brennan tells Robert to kill his adopted son to protect the unborn child. Otherwise Damien will take the baby’s life. Father Brennan dies in an accident shortly after breaking the news to Robert.
At first, Robert dismisses the whole thing as nonsense. But when the accidents start to accumulate and photographer Keith Jennings points out things that don’t add up, he changes his mind. To get to the bottom of things, Robert travels to Italy with Jennings. This is where he learns the horrible truth. Can they still turn things around?
The music sets the mood
Given that Fox wasn’t prepared to dish out a decent budget, the movie makes do with zero special effects. There are no supernatural elements. No monsters or possessed people – the latter being key to the success of The Exorcist. To still create a sinister atmosphere, the makers of The Omen needed to find an affordable solution. And they did in the score. Above all, the chorale Ave Satani, composed by Jerry Goldsmith, has become a cult classic.
The compositions are a perfect fit and cleverly placed throughout the movie, giving me chills even when nothing in particular is happening. The atmosphere created by the music means the movie can easily keep up with more recent horror films.
If you’re still quite young, you might’ve heard the score in South Park. In the tenth episode of the first season, «Damien» makes a guest appearance as the son of the devil. In reference to The Omen, you can hear Ave Satani several times during the episode.
Gregory Peck plays (un)likeable Robert Thorn
Undoubtedly, the film is carried by Gregory Peck to a large extent. He plays Robert Thorn, the father of the child. I’m torn by his character. I start off by taking a dislike to him. Making your wife, who’s just gone through a miscarriage, believe another mother’s child is her own is intrusive, to say the least. Even for the seventies. His patriarchal style in general irks me. For example, when Kathy wants an abortion and he forbids it. He’s arrogant towards domestic workers and employees. There’s something quite classist about him.
But he does have it coming. His life goes off the rails so badly, I start feeling sorry for him. In the course of the film, he goes from arrogant ambassador and businessman to loving family man, desperately battling with external circumstances and his inner conflict.
What also makes the film so great is Harvey Stephens, who plays Damien. He was just six years old at the time. His gaze is sometimes stoic, sometimes piercing. Combined with his silence and expressionless face when he’s witnessing brutal deaths, it gives me goosebumps.
Fun fact: Stephens acting was not deliberate. The director realised too late that Stephens had a strong cockney accent. That didn’t fit the upper-class family he belonged to in the movie. And so, he was instructed not to speak. The only exceptions being the scenes that took place in or near a church.
The lowdown
I’m not a religious person, but The Omen gave me the creeps. So-called daylight horror elements are used throughout the film. The undercurrent of evil, the music and the sparse but cleverly placed shock elements create a great atmosphere. The film manages this with nothing explicit at all, much to the disappointment of splatter, torture porn or jumpscare fans. I’d call this «sophisticated scare» for viewers who appreciate a slow pace.
Header image: alphacoders.com
I've been tinkering with digital networks ever since I found out how to activate both telephone channels on the ISDN card for greater bandwidth. As for the analogue variety, I've been doing that since I learned to talk. Though Winterthur is my adoptive home city, my heart still bleeds red and blue.
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