Das Omen

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. (18.05.2008)

The skillfully written plot, in which the basic concepts of Satanism are explained in a very effective way, has lost none of its captivating qualities even after all these years. The tension builds up with almost "step-like" precision and leads to the end, where the final fifteen minutes should be taught as a lesson - there were moments when I even forgot to breathe. An interesting setting with cold, grand buildings, including the ambassador's house and numerous churches, adds to the uncertain investigation of Gregory Peck, who is a joy to watch. Together with him, the film creates an almost unhealthy emotional tension, to which Jerry Goldsmith's music significantly contributes. In my opinion, The Omen is the best film of its subgenre. Nonetheless, I give it "only" four stars because horror movies with Satanic themes never really grew on me. (29.09.2005)

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. (26.03.2008)

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. (17.11.2006)

In the 70s, a fashion wave of Satanism was sweeping through Western Europe and the United States, which was also fueled by genre movies, the first of which was Rosemary's Baby and then the famous The Exorcist. Similarly, in literature, in 1969, LeVey's "The Satanic Bible" was published. The producers thought it would be a good idea to jump on this train and commissioned Richard Donner to make a film based on the book of the same name. Donner used minimal tricks and special effects, but because he is a good director, he managed to create an amazing and, as later sequels and remakes showed, practically incomparable atmosphere with very economical means. Through camera movement, religious music, choir liturgical singing, and various props, he managed to materialize the idea of pervasive, insidiously advancing evil that comes with a fateful inevitability through biblical prophecies. The premonition of death is accompanied, for example, by dark lines on the photographs of people who are supposed to die. Biblical motifs announcing the coming of the apocalypse and the Antichrist are associated with a gloomy church atmosphere. A special contrast and tension are created by comparing the demonic appearance of some spiritual - effectively positive - characters with the innocence of a small child who carries evil within. The whole movie evokes the arrival of darkness, irrationality, and the destabilization of everything that has been functioning in the material world so far. The literal genius lies in the open ending when the camera lingers for a few seconds on the face of a happily smiling child. Fear comes from that smile... Overall impression: 100%. (19.01.2008)

In my opinion, The Omen does not have the same power and impact as the very similarly themed The Exorcist. There aren’t as many intense moments, nor any scene of exorcism, which is not necessarily a problem, but occasionally the film can be a bit boring. (22.09.2005)

Es gibt nur einen Der Exorzist. Und so eine Gänsehaut, die ich bei seinem Finale bekam, werde ich wahrscheinlich bei keinem anderen Film mehr haben, aber… Aber Das Omen ist auch spitze. Besonders Goldsmiths Musik. Die habe ich mir schon früher angehört. Erst hier war sie aber so dämonisch, dass ich verstanden habe, warum sich die taube Jury endlich bequemt hat, Goldsmith den Oscar zu verleihen (obwohl er längstens mindestens drei für Planet der Affen, Patton - Rebell in Uniform und Papillon haben sollte). (22.06.2016)

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. (17.01.2021)