Richard Donner's feature length directorial debut was a milestone in horror history, not only was it terribly succesful but gained two nominations at the Oscars completing the unholy trinity of Rosemary's Baby and The Exorcist. Now I did not know even half of this movie in comparison to Rosemary's Baby, I of course heard of it and knew some plot points but ultimately had no clue where the movie was going. It's almost framed as a mystery of this wealthy political family who adopts a son who is more than they bargained for, as both religious and unreligious figures try to assist and discern the origins of young Damien. I personally felt the mystery worked and worked well because unlike with Rosemary we don't really know how this all came about, who was in on it, and even what the end goal of such machinations could be. Not knowing sometimes is much scarier. So we essentially follow the father Robert played by Gregory Peck as he pieces all this together and has to come to terms with the fact he may have to kill his son. There's drama to that, it's not heavy handed or preachy but when you get an actor as good as Gregory, who at this period of time was pretty much done with acting all together and still delivers a strong performance as you would expect is something to be admired. Lee Remick I feel had just a bit more that could have been integrated in the story as the mother Kathryn, we get bits of her becoming wary and untrusting of Damien but I feel we could have went farther with it, but performance wise still pretty good and memorable. Same can be said for Harvey Stephens as Damien, not the focal point of the movie as you would be led to believe but for one so young we got a lot out of his performance to where you're not really sure if he's flat out evil or not which I like. Billie Whitelaw is kind of the mirror of that as Mrs. Baylock, where you only get moments but she's such a presence and has this dark look about her that you don't need more than that! It's simple, subtle, and doesn't need expounding upon. Anytime I get to see David Warner in a movie is a happy occasion and lord knows I miss the man and his talents, and I like the progression of starting as a innocuous character but becomes the second protagonist in this story and he just never fails to deliver regardless of part. Also I have to shoutout Patrick Troughton who again isn't present a lot as Father Brennan but commands respect and you know he's on the level about what he knows, of course I'm attached because of Doctor Who but it doesn't take away a fraction of his acting chops. The movie is a bit under 2 hours and it keeps your interest throughout, building on the drama of the characters than the horror of evil which I think elevates it considerably. Any other movie would have this kid blatantly act like a hellspawn and be this overblown conflict of good against evil, but instead we see the effect of the revelation on this family and you do care about them enough. The directing of Richard Donner and the writing of David Seltzer make this film what it is, with no small amount of appreciation for Jerry Goldsmith's score which can be both beautiful and horrific, all those elements craft a finely made intriguing film that I almost feel the least amount of people have seen when stacked against the other three. Everybody has watched The Exorcist, a good chunk of people have viewed Rosemary's Baby, I don't hear too many people discuss The Omen which is a shame because it does stand strong on it's own merits. Does it go for your typical style of horror or devil movies? Not at all! But it isn't trying to be above that either. It just does it in it's own way and I can respect that a great deal. I give it 3.5 stars, 8.5/10! New movie incoming Friday.
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