The "The" Trilogy: The Omen

There are many movies I feel that come up continuously when you ask older generations scared the hell out of them. Most of them from relatives who were teenagers back in the 70s and 80s. I would really like to watch and review a bunch of these including three specifically: The Omen, The Shining, and The Exorcist. All three are critically acclaimed and even won a few awards. Supposedly these are the three excellent films that kept most of our parents up at night. Sure there are many other classic horrors from our parents generation such as Carrie that seemed just as terrifying, but I like the fact all three of these films start with "The." I guess that the first thing that is interesting is the selection of the title. This is about "The" Omen. This movie is not about "An" Omen or some "Everyday" Omen. This is it. There is no other Omen(s). I'm aware there are sequels and remakes to 1976 film, but for all intensive purposes we're only going to focus on this one.

There are a lot of aspects in here that reminds me of other horror films. I got a whole list of objects and things that most horror movies include today that were in this film. We have our creepy clowns that only appear briefly at a birthday scene, but I know people who pee themselves at the sight of clowns which I will discuss soon in another film. We have demon dogs with the only objective to maul you until you surrender. The 70's sound effects grant a creepy atmosphere, and the lack of music and sound in some scenes only amplify your nervous reactions. The few scenes with the church choir music give you a haunted cathedral feel. The gloomy weather of Britain is the perfect setting for this film. In all the scenes I don't recall seeing the sun prominently. In addition to those we've also have our poloroid development scenes, possessed women, creepy iron gates, hospitals, abandoned churches, odd birthmarks, and bamboons. My personal favorite is the creepy child on a tricycle which seems to appear in too many films like The Shining and Saw series.

This movie reminded me a lot of the more recent Final Destination movies. When you're marked by the devil, try all you want to escape. You are going to die by some strange accident the second your guard is down. Accidental deaths always piss me off to be honest, but in this film they didn't at all. I won't give away any of the deaths besides this one because of the amazing camera and sound work here. When you see the man looking at that iron rod come flying down, you can feel his immobilization of fear because he knows he's marked. That whole scene with the rod feels prolonged and makes you think, "why don't you take two steps to the left?" Even with time to react the fear he's experiencing from his impending doom killed him the moment the chase scene began. You know he's about to be impaled, and I still jumped a little because of that anticipation.

This isn't your traditional horror or scary movie. The main villain in the film is a child who appears normal on the outside, but internally is a monster(or demon-child whatever you prefer). We are all aware due to pop-culture that Damien is the name of the son of the devil himself. He is a monster and a force to be reckoned with. Creepy children are a lot worse than our classic chainsaw wielding psycho. I mean, no one would suspect little cute Damien a killer, or even a hell-beast(most children are upon later thought). Even though he is not directly responsible for any of the body count here, he influences people to lose their mind and soul for the devil's will. That is the truly terrifying portion of the film. Films like these are responsible for a lot of our culture. I really enjoyed this film and hope you don't overlook older films like these.