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tonight's feature: The Omen (1976) on HBOmax
(SPOILERS?) If you had just one takeaway from the 70s classic horror film The Omen, it should probably be "don't ever take a random baby, especially not from a priest, no matter the circumstances." I watched the Omen several times in my life and it never disappoints. I like how they make the smallest things absolutely terrifying, like taking your kid to church or a dog just sitting there looking at you.
American diplomat Robert Thorn (Gregory Peck) and his wife Kathy are living in Rome when he finds out their newborn baby died in childbirth. A creepy priest says "hey, we have this baby, just take it, what could go wrong? his mother died. so tragic. no seriously, take this random baby. I insist." and after a few minutes Thorn is like, "yeah that IS a good idea, why even tell my wife our baby died?" Of course that's no random baby, it's the son of Satan himself, little Damien, born of jackal. Other priests show up five years later in Britain and try to tell Thorn to kill his son with no success. It takes him the entire movie and everyone dying to figure out the truth and by then it's basically too late as he gets shot in the face trying to do the right thing.
The Omen is considered supernatural horror but it's not quite like most horror movies. By the end there is some very dramatic stuff but the rest is kind of a slow psychological terror, because the audience knows the deep and evil menace could strike at any moment. They did several sequels and a remake in 2006, and now I'll have to put them on the horror to-view list. 8 unfortunate birthmarks out of 10.
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