1976's "The Omen" has always been my favorite horor film of all time. I found it more frightening than "Halloween", "Friday The Thirteenth" or even "The Excocist", simply because it does not frighten you with blood and gore (despite bloodshed every now and then). It is meant to frighten you with the plot, which, while fictional, seems disturbingly realistic.
"The Omen" stars Gregory Peck and Lee Remick as Robert and Kathy Thorn, wealthy political figures who have everything they want... except a child. When Kathy unknowingly gives birth to a stillborn baby, Robert quickly adopts another child in place of the real child, which Kathy apparently never finds out about. Young Damien seems like the perfect child, but strange mortalities soon arise when Damien turns five. First, his nanny hangs herself at his 5th birthday. Next, a priest who tries to watn Peck about his son's birth mother is impaled by a lightning rod. These strange deaths attract the attention of a photographer, ably played by the grossly underrated David Warner. Together, Warner and Peck go looking for Damien's real mother. A new nanny, played with fervor by Billie Whitelaw, comes along, knowing who Damien really is. Remick's character soon suffers a miscarriage, and she and the photographer both meet an untimely end. Peck receives seven daggers from an aging archeologist named Bugenhagen. Peck then realizes his son's true identity, building up to a terrifying closing sequence.
Overall, "The Omen" is a horror masterpiece. The acting is superb, Richard Donner directs exceellently and Jerry Goldsmith's score is breathtakingly scary (I'm still haunted by the music played in the opening credits). Extras include a making - of documentary and trailers.
