The Omen

About The Omen (1976)

Richard Donner’s The Omen (1976) surrounded its production with such a remarkable string of real-life tragedies that it became one of the most famously “cursed” films in Hollywood history—lightning struck lead Gregory Peck’s plane, a crewmember’s flight was rerouted onto a plane that crashed killing all aboard, and animal handler John Richardson was later involved in a car accident that killed his assistant. The film’s brilliant central performance by Harvey Spencer Stephens as the five-year-old Antichrist required Donner to direct the child actor by asking him to attack actors for real, resulting in genuinely disturbing scenes of innocent-looking evil. Jerry Goldsmith’s Oscar-winning score, featuring the ominous choral chant “Ave Satani,” gave the film a liturgical grandeur that elevated it above typical horror fare. Produced as 20th Century Fox’s answer to The Exorcist, The Omen earned $60 million and spawned a franchise, with its elaborate death sequences—particularly the decapitation by sheet of glass—setting the template for Final Destination decades later.