Halloween Countdown Top 5: Joint #5, The Omen (1976) / Don't Look Now (1973)

There are films that strive for subtlety in what they're trying to do - I'll get onto one of those in a bit. Then there's films which make it extremely clear from the outset, what's the deal, what you're in for; that's the sort of film The Omen is. Make no mistake, from the first few minutes you have a very clear idea about what direction the film is going in as we have Jerry Goldsmith's fantastic score sending particularly resonant chills down my spine every time I sit through the film. In Rome, Katherine Thorn's (Lee Remick) child is stillborn, leading the hospital chaplain to implore her husband Robert (Gregory Peck) to secretly adopt an orphan in the stillborn child's place. Thus sets up one of the greatest horror films ever that's never subtle in intent, yet never ceases to shock.

Crucial to grounding the film and preventing it from being overly ridiculous is the grounded lead performance of Peck, whose portrayal of the American diplomat Robert is a rather low-key, charismatic performance that utilizes his natural screen presence particularly well, in the best way I'd say outside of To Kill a Mockingbird. The film and director Richard Donner do well to initially set up the household of the Thorns as being relatively unspectacular, comfortingly warm and sweet, which makes the gradual build-up of horrors quite effective. The fashion in which the film does this is, not going to lie, quite similar to The Exorcist, the film made three years before this on which it had a substantial influence. As great as that film was, and I'll be covering it soon, its first act doesn't have as mind-bogglingly horrifying, scary a scene as Katherine and Robert's child, Damien's (Harvey Spencer Stephens) hangs herself at his fifth birthday party. The scene is truly horrifying and unforgettable.

Unlike another child actor Stephens from another horror film I'll be talking about in a not-too-distant future, Damien is more of a character device to be utilized by the film, than a full-blown character in himself. Which is completely fine since it works extremely well for the film. Damien seems to draw everything away from him, bar the new nanny Mrs Baylock, played by Billie Whitelaw in a performance for the ages. Whitelaw's performance is sort of the bridge between the two styles the film takes, the serious grounded style it uses to set up the horror, and the slightly campier, more overt style to unleash the horror. It evokes something like Kathleen Byron in Black Narcissus in the best possible way and makes each chilling glare and her demonic devotion to Damien so palatably felt. Funny to note how about thirty years later she'd play a seemingly 'nicer' old lady in Hot Fuzz who ends up being just about as equally deranged and violent (Fascist!!)

Damien is the Antichrist. That much is certain, even if it is only directly confirmed much later on in the film. The film doesn't exactly go overboard initially with this, never hammering it into your head; there's the crazed priest figure warning the Thorns about their child, the little foreboding signs, but for the most part the first act post-birthday party is rather understated as Robert goes about finding out about Damien's past. It's definitely creepy though as he and intrepid photographer Keith Jennings (David Warner, excellent as always) gradually piece together what makes Damien Damien. It's all technically speaking rather ridiculous, the whole Satanist conspiracy plot, but the way the film builds it up to you is all extremely effective.

The death scenes in The Omen are probably its most iconic moments. From one of the most harrowing hospital scenes of all time courtesy of Whitelaw, to an unfortunate collision with a mirror that could've been silly, but the way it's carried out by the cinematography of the scene and the foreshadowing of the script beforehand is so fantastic. All through these monstrosities though the film still maanges to capture an emotional drive at its core through Peck's excellent performance, and of course the whole concept of a child of Satan; we wish to see the evil vanquished, but the fact it's such a small, young, seemingly innocent boy whose guilty of all these misdemeanors is in itself quite disturbing.

Nicholas Roeg's Don't Look Now I more appreciate for not just the shocks it gives. Its cinematography is absolutely stunning, some of the best of the 70s, and some is indeed used to cultivate a truly creeping sense of atmosphere to the proceedings. In so many other regards though, it's masterful in terms of how it sensitively builds up a rather poignant story of a loving couple (an excellent Julie Christie and an amazing Donald Sutherland) whose marriage is strained by the death of their child. Roeg was sometimes a director who favoured style over substance but that's not the case here, perhaps because he has a Daphne du Maurier story to work from. The brilliant author's short story is brought to life with a style that matches her neo-Gothic tones perfectly. Venice has never looked so beautiful on film and yet at the same time, so brooding. The film's initial tones in fact, in terms of the colour palatte, remind me a bit of In Bruges. A beautiful place, to be sure, but undercut with something slightly sinister.

I'll just show a few more pictures to show how amazing the cinematography by Anthony B. Richmond really is in bringing that very particular sense of atmosphere to the proceedings. It helps to make up for some of the admittedly more dated elements of the film, which aren't all that many on re-watch; some of the slo-mo scenes, some of the musical choices being a bit too on-the-nose (the score itself is great though), that's it really. And it's refreshing to see a love scene like the one here that's so beautifully filmed, the criss-cross editing between the tender physical union and the bland act of getting dressed being as iconic as it is for a reason.

Of course there's a reason I'm doing this as a horror movie countdown segment, and it's because besides being a beautifully made film, it's also deeply disturbing. Everyone probably knows the haunting opening scene and ultimate killer ending, and to be sure that's one of the most equally disturbing and depressing conclusions to a 70s film. But before that there's also tense setpieces that emit foreboding like Sutherland's John Baxter and his close call with death while at work on a restoration piece, and genuinely heart-stopping scenes like the séance. There's also characters like the blind mystic Heather (Hilary Mason) who are initialyl presented as being oh so unnerving but end up becoming one of the more comforting factors of the film. The film is an excellently paced and restrained film that I feel will age like fine wine, and time will come when I'll figure out which one of these two films I prefer.