Rating: 
Summary: A TRUE HORROR MASTERPIECE ! & A REALITY SLAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: 1 OF THE TOP 10 GREATEST HORROR FLICKS OF ALL TIME! EVEN IF THE DIRECTOR Richard Donner WANTS TO CALL IT A SUSPENSE FLICK INSTEAD OF A HORROR FLICK! THIS IS A HORROR FLICK.I CAN'T STRESS IT ENOUGH! THIS IS A MASTERPIECE HORROR FLICK THAT RINGS VERY REALISTIC FOR THE DAYS WE ARE LIVING IN & THE ULTRA RELIGOUS PRESIDENT & GOVERNMENT WE LIVE UNDER!!!!!!!!!!!!Richard Donner MAY HAVE WARNED US ABOUT G.W.BUSH WHEN HE MADE THIS FLICK 25 YEARS AGO!!!!!!OH WELL I GUESS ITS TOO LATE NOW! WE'RE SCREWED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Classic horror thriller receives deluxe treatment
Review: Richard Donner's classic horror film "The Omen" scared the heck out of me when I saw it at 16. I hadn't seen "The Exorcist" yet (although I did see it the next year). This supernatural horror film creates a sense of forebodding and craftsmanship that many film directors have forgotten how to do. Featuring a powerful performance by the late Gregory Peck (whom I met once and what did I ask him about? Not "To Kill a Mockingbird" or "Spellbound" two other films I admire. No, I had to ask him about shooting "The Omen" silly 21 year old that I was)and a sharp, powerful score by Jerry Goldsmith, "The Omen" continues to horrorify to this day because of the craft that went into making the film.
We open on June 6, 1976 a US diplomat Robert Thorn (Peck)rushes through Rome to get to the hospital as his pregnant wife Katherine(Lee Remick in another nicely textured performance)goes into labor. Their son is stillborn but the priest at the Catholic hosptial offers to let Thorn adopt a child whose mother has died at the hospital. What he doesn't know is that the child is the anti-Christ bearing the Number of the Beast (666).
After Damien reaches his fifth birthday, strange things begin to happen including the death of many around the boy. The Thorns take in a new very strange nanny (Billie Whitelaw)into their home. Things go from bad to worse for the Thorns and all those around them as the boy discovers his destiny.
This new anamorphic widescreen transfer looks marvelous. There's a number of terrific extras including a 45 minute documentary on the making of the movie featuring new interviews with some of the cast and crew. There's also a great commentary track from director Donner and editor Stuart Baird. The late Jerry Goldsmith provides interesting insights in a short featurette where he discusses his favorite musical themes from the film (which was nominate for an Academy Award).There's also the original theatrical trailer and a new stereo mix of the soundtrack.
For a frightening night at the movies catch "The Omen" the best of the three films produced in the trilogy.
Rating:
Summary: I never thought a movie could wield such power.
Review: I like horror stories. I like horror films. I haven't seen a lot of classic ones though... i've never seen The Exorcist or Halloween. But I like horror stories. Bram Stoker's Dracula is my favorite novel, still to this day.
One of my favorite bands wrote a song based on this movie... and since I loved the song, I wanted to watch the movie.
To tell you the truth...
this movie traumatized me beyond any sense of comprehension.
I can't explain why.
The opening credits... the boy and the cross as his shadow. The nanny being hypnotized by a lingering Rottweiler into dramatically hanging herself in front of an audience at a child's birthday party. A priest ridiculously impaled by a steeple as he's desperately trying to change his fate. A mother who is torn by the possibility of her strange intuition bringing her to the brink of insanity. Bruised and beaten by her 5-year-old when he refused to enter the church. Knocked off of a ladder by her son riding a tricycle (this was later mocked in the TV series "Family Guy")... gripping onto the handrail... staring into his eyes, pleading with him to save her life... only to fall and miscarriage. The Graveyard - the most horrific scene of the movie... a pack of hellhounds gather and chase. A frightening decapitation... and finally, the attempted destruction at the Altar.
"When the Jews return to Zion
And the comet fills the sky
The Holy Roman Empire rises
and you and I must die..."
I saw this movie in early June 2004.
Since, I've developed a type of panic/anxiety disorder. I've taken Hydroxyzine and Xanax for temporary relief. Eventually I was put on Zoloft. I'm currently seeing a psychotherapist.
...
Not to say that a movie could solely cause such mental disturbances.
But anyway... good movie.
Powerful.
When I say "powerful", I think of my medication record and visits to the psychotherapist... and I can safely assume that I have a valid point.
Traumatizing.
Disturbing.
Brilliant.
Rating: 
Summary: Enjoyable, Creepy in Parts, but Very Silly Movie
Review: Robert Thorn, a bigshot member of Amerca's political class, is in Rome when his wife gives birth at the monastic hospital of some obscure religious order. Her baby, he is told, dies. But there is another on the premises, whose mother has died, that he could adopt. His wife need never know. Next thing, Thorn, plus wife and baby, are off to London to be American ambassador to us Brits. But there is something not quite right about little Damien. His nanny hangs herself. He won't go near a church. He has, as a visit to a safari park shows, a dramatic effect on wild animals. And a mad old priest is following Thorn around muttering crazily about the little boy being the Antichrist...
This film stars Gregory Peck as Thorn and Lee Remick as his wife. It's directed by Richard Donner, of the `Superman' and `Lethal Weapon' franchises. With music by Jerry Goldsmith and cinematography by Gilbert Taylor. In other words this is, especially for it a time, a peculiarly mainstream Hollywood production for a horror movie, so much more typically the preserve of the neophyte director with a cast of unknowns. Part of the reason must be the enormous success of `The Exorcist' not long before and this, in its day, was pretty successful too. When I was a teenager in the late seventies the two must see horror movies were indeed this and `The Exorcist'. But while `The Exorcist' went on to establish itself as a classic, this has largely been forgotten.
That is probably a just outcome. Certainly `The Exorcist' is a better movie. Both movies take themselves terribly seriously but `The Exorcist' is cleverly constructed enough to get away with it. Whereas here there are points where, however hard you try to suspend disbelief, all the stuff about the treaty of Rome fulfilling an old Apocalyptic prophecy and people with `666' birthmarks eventually gets a bit too much in its sheer ridiculousness. The leads are another problem. Peck is decidedly wooden and Remick is feeble and forgettable: perhaps they just thought this nonsense a bit beneath them, as well they might. But there is some compensation in the gaggle of stalwart Brits in supporting roles. Here's the dependable David Warner as a frightened photographer, Patrick Troughton as the crazy old priest, Leo McKern (for some reason uncredited) as the old Exorcist Bugenhagen. Best of all is the great Billie Whitelaw, magnificently creepy as the Nanny (literally) from Hell. Essentially most of the movie is a series a set-piece gruesome deaths aimed to keep the audience occupied for the time it takes Thorn to figure out what he's got himself into. The climactic moments to this process of discovery, particularly a scene at an old Etruscan cemetery are the most effective and creepy parts of this fun, but very silly, movie.
Rating: 
Summary: not good
Review: i did not find good i thoght it would be better
Rating:
Summary: A believable son of a devil...
Review: The Omen was the first "non-slasher" horror movie my (then) young eyes ever beheld and remains a favorite even today. Part murder mystery, part very accurate biblical prophecy, The Omen combines a unique story, a wonderful spooky atmosphere, an incredible soundtrack and top notch performances from a gallery of stars to arrive at an intelligent thriller, all for a budget of $2.8 million.
Gregory Peck is Robert Thorn, a U.S. Diplomat whos wife Katherine, ably played by the late Lee Remick, has just given birth to their first son. Unfortunately, the child is stillborn and Thorn agrees to substitute another child to spare his mentally unstable wife anguish. Shortly afterward, Thorn is made Ambassador to England (the Court of Saint James) and they move into a wonderful old historic mansion. The fun begins.
By any account, Damien (Harvey Stephens in his only role), is a beautiful child. Dark haired, adorable and possessing an enchanting smile, the little bundle of joy seems anything but the hellraiser he's about to become. Into the picture walks Keith Jennings, affably characterized by perennial villain David Warner. He's a news photographer who can't seem to stop damaging the emulsion on his photo's of the Thorn's. He attends Jesus Chris... uh, Damien's fifth birthday party to make sure he gets some snapshots of the tyke's nanny (a cameo by Holly Palance and thankfully not Fran Drescher.) Good thing, because she hangs herself and destroys a really nice window minutes later. Oddly enough, dark lines appear on the nanny's photo. Our expert photog initially thinks it's a flaw, and doesn't bother to look at the negative. Then it occurs to him that this line resembles the noose that's helping keep Andersen in business.
Clues to Damien's past trickle in. A priest, the late great Patrick Troughton (Dr. Who), who claims he was present at Damien's birth. Naturally, he gets cut off by security just as he is about to reveal who our bad boy's mother is. He walks away after being tossed out only to be photographed by our intrepid reporter. Guess what? The Doctor's (uh, Father Brennan's) photo has a line in it too. This one's pointing to his shoulder.
In the meantime, the Thorn's need a new nanny. Enter Mrs. Baylock (a stern English Billie Whitelaw) who mysteriously appears at the Thorn's door. Mary Poppins she ain't. Right after storming into the lives of our troubled diplomats, she barges into our demonic tyke's room, closes the door and tells him "I have come to protect thee". She then proceeds to dismiss the staff and drag a rotweiller into the house. A science teacher told me ages ago this was the movie that gave the breed a bad reputation. They actually have much more stable personalities than Doberman pinchers which are a cross between rotweillers and greyhounds. The one thing Nanny from Hell fails at is stopping Damien from attending a wedding with his "mom" and "dad". In a rather harrowing scene, Damien completely freaks out at the sight of the church and attacks Katherine. How Richard Donner got such an incredible performance out of a five year old, I don't know. But the look on his face as they drive to the church is priceless.
Robert starts to have a glimmer of a doubt. He thinks it's strange that little Damien has never been sick a day in his life. Katherine, of course, just brushes it off. Robert gets called on again by the mad priest who spouts some biblical verse and tells Thorn to do all those things you learn about in Catholic school. He's just in time. As Thorn storms off, the weather acts up (it's England, after all) and Papa Brennan seeks refuge in a local church. As he pounds on the door, a bolt of lightning strikes a metal pole on a steeple which falls and impales him through his shoulder. Hopefully our intrepid reporter is paying attention.
Katherine is healed from Damien's attack and takes him to the zoo. The animals seem to know better than the people, because everyone that so much as lays eyes on the tyke runs away. When they drive through the baboons, they attack "mom's" car. At the same time, our intrepid reporter has fared better than our intrepid priest at attracting the ambassador's attention. In fact, they seem to be on the way to becoming fast friends. Through some connections with the local constabulary, they gain access to the dead Father's apartment, only to find it wall papered with pages of the bible. He's nuts! Or is he? Jennings explains his concerns about the photographs. Thorn asks why he should care. Jennings shows him a photograph of himself he caught in the priest's mirror. There's a slash through his neck! He's also managed to get a photo of the priest's autopsy. They found a little 666 on the priest's thigh. It's a birthmark!
Katherine must be the unluckiest mother in the world. She falls victim to yet another of the Anti-Christ's pranks when he knocks her off a balcony with his tricycle. Now she's in the hospital with internal bleeding, and multiple fractures. Oh my God! She was pregnant! Was being the operative word. And here they thought she couldn't have more children. What's up with that.
Now the situation starts to heat up. Thorn wants to know what's going on. At a moment's notice, Thorn and intrepid report fly to Italy to investigate. They go to the hospital where Damien was born. Uh, oh. It seems the original hospital burned down. And the fire started in the records room. A nun manages to remember who the attending priest was. He was badly injured in the fire, but does direct them to the cemetery where they believe answers lie among the corpses. They do. Thorns real son is buried there with a big hole in his skull. The birth went fine. They murdered the boy as he was born. They open his "mother's" grave only to find a animal skeleton. (In the sequel, you find out this really was his mother.) Oh, no. Katherine's in danger. Thorn phones her and tells her to leave just as anti-Mary Poppins pushes her out the window through the roof of an ambulance a few floors below.
Now Thorn is pissed. Who was that guy the nutzo priest told him to see? Leo McKern, that's who. A quick trip to the Middle East yields a set of daggers that Thorn's gotta plug into his demon boy's body. Hey, wait a minute. What about that picture Jennings took of his neck? Not to worry, in a fit of doubt, Thorn throws the daggers away and Jennings goes to retrieve them. A piece of glass sliding off a truck nicely decapitates intrepid reporter. Thorn flies back to England and Israeli airport security has overlooked the seven weapons he's holding in his lap.
The climax is nearly here. To prove to himself once and for all that his "son" is the prince of darkness, he starts cutting the kid's hair to find the 666 mark on his scalp. Time to drag the son of Satan to church and finish him off. There's one last obstacle. Mary Poppin's evil twin isn't about to let this happen. She attacks him with a bunch of kitchen implements and he has to run over her with his car to get her off his back.
Well Thorn has the boy at the church, right on the altar and is about to do away with him. The best laid plans of mice and men... He gets shot by a local policeman before he can do the deed. The last shot is of Damien's smile at the funeral.
Despite my lighthearted summary, this is an excellent film. I never tire of watching it. The sequels, while enjoyable, do not live up to original film. Lee Remick, in particular gives a stellar performance as the unstable wife torn between the duties of a diplomats wife, a loving mother, and the feeling that something just isn't right. Peck and Remick also have great chemistry on screen. You can really sense that these two love each other. There are true romantic moments buried in between the thrills.
The DVD is packed with some great extras. For the first time, you have a brief interview with the soundtrack composer, Jerry Goldsmith, and hear the inspiration for his creepy and romantic music. By the way, he won an Oscar for his efforts.
There is a 46 minute documentary with many of the crew including the director and religious advisor, and a short piece about a series of accidents that occurred during the filming. Was the film cursed? The obligatory trailers are included and remind us of how bad these things were in years past.
Rating:
Summary: Bone-Tingling Suspense Thriller
Review: When Kathy Thorn (Lee Remick) delivers a stillborn, her husband Robert (Gregory Peck) is at a loss for words. How can he tell her that she lost the child she has been waiting for? A sinister man wearing the guise of a consoling priest explains to him that he doesn't have to. Kathy "need never know" that Robert switched the "stillborn" child with another born from an otherworldly mother who, coincidentally, died during childbirth that same night, at that same hour.Robert Thorn is proclaimed ambassador to Great Britain, and the Thorn family packs up and moves. Damien begins to grow up, and experiences a seemingly normal childhood. Forget the minor oddity that he has never been sick a day in his life. However, on Damien's fifth birthday, life as the Thorn's know it begins to go terribly awry. It begins with the strange arrival of a "watchdog" at the home of the Thorn's during the birthday party. Soon after, Damien's nanny commits suicide (proclaiming "it's all for you Damien"), making room for a new nanny (Billie Whitelaw) to enter the picture. This new nanny is somewhat suspicious in that she arrived out of nowhere, as the Thorn's hadn't yet tried to replace the previous nanny. However, Kathy and Robert are a trusting couple and allow the nanny to come into theirs, and Damien's, lives. Nothing seems too out of place until Robert is confronted with a strange warning from a priest and even further warnings from a photographer. The priest quickly dies, leaving Robert and this photographer (David Warner) to investigate Damien's origins further. They just don't make them like they used to. Nowadays, horror films are chock full of in-your-face gore, action and effects. What I love about this film is the subtlety. Eerie music, wind effects, and bone-chilling suspense help to make this the great film that it is. In addition, the fact that there are no ghosts, goblins, ghouls, or undead roaming about adds to the film's realism. Sure, you can argue semantics about whether or not the "hounds of hell" and the evil nanny were really similar to "goblins and ghouls," them being servants of Satan, but my point is that a child, a strange woman and a dog are far more believable than, say, godzilla, the blob, or aliens from outer space. This is truly a classic horror film that should be seen, if not enjoyed, by all. The acting is great (especially compared to several films of the era), the score incredibly creepy, and the plot subtly intense. Gregory Peck and Lee Remick both deliver stellar performances and do a great job of showing the raw emotion involved with having life as one knows it turned upside down. If you can appreciate good horror films without the expensive make-up and special effects, then give this one a try. You won't be disappointed! The extras on the DVD are pretty cool as well!
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