Robert Thorn (Gregory Peck) is an American diplomat living in Rome with his wife, Katherine (Lee Remick). Katherine gives birth to a still born child. Robert is notified by a priest, Father Spiletto (Martin Benson), that another woman died in childbirth, but her son survived. Since the child is now an orphan, the priest urges Robert to take the child and give it to Katherine as if it were hers. This way the baby has a home and Katherine has a baby to care for. The priest believes that it is a blessing. Robert takes that baby and gives it to Katherine. They name the baby Damien.
Five years later Robert is appointed ambassador to Great Britain. The family moves to England and hires a nanny (Holly Palance). At Damien’s (Harvey Stephens) fifth birthday the nanny commits suicide in broad daylight, in front of everyone, at the party. Not long after that Mrs. Baylock (Billie Whitlaw) shows up stating that she is the new nanny.
Strange things begin to happen. A priest named Father Brennan (Patrick Troughton) visits Robert to try to warn him about Damien. Robert thinks there is something wrong with the priest and has him removed from the embassy. A large Rottweiler begins hanging around the grounds of the residence. Animals at the zoo run away from Damien. Robert agrees to meet with Father Brennan. The priest tells him that Katherine is in danger. He then tells Robert that Damien is the son of Satan. Then Father Brennan dies in a freak accident.
Robert then learns that Katherine is pregnant and wants an abortion. She is afraid of Damien and doesn’t want any more children. Robert puts the discussion aside for a while. Then an accident causes Katherine to fall and lose the baby. Robert becomes concerned. A photographer, Jennings (David Warner), who has been photographing Robert, and his family comes across something disturbing. Photographs of the nanny and the priest show a flaw that looks like a premonition of their deaths. As the evidence mounts, and more people die, Robert becomes alarmed that he may be raising the anti-Christ.
“The Omen” was released in 1976 and was directed by Richard Donner. It is An American and British supernatural horror film. The movie spawned three sequels, "Damien - Omen II" 1978, "Omen III: The Final Conflict" 1981 and "Omen IV: The Awakening" 1991. A remake called “The Omen” was done in 2006 and a prequel in 2024 “The First Omen”. There was also a television series in 2016 that only lasted one season.
For the most part it is a slow burning story punctuated by moments of horror and terror. The most iconic of these is the decapitation scene. The actor who was decapitated kept the severed head until he lost it in a divorce settlement.
In one scene a fishbowl falls from a railing to the floor a story below. The ‘goldfish’ in the bowl were actually dead sardines painted orange. Harvey Stephens, who played Damien, had a cameo in “The Omen” 2006 as a tabloid journalist. Holly Palance, who plays the nanny that hung herself, is the daughter of actor Jack Palance.