The Omen

Yes, there is only one The Exorcist, and as much as the ending gives me chills, I probably won't get chills from the ending of any other movie, except... except that The Omen is just extra-class, too. And Goldsmith's music in particular. I only knew it from listening to it on my own, but only here was it so demonic that I understood why even deaf academics were finally willing to give Goldsmith the Oscar (although he should have had at least three for Planet of the Apes, Patton and Papillon). (06/22/2016)

Unprecedentedly intensified atmosphere, nerve-wracking scenes in the cemetery, and of course the climax in the villa. Although it is not a purebred horror, one of the factors why I liked Donner's work so much is that apart from one of the final moments, he does not use traditionally scary moments, which greatly contributes to the claustrophobic mood. However, I would not praise it so much if it weren't for the traditionally amazing Peck in the main role, whose increasing nervousness, determination, and despair I watched in awe. This atmosphere can crawl into nightmares. (11/17/2006)

An amazing piece of filmmaking supported by an equally amazing music score. The story at the beginning is a bit too tedious for my taste, but things improve with every minute, and the last half hour (or rather, from the visit to the cemetery on) it’s already a five-star worthy experience. One of the most balanced horror movies I've seen, where not a single component (direction, music, actors, script) lags significantly behind the others. (05/18/2008)

Am I the only one, or do you also have the feeling that currently every other brat standing next to you waiting for the bus might be the Antichrist, just unaccompanied by Goldsmith’s soundtrack of genius? Well, even if you don’t, believe me that The Omen is one of those rare horror movies from a period when this genre relied heavily on atmosphere and actors. It could easily be put on the shelf in between The Exorcist and The Medusa Touch (not only because of its release year), although Damien and his pooch are slightly overshadowed by them. Not much, but a bit, you must admit. Satan’s little boy’s reputation is saved primarily by the glorious ending, although the endings of the other two are still better. (03/26/2008)

The winged adage for (porn) directors is that the hardest work on set is with children and animals. And given that The Omen works the entire time either with one, the other, or a combination of both all the time, it's no wonder he was chosen to direct Superman for his next film. The Omen is clearly the biggest screenwriting splurge of the iconic Satanic trio (along with The Exorcist and Rosemary's Baby), and it doesn't deny that it was made as a result of the general popularity of these themes and is heavily inspired by Friedkin's opus. Family crises, quests in the Holy Land, mysterious priests, there's a whole convenient package of artefacts for the Satanic sub-genre. But the script really doesn't make sense most of the time (the devil marks on photos how and when he's going to murder certain characters, what's that?) and after all, its author himself admitted he wrote it because he didn't have any cash and still marvels that people keep lapping up the brutishness. It's lifted up by the enthusiastic direction of the young Donner, who, apparently as a hopeful for becoming the next big name in New Hollywood, wasn't particularly limited in his methods and procedures by the studio, which makes the film, for example, have a really weirdly fast-paced editing track in places, even in scenes where I had trouble justifying it, yet also as a result it rather cleverly uses it to get out of a lot of scenes that would otherwise seem impossible to film without them looking ridiculous. Unfortunately, down the line it once again brings down the academic acting of almost everyone involved, and Gregory Peck reminds me in some ways of Petr Haničinec in The Woman Behind the Counter. (01/17/2021)