After the massive critical acclaim and box office success of Paramount's Rosemary's Baby and especially Warner Brothers' The Exorcist in the late 60's and early 70's, Hollywood realized there gold to be mined from giving the Devil his due. Independent studios were among the first to take a stab at it, with a fair amount of success (i.e. Abby, Beyond the Door, The Tormented, etc.), but nothing as spectacular as The Exorcist, buzz-wise, much less in a financial sense.
Enter exploitation auteur, Harvey Bernhard, who was coming off the one-two success of the Blaxploitation classic The Mack (see my review here) and the more modest hit Thomasine & Bushrod. Talking with a pal one night, Bob Munger, trying to determine what to do next, he suggested Bernhard look to...The Bible? Pitching him on the idea of doing a movie about the Antichrist, inspired by the Book of Revelations, Bernhard was intrigued.
He approached several screenwriters about doing it, but none were exactly chomping at the bit, among them David Seltzer, then best-known for writing romantic dramas, like The Other Side of the Mountain. However, he had also done an uncredited rewrite on the classic Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory, adding some of the darker elements, such as the Slugworth subplot, the freaky boat ride, the fizzy-lifting drinks scene and the memorable dialogue that ended the film, as well as some of the song lyrics, such as Pure Imagination and Candy Man. (Ironically, it was all of these changes that author Roald Dahl objected to, causing him to disown the film.)
Sensing that Seltzer might have the wherewithal to create some similarly wow-inducing set-pieces, Bernhard heavily courted him, finally wearing him down when Seltzler was in need of some quick cash after new work wasn't immediately forthcoming and he was finding himself unable to pay his bills. Despite his initial hesitation, Seltzer found himself fascinated with the subject matter after reading The Bible for the first time, and threw himself into researching it, becoming almost an overnight theology student.
Several months later, he emerged with a screenplay, but Bernhard had no luck selling it to any of the major studios, all of whom turned it down flat. Warner Brothers came the closest, but abandoned it after an Exorcist sequel came into being.
Finally, he found a taker in then-Head of Creative Affairs for 20th Century Fox, Alan Ladd, Jr, who had been slowly-but-surely working up the ranks of Hollywood for years. Unfortunately, his employers were less-than-enthused about it- and even less so about his other pet project, Star Wars- but Ladd told Bernhard to hang in there.
Sure enough, Ladd soon became president of the studio, and made it a point to green-light The Omen first, with the intention being to make a quick buck to help finance Star Wars, which he knew was going to be considerably more expensive. Indeed, in many ways, there might not have been a Star Wars at all if The Omen had tanked, so all you fan-boys and fan-girls owe this movie a debt of gratitude. You're welcome. 👿
Once again, however, Bernhard and Ladd hit a bit of a roadblock when they couldn't find a willing director to tackle the project. Finally, noted TV director Richard Donner, probably best-known at that time to genre fans as the man behind the lens for one of the all-time great episodes of the classic Twilight Zone, the William Shatner opus, "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" (later memorably remade by George "Mad Max" Miller for the TZ movie), agreed to do it- but he had some conditions.
Namely, he wanted to get rid of everything overtly supernatural in the script, which originally featured a coven of witches, little demonic creatures and gargoyles coming to life (shades of The Gate movies from the 80's). Instead, he wanted everything to be completely plausible in such a way that everything that happened could be explained away as mere happenstance or natural causes if you looked at it from an outsider's point of view, but could also be viewed as evil from the characters directly affected by it.
It was precisely this stroke of genius that took Seltzer's screenplay from solid to brilliant, and a few rewrites later and even the 20th Century Fox execs were on-board. Their enthusiasm rose even higher when the script attracted no less a caliber of actor than the Oscar-winning Gregory Peck, of To Kill a Mockingbird and Cape Fear fame.
The producers were hesitant to approach him at first, given that he had just lost a son to suicide, and they feared the subject matter might hit a bit too close to home, but his agent, who was friends with Bernhard, felt otherwise and suggested he at least ask him.
As it turned out, it was a good thing Donner demanded the changes he did, as it was the fact that the film could be also be read as a psychological thriller instead of just a straight horror film that ultimately won him over. Other actors approached included Roy Scheider (Jaws), Charlton Heston (Planet of the Apes) and, of all people, Dick Van Dyke, all of whom said no to the script for being too ludicrous.
Actor William Holden was also considered, but turned it down flat, mostly for the opposite reasons- he didn't want anything to do with being in a film about "The Devil." Ironically, he would end up playing the brother of Peck's character in the sequel, so what goes around comes around, I guess. Although, I'm sure the potential to be in a big hit sequel didn't hurt.
With Peck on-board, the producers basically had the pick of the litter to choose from, though, with the film shooting primarily in England, they mostly stuck to well-known British actors, such as David Warner (then best-known for Tom Jones and as the titular Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment), Patrick Troughton (aka the second Dr. Who), Leo McKern (The Beatles' Help! movie) and Billie Whitelaw, no stranger to thrillers, having been in the classics Twisted Nerve (you might be familiar with the theme) and Hitchcock's Frenzy.
As Peck's character's wife, they were lucky to land another first-rate actress, Lee Remick, who was Oscar-nominated for her role in Days of Wine & Roses. Remick just so happened to be married to a Brit (producer William "Kip" Gowans, of The Man Who Fell to Earth fame), so she already lived in the area, making the casting ideal for her and the production alike.
Rounding out the pack was little Harvey Stephens as the young Damien, the alleged Antichrist. Stephens' casting was the result of an exhaustive process, and was actually an unassuming blonde urchin that didn't look like he could harm a fly.
However, when it was suggested he take a second look, director Donner urged the child to attack him to see if he could be convincingly evil. Stephens promptly ran at him, punched him repeatedly in the balls and clawed at him like a crazed cat! Obviously, he got the job, at least after he was made to dye his hair dark brown to better suit the character.
The film was given all of a $2 million budget, pretty paltry by today's standards, to be sure, but even by past ones. Given how first-rate the production looks and the excellence of the cast, they certainly got their money's worth. That said, the producers asked for and got an additional $25,000 to hire composer Jerry Goldsmith to compose the memorable, haunting score, which would make all the difference in the world when the initial cut of the film fell flat, even with the director himself.
In addition, the producers and director demanded to play a part in how the film was advertised. Though initially hesitant to invest any more money in the film, Ladd was encouraged by the latest cut, which featured the music, and agreed. Somewhat inspired by the Jaws ad campaign, the movie was hyped by a series of ominous warnings, and by driving home the fact that the film was being released on June 6th, 1976, aka the sixth day of the sixth month of the sixth year of the 70's, as in 666, the Number of the Beast, taken directly from The Bible and featured within the film.
In exchange for all this, Ladd had one demand of the filmmakers. In the original version of the movie, Richard Thorn (Peck) actually succeeds in killing his son Damien, and the film ends the same, but with one crucial difference: there are three coffins instead of two. Ladd wanted Thorn to fail and for Damien to make it out alive, fearing from early previews of the film that audiences would be too unsettled by the killing of a child.
Somewhat ironically, this inadvertently led to evil essentially triumphing in the end, as The Antichrist lives to wreak havoc on others in the future. On the plus side, when the film hit it big, it also left room for a sequel. Donner was allotted additional funds to shoot the new scenes, and was able to coax the excellent facial expression out of Stephens by telling him to look as seriously as he could, then cajoling him not to laugh- don't you dare! Naturally, Stephens cracked a smile after a few seconds and one of the most memorable endings in horror movie history was born.
In addition, a novelization of the film by Seltzer was commissioned and was released mere weeks before the movie itself, becoming an instant best-seller, and the rare film novelization to be released in hardback form. Ultimately, four more such novels would be released, which is actually two more than there were films, initially, not counting the TV-movie and the remake. The last two books were completely original creations by author Gordon McGill, though they do continue the story-lines established in the films.
The Omen went onto to gross a whopping $60 million in the US alone, the fifth highest-grossing film of the year. In addition, the opening weekend was a studio best for Fox, which made the suits very happy, and helped cement the funding for Ladd's beloved Star Wars, already in production and going way over budget, much to Fox's dismay, who were still a bit uneasy about the project.
Just to put things into perspective, the budget they were so concerned about ultimately clocked in at a not-so-whopping $11 million- a budget that probably wouldn't cover catering on a modern day blockbuster. Perhaps needless to say, Fox would also make their money back on that one as well, and then some.
Helping the film at the box office immeasurably were the critics, who were surprisingly positive in their reception for the movie. Normally, studios are wary of sneak previewing a horror film for critics because a bad review can sink such a picture, which often makes back its budget in the first few weekends. That's why, even if a horror film isn't that bad, studios tend to withhold it from critics, that way the often low-budgeted flicks can make back their money early on before bad word-of-mouth sets in.
The Omen didn't do that, and, as aforementioned, it even helped shape the picture somewhat, as the ending was modified, and it was agreed that a more elaborate battle between Richard Thorn and the evil nanny (Whitelaw) was considerably shortened. (It originally continued onto the driveway, with both the dog and the nanny springing out to try and stop Thorn from making off with Damien.)
However, the studio believed in the final result, and took the chance of screening it for critics, who mostly loved it. A notable exception were Harry and Michael Medved, notorious for creating the "Golden Turkey Awards" for the Worst Movies- think an early version of the Golden Raspberry Awards- who deemed it one of the fifty worst films of all time.
They were in the minority, however, as the film not only made many Best of the Year lists and went onto make many more of the scariest horror films of all time lists, but was later nominated for several Academy Awards, among other notable accolades, such as the Golden Globes, Grammys, BAFTA and WGA awards.
Indeed, after multiple losing nominations for his prior work in film, composer Jerry Goldsmith, who almost didn't attend the ceremony because he'd lost so many times and didn't expect that to change for a horror film, was astonished to find himself winning an Oscar for his work. Remarkably, though nominated a whopping 18 times, that would prove to be his only win- but in this case, the so-called Omen "curse" proved to be a blessing.
In addition to that undeniably excellent score, one of the things that works to the film's advantage was the series of extravagant and often nail-biting set-pieces that the movie is built around. As with his work on Wonka, Seltzer filled the film with elaborate sequences that, even when no one ended up dying, were still remarkably suspenseful, as with the scenes in which Damien's parents attempt to take him to church, the dog attack at the graveyard or the one at the safari car park in which the baboons surround the car, which scared the crap out of me as a kid.
Apparently, the latter scene did the same for actress Lee Remick, whose reactions were all too real. The sequence was achieved by taking the "leader of the pack" of the baboons away, which sent the rest of them into a frenzy, so what you see is not fakery.
On the other side of the spectrum, the scenes with the dogs absolutely were, as they were not able to get the dogs to attack anyone and had to use puppets and trickery to fake it. Amusingly, director Donner said the dogs were in heat at the time, and they had to shoot around the fact that they kept humping each other non-stop during the graveyard scene! Also interesting, the sale of Rottweilers went through the roof after this movie. Go figure.
For another striking scene (wink wink), the one in which a priest is impaled by a pole outside of a church, the filmmakers had to stage a freak storm on the fly, using little more than a giant fan. Though one of the critics on one of the commentaries I listened to complained that the storm seemed awfully centralized for that reason, not seeming to affect anyone else; as another noted, that was sort of the point, so to speak. (Although the period of time in which the priest stands there yelling "no!" while awaiting his demise is the closest thing the film comes to camp, admittedly.)
In one of the film's most remarkable scenes, Damien rides his tricycle (shades of the later-released The Shining) through the hallways, knocking into a stool his mother is standing on while hanging a plant, and sending her off the balcony. First, a goldfish bowl falls down- filled, by the way, with dead sardines painted orange, so, take comfort animal-lovers, no goldfish were harmed in the scene, at Donner's insistence.
Then, after holding on by a thread, Damien watches resolutely as his mother falls to her doom in an effectively-shot scene that still has the power to mystify cinematographers as to how they did it. Indeed, after Remick balked at doing the stunt herself, despite assurances that it was safe and she would merely be falling into a cushioned pad, Donner ingeniously suggested that they build a fake floor which would be stood up on end, and Remick would simply fake "falling" into it. The end result has a dream-like quality to it that works like gangbusters.
With the possible exception of the shocking scene with the first nanny (Holly Palance, daughter of actor Jack) hanging herself at the birthday party, though, arguably the most notorious sequence is the one in which the photographer, Keith Jennings (Warner), is decapitated by a sheet of glass. Taking a nod from kung fu films, which often shoot a scene from multiple angles and repeat it over and over to highlight a particularly savvy move or stunt, Donner, knowing that they could only shoot the scene so many times, because of budgetary constraints, set up cameras in a variety of places to make sure and capture the moment.
After finally getting the perfect combination of blood spatter- actually strategically placed red wine- and a dummy head roll down the glass, Donner later took to the editing room to take the scene to the next level. Knowing that audiences would see it coming and cover their eyes, he intentionally prolonged the scene by several seconds, repeating it just long enough so that, even if they closed their eyes for an extended period of time, they were almost certain to see it anyway and hopefully be scarred for life.
Mission accomplished, as the scene became the talk of the town soon after. It was reportedly so effective that actor Warner couldn't bring himself to look at it, or even his fake decapitated head, for years to come. In another amusing side note, when Warner later divorced his wife, she successfully got "custody" of the fake head. Talk about sweet revenge- not many disgruntled exes can say they have their former significant other's head in a box!
In addition to all of these great scenes and a solid plot-line in general, the filmmakers also took a page out of The Exorcist's playbook by touting a series of alleged mishaps surrounding the filming of the movie that made up a so-called "curse."
Both Peck and Seltzer's planes were reportedly struck by lightning en route to England, despite traveling separately. A restaurant that Peck frequented on a near-daily basis was bombed by the IRA on a day he just so happened to not be there. On day one of shooting, members of the crew were in a head-on collusion with another car, nearly killing them all.
Later on, Peck cancelled a plane he had been intending to charter to fly to Israel, where the film was continuing the shoot, to take a day off because he needed a break. The plane ended up crashing, killing all of those concerned.
According to the documentary included with the film, the pilot randomly crashed into a car on its descent...which just so happened to contain his wife and child, killing them as well. When the vehicle was inspected afterwards, the odometer read, in part, 666.
Then, as the film went into post-production, the special effects artist, John Richardson, was injured on the set of his next film, the aptly-titled A Bridge Too Far... an accident that also resulted in the beheading of his wife, just like the stunt he created on his most recent film. Pretty spooky stuff- if you're inclined to believe it. (Not all of the stories could be verified, so your guess is as good as mine as to their actual veracity.)
Whatever the case, all of it added up to a huge hit, and a classic horror film that, to this day, still warrants an impressive 86% positive critical mass rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and a solid 80% positive one for audiences, though I suspect that horror fans would rate it considerably higher, including this one.
On a more personal level, the film scared the crap out of me as a kid when I saw it on cable for the first time. I became somewhat obsessed with the series, devouring all of the films and novels related to the franchise, and, like David Seltzer before me, even going so far as to do a deep dive into religion and The Bible.
I even read The Satanic Bible (know thy enemy, lol) and other religious texts over the years to come, so that I could be prepared for the inevitable Apocalypse. Perhaps needless to say, it also ensured my attendance in church for the ensuing years to come (as it did for many others IRL, just like The Exorcist before it), at least until my rebellious phase in high school, when, after asking why I had to go to church every Sunday on one of my only days off from school, I was told I didn't have to and stopped of my own accord.
It's been all downhill from there, lol, but at least I'm still waiting for the Apocalypse. The way things have been going in the world lately, though, you never know... all that religion might come in handy for me on down the line. Hey, at least I diversified, covering all my bases! That's more than some people can say.
That said, I did eventually realize it's only a movie, of course, and settled down in my concern. Seltzer himself said he was mystified by how seriously people took what was basically completely made up, but given the source material, it's not exactly a shocker for some people.
Hell, if anything, we might could use a little fear of God, given how dubious some people's misguided ideas of faith are these days, be it all the Evangelicals glossing over the misdeeds of you-know-who to sell their souls out for some dubious conservative trade-offs, i.e. Supreme Court judges and potential laws "protecting" the rights of Christians- rights that, much like the ones of gun-owners, were never really in jeopardy to begin with; or those who kill in the name of their respective gods.
Regardless, The Omen remains an archetypal film within the Satanic horror film sub-genre, one of the true greats alongside the aforementioned Rosemary's Baby and The Exorcist, of which it plays as a bit of a hybrid, with a little bit of The Bad Seed thrown in for good measure, though, unlike the last two, Damien never actually does anything to anyone personally.
Of course, that would soon change with the sequels, in which an older Damien would take a much more proactive role in things. But, IMHO, the original is still the best. I think Donner was right on the money to demand that the events be able to be explained away, leaving it up to the viewer whether what went down was simply mass hysteria and happenstance- or if, in fact, the Devil really did make them do it. 👹
Join me on Wednesday, for the next installment in my ongoing franchise review: a look at Damien: Omen II. See you then! 👺😱
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