The Omen (1976)

Day two of the horror-fest brings a gem of a movie in The Omen. No, I am not talking about the remake of a few years ago, which brought absolutely nothing new to the original story, nor was the Damian of that movie convincing. I'll get back to my soap box on remakes later, but for right now, I'll focus on the original version.

Originally made in 1976, The Omen was known just as much for the scare factor on screen as it was for the scare factor off of it. Incidents that were supposedly linked to the making of this film have had some fatal consequences, natural or something outside of our control. The on screen product is widely regarded as one of the very best horror films, and one of the few that doesn't rely on heavy amounts of gore to do so. Aside from the priest getting impaled by the church spire (while still standing, no less) and the photographer getting decapitated by a pane of glass (top five as far as death scenes go), much of the movie focuses on the scare element. This is clearly where The Omen succeeds as a movie. Even with Gregory Peck in the movie, it is Harvey Stephens who shines in the movie as Damian, as it showcases the deception of the son of Satan inside of a little boy. Peck is alright in his role as Robert Thorn, but he has been in better roles (see To Kill a Mockingbird) and most of the other characters are not spectacular, but that wasn't what they were there for. Those looking for buckets of gore will be disappointed by The Omen, as it is there to primarily scare the viewer.

SOAP BOX ALERT: I generally hate the idea of a movie being remade, especially something like The Omen. Remakes come off as homogenized, lesser versions of their original cousins. I bring this up not only because of this movie, but also for the fact that there are rumors that there is a remake of Suspiria in the works. Until that gets confirmed, I will still consider this a rumor. I hope this isn't true, as the movie is great as it was made in 1977, and I fear that the possible remake will be devoid of the things that made it great.