The Omen (1976)

Director:

Richard Donner

Writer:

David Seltzer (written by)

Release Date:

25 June 1976 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Mystery

Tagline:

OUR FINAL WARNING.

Plot:

An American ambassador learns to his horror that his son is actually the literal Antichrist.

Plot Keywords:

Ambassador | Priest | Death | Hospital | Stillborn Child

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 2 wins & 8 nominations

Cast

Gregory Peck	...	Robert Thorn
Lee Remick	...	Katherine Thorn
David Warner	...	Jennings
Billie Whitelaw	...	Mrs. Baylock
Harvey Stephens	...	Damien
Patrick Troughton	...	Father Brennan
Martin Benson	...	Father Spiletto
Robert Rietty	...	Monk
Tommy Duggan	...	Priest
John Stride	...	The Psychiatrist
Anthony Nicholls	...	Dr. Becker
Holly Palance	...	Nanny
Roy Boyd	...	Reporter
Freda Dowie	...	Nun
Sheila Raynor	...	Mrs. Horton
Robert MacLeod	...	Horton
Bruce Boa	...	Thorn's Aide
Don Fellows	...	Thorn's Second Aide
Patrick McAlinney	...	Photographer
Dawn Perllman	...	Chambermaid
Nancy Mannigham	...	Nurse (as Nancy Manningham)
Miki Iveria	...	First Nun
Betty McDowall	...	American Secretary
Nicholas Campbell	...	Marine
Burnell Tucker	...	Secret Service Man
Ronald Leigh-Hunt	...	Gentleman at Rugby Match
Guglielmo Spoletini	...	Italian Taxi Driver
Ya'ackov Banai	...	Arab (as Yakov Banai)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Harvey Bernhard	...	Man walking across street (uncredited)
Leo McKern	...	Carl Bugenhagen (uncredited)
Bill Reimbold	...	General (uncredited)
Christine Spooner	...	Funeral mourner (uncredited)
Damian John Spooner	...	Boy at top of slide (uncredited)

Directed by
Richard Donner

Writing credits
David Seltzer		(written by)

Produced by
Harvey Bernhard	....	producer
Mace Neufeld	....	executive producer
Charles Orme	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Jerry Goldsmith

Cinematography by
Gilbert Taylor		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Stuart Baird

Casting by
Maude Spector

Art Direction by
Carmen Dillon

Makeup Department
Stuart Freeborn	....	chief make-up
Patricia McDermott	....	hairdresser (as Pat McDermott)

Production Management
Claude Hudson	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Steve Lanning	....	second assistant director
David Tomblin	....	assistant director
Stuart Baird	....	second unit director (uncredited)

Art Department
George Ball	....	property master
Tessa Davies	....	set dresser
Reg Richards	....	construction manager
George Richardson	....	assistant art director
John Chisholm	....	property master (uncredited)
Tom Jung	....	poster artist (uncredited)
Tom Jung	....	poster designer (uncredited)

Sound Department
Gordon Everett	....	sound recordist
Christopher Lancaster	....	dialogue editor (as Chris Lancaster)
Doug E. Turner	....	dubbing mixer (as Doug Turner)
Les Wiggins	....	dubbing editor
Charlie McFadden	....	boom operator (uncredited)

Special Effects by
John Richardson	....	special effects
George Gibbs	....	special effects (uncredited)

Visual Effects by
Roy Field	....	optical effects (uncredited)

Stunts
Alf Joint	....	stunt coordinator
Vic Armstrong	....	stunts (uncredited)
Alf Joint	....	stunt double: Lee Remick (uncredited)
Wendy Leech	....	stunt double: Holly Palance (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Gerry Anstiss	....	camera operator
Bob Penn	....	stillsman (as Robert Penn)
Ron Taberer	....	chief electrician
Peter Bloor	....	electrician (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Tiny Nicholls	....	wardrobe supervisor (as G.W. Nicholls)

Editorial Department
Chris Ridsdale	....	assistant editor
Mark Nakamine	....	colorist (digital color correction) (uncredited)

Music Department
Arthur Morton	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Lionel Newman	....	conductor (uncredited)

Other crew
Carolee Danz	....	assistant to producer
Jeanne Ferber	....	production assistant/secretary
Judy Friesen	....	special assistant to director
Bernard Hanson	....	location manager
Robert Munger	....	religious adviser to producers
Elaine Schreyeck	....	continuity
Don Williams	....	religious adviser to producers (as Rev. Don Williams Ph.D)
Ben Woodgate	....	dogs owned and trained by
Joan Woodgate	....	dogs owned and trained by

Production Companies

• Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (presents) (as Twentieth Century-Fox)
• Twentieth Century-Fox Productions (made by) (as Twentieth Century-Fox Productions Limited)

Distributors

• Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (1976) (USA) (theatrical) (released by) (as Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation)
• CBS/Fox Video (1984) (Belgium) (VHS)
• Fox Films (1976) (Finland) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2006) (Brazil) (DVD)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2009) (Brazil) (DVD) (Blu-Ray)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2000) (Canada) (DVD)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• Abril Vídeo (19??) (Brazil) (VHS)
• CBS/Fox (1984) (USA) (VHS)
• CBS/Fox (198?) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Encore Entertainment (1996) (UK) (video) (laserdisc)
• FS Film Oy (2001) (2006) (Finland) (DVD)
• Fox Video (199?) (Netherlands) (VHS)
• Fox Video (1992) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Fox Video (1995) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Gativideo (2006) (Argentina) (DVD)
• Gativideo (2006) (Argentina) (VHS)
• Hollydan Works (1999) (Yugoslavia) (DVD)
• Magnetic Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Mainostelevisio (MTV3) (1998) (2000) (2003) (Finland) (TV)
• National Broadcasting Company (NBC) (1979) (USA) (TV) (broadcast premiere)
• Oy Europa Vision AB (1988) (1992) (Finland) (video)
• R-Video (1980s) (Finland) (video)
• TV3 (1989) (Finland) (TV)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2006) (Netherlands) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Ford Motor Company  automobiles furnished by courtesy of
• Music Centre, The  music recorded at (as the Music Centre, England)
• National Screen Service  titles (as National Screen Service Limited, London)
• De Lane Lea  re-recorded at (as De Lane Lea, London)
• Officers and Men of U.S. Marine Barracks, London, England, The  group cast members (as The Officers and Men of U.S. Marine Barracks, London, England)

Also Known As:

"Omen I" - (reissue title)
"Omen I: The Antichrist" - (reissue title)
"Omen I: The Birthmark" - (reissue title)
"La profecía" - Argentina, Mexico, Peru (imdb display title), Spain
"Das Omen" - Austria, West Germany
"Ómen" - Hungary (imdb display title)
"A Profecia" - Brazil
"Ennustus" - Finland
"I profiteia" - Greece (transliterated ISO-LATIN-1 title)
"Il presagio" - Italy
"Kehanet" - Turkey (Turkish title)
"La malédiction" - France
"O Génio do Mal" - Portugal (imdb display title)
"Omen" - Sweden
"Omen" - Poland
"Omen" - Japan
"Predskazanje" - Serbia (imdb display title)
"Spådom" - Finland (Swedish title) (imdb display title)
"Tegnet" - Denmark (imdb display title)
"Zenklas" - Lithuania (imdb display title)

Runtime:

111 min | Germany:107 min (cut version)

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English | Latin | Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

New Zealand:(Banned) (video release, 1989-1991) | New Zealand:R16 (1992 re-rating) | New Zealand:R18 (original rating) | Iceland:16 | UK:X (original rating) | UK:15 (video re-rating) (2006) | UK:18 (video rating) (1987) (1999) | Sweden:15 | Spain:18 | South Korea:15 | Canada:R (video rating) | Portugal:M/16 | UK:15 (tv rating) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Brazil:16 | Argentina:13 (re-rating) | Argentina:18 (original rating) | UK:15 (video rating: special features, additional material) (2008) | UK:15 (video rating: 30th anniversary edition) (2006) | Australia:MA (25th anniversary special edition) | Australia:R (original rating) | Canada:R | Finland:K-18 | France:-12 | Norway:18 | Singapore:NC-16 | USA:R (certificate #24560) | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

All Saints Church, Fulham, London, England, UK

Company:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Guglielmo Spoletini and Alf Joint are dubbed by Robert Rietty.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Jennings shows a picture he had mistakenly taken of his own reflection in the mirror at the priest's apartment. In the photograph, however, he is clearly not pointing the camera at himself.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Father Spiletto:[voiceover] The child is dead. He breathed for a moment. Then he breathed no more. The child is dead. Dead. The child is dead.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Making 'Superman': Filming the Legend (2001) (V)

Soundtrack:

The Piper Dreams

The Devil Made Him Do It!

Following the heels of the success of The Exorcist, The Omen tells the story of the son of Satan being born from a mysterious pregnancy and given to a U.S. ambassador and his wife in Italy. The couple raise the young child, but things begin to happen to the couple as the boy matures. A governess hangs herself. The child acts wildly when brought near a Church. A spooky governess appears from nowhere to take care of the child. A black evil dog takes up residence at the child's bedroom. To complicate matters, a priest gets in touch with the father and tells him to beware his son and that he is the spawn of evil. The Omen works very well due to several factors. The script is generally well-written. The story is very implausable in some places, but it works on the whole. The use of powerhouse stars like Gregory Peck and Lee Remick in the leads help to give the film the royal treatment, making sure no one mistakes the budget, level of ability, and time put into this production. Peck is very good in his role as a man convinced(finally) of horrifying news. The rest of the cast does equally well with some fine performances by Billie Whitelaw as the crazed, manical governess, Patrick Troughton as the conscience-torn priest, David Warner as a helpful photographer, and Harvey Stephens as the young, sweet-yet evil looking Damien. Most of the film's success can be attributed to director Richard Donner. Donner keeps the pacing of the film tight, uses some first-rate pan shots, and creates a mood and suspense that build climatically throughout the film. Some of the scenes that are most memorable include Damien on a tricycle, Peck and Warner in a cemetery, and most famous of all is the priest's demise. A wonderfully shot sequence. The music in the film is a great asset to the overall mood. A very good film....not nearly as gory or shocking as The Exorcist but still as powerful in its own right for its seemingly somewhat realistic adaptation of scripture.