The Omen (R)
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This came out in 1976 (the year after I was born), but I didn't see it until 2020, on Halloween.

Okay, so there's this American diplomat named Robert Thorn (Gregory Peck) who lives in Rome with his wife, Katherine (Lee Remick). At the start of the movie, Kathy has just had a baby (at 6AM on June 6), and Robert has been informed by a priest that it didn't survive. He gives Robert the chance to take a baby whose mother supposedly died in childbirth at the same time Robert and Kathy's baby was born. Since Kathy has always wanted a baby and doesn't know hers died, Robert takes this other baby and never tells his wife it isn't really theirs. (Right away this whole baby swap thing reminded me of Good Omens; I've seen the miniseries, but haven't read the book. It made me realize that book must have been inspired by this movie, and I noticed a few other similarities throughout the movie, but mostly the stories are pretty different. I don't remember if this connection had ever occurred to me before, but I suppose it may have, since "Omens" is right there in the title, and I did have at least a vague knowledge of what this movie was about.)

Anyway, it's not long after Damien is born that Robert gets reassigned as ambassador to England, so they move to London. Flash forward to Damien's fifth birthday party, and his nanny hangs herself, shouting "It's all for you, Damien!" She's soon replaced by a shady governess named Mrs. Baylock, who was apparently just sent from "the agency" without either Robert or Kathy requesting anyone new. Other strange things start happening, and I don't want to go into all of it, but for most of the movie, it doesn't seem like anything necessarily supernatural is going on. But a priest named Father Brennan (Patrick Troughton, whom I know as the second Doctor) tries to warn Robert about Damien being the son of the Devil. He shows up a couple more times, and he always sounds kind of crazy, so Robert doesn't take him seriously. But after his last meeting with the priest, Brennan ends up dying in a strange accident. And there's a photographer named Keith Jennings (David Warner) who has noticed some strange things, himself, and finally shares his own concerns with Robert. The two of them begin investigating Damien's true origins, and... I don't want to say any more about that, specifically. But as tragedies surrounding Damien pile up (and Robert eventually finds a "666" birthmark hidden under Damien's hair), it seems safe to assume he really is the Antichrist.

Well, it generally takes a lot for any horror film to impress me, and it's especially hard for films from the 1970s, even ones that are considered iconic, as I suppose this one is. I did like it, but not really enough to consider it a great movie. It has its moments, though. And I'm glad to have finally seen it.

Followed by Damien - Omen II