The Omen (movie #44)

I love this movie. The original "The Omen" is one of my favorite horror movies. The remake isn't half bad, either, but it's a shot-for-shot remake without much new to offer, which I never really understood...if you don't have anything new to add to the story, why make the same movie twice? Bah,some people's kids.

Anyway, as some people know, I'm not a fan of The Exorcist (boo, heretic, burn her at the stake) so for my money, THIS is the "possessed little kid" movie of the 70s that everyone should see. It starts out with an impossible situation, a husband and wife are in a foreign country at a hospital where the woman is giving birth. The man is told that the baby died, and that he should adopt another baby from the hospital and pretend that it's his so that his wife will never know. What would you do in that situation? The poor guy is so sad and despondent that he agrees to this, and he and his wife raise the child as their own, until we flash forward and the child is five years old and strange things start happening. This is seriously a great setup for the movie. As it goes on, you just can't help but feel sorry for the poor guy. He was just trying to do the right thing, and look what he had to go through because of it. A lot of bad things are said about Gregory Peck and his acting in this movie, but I think he does a terrific job with his role. He made me believe it.

There's so much abo0ut this movie that adds to the ambiance. The music is haunting, the nanny who comes to care for Damien (who may or may not have evil ulterior motives) is horrifying in a few scenes, the innocence with which Damien handles the evil things he does is unsettling, the few gore effects work very well (this is still one of the best decapitations I've ever seen on film, and I've seen a LOT). There are so many scenes that work for me. The scene in the graveyard when Gregory Peck finds out the truth about who Damien really is, and the scene at the end where he's trying to carry out orders to destroy the evil in Damien is so tense and alarming that it had me biting my nails even though I've seen it before.

Do yourself a favor and give this movie a chance.