by Louise Cairns

Created on: November 07, 2009   Last Updated: November 08, 2009

The Omen is probably one of the few films I ever found remotely horrifying, not because of people getting their heads chopped off or throwing themselves off buildings, but because of the thought of the devil himself (or his son) living among us.

== Synopsis ==

The Thorn Corporation and family are one of the richest and most influential families in the world Robert Thorn is the newly appointed American Ambassador to The UK. But money can't buy health, and when Mrs Thorn (Katherine) goes into labour with their first child all their money can't stop the baby being stillborn. Mr Thorn (Robert) can't bear to tell his wife that the baby is dead, so he enters into an agreement with one of the priests at the clinic; they will swap the dead baby with one born at exactly the same time in another room, whose mother was on her own and died during childbirth.

What Robert doesn't know is that the priest is actually a disciple of the devil and the boy he has just handed over was actually born from a jackal. Things seem to be fine at first, except animals seem to have a strange dislike of Damien, and his own mother doesn't feel like she can bond with him. Mr Thorn hires a nanny (Mrs Baylock), who is strange to say the least, and comes complete with a pair of vicious rottweillers. Soon strange and horrible things start to happen to the people around Damien, and Robert can't help but wonder if he made a mistake when he swapped his child, especially when a seemingly mad priest comes to visit ranting about the son of Lucifer and quoting bible passages.


== Cast ==

Gregory Peck as Robert Thorn Lee Remick as Katherine Thorn David Warner as Jennings Billie Whitelaw as Mrs. Baylock Harvey Stephens as Damien Patrick Troughton as Father Brennan Martin Benson as Father Spiletto

== My Thoughts ==


I first watched this film when I was about 10, and at the time I was at a Catholic primary school, and this was in the days when the Catholic schools never even acknowledged any other religions, never mind teach them like they do now, and you would get a playtime detention on Monday mornings if you didn't attend mass the day before. Therefore much of the teaching was about hell and damnation, so watching a film about the devil's child walking amongst us was quite scary. It also set tongues wagging about one particular boy in the class who wasn't the nicest of people! So whilst it wasn't a scary movie per se, it had a psychological darkness to it.

The casting on the whole was brilliant, Harvey

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