(Reviewed by Snake-666) - Brilliant horror!  ‘The Omen' stars Gregory Peck as Robert Thorn, an ambassador to the United States, who substitutes his wife's stillborn baby for another without her knowledge. Although the baby, named Damien, appears to be a normal, healthy child he seems to be the centre of many strange and grisly occurrences including the death of a Priest who previously warned Robert about Damien. Robert tries to reason the situation but is finally convinced when confronted by photographer Jennings (David Warner) who has pictures with some shocking indications of the truth on them.

Like the other great religious horror of the 1970's, ‘The Exorcist', this movie incorporates a supposedly innocent child as a symbol of evil and succeeds almost faultlessly. A superb performance by Gregory Peck is the highlight of this movie which also features a solid storyline, a strong supporting cast (including Lee Remick) and exceptional direction from Richard Donner who makes this a shining example of how to create a slick and highly enjoyable horror/thriller. The story moves at exactly the right pace and although while watching the movie some may think it will continue forever, ‘The Omen' remains entertaining and gripping throughout. What I really loved about ‘The Omen' is how the story was based perfectly around actual Christian beliefs about the antichrist. Rather than make up the rules as it went along like so many other religious or demon based movies ‘The Omen' stayed very close to the genuine prophecies that it seeks to portray which adds to the effect for those who have studied religion, at least that is what I would presume.

‘The Omen' is much less graphic than ‘The Exorcist' but is still shocking on many levels. ‘The Omen' is more of a psychological horror than 'The Exorcist' (which itself succeeded in creating terror on a psychological level) which works by instructing the viewer that certain events will happen but leaving the viewer in a state of uncertainty as to whether they will happen. Although ‘The Omen' has some rather grisly scenes the gore never distracts from the story and instead compliments the film beautifully. ‘The Omen' is not afraid to break all the conventional horror movie rules about survival and timing so the shock-factor is increased for certain scenes while it becomes hard to tell how this film could possibly end? There we have another awe-inspiring part of the film – the end. Gripping and intense! The final ten minutes offer one of the most powerful performances in a horror movie as well as some outstanding scripting and direction which allowed the scenes to build up and leave the viewer with a chilling closing image.

Often imitated but never rivalled ‘The Omen' is one of the 1970's best movies which paved the way for the big-budget flicks of the 80's such as ‘Poltergeist'. Phenomenally successful at the time it seems strange that this movie has not really achieved the cult status of many lesser-films and though retaining some popularity is often neglected when talking about the great movies of horror. For those people who enjoy well acted, shocking, slick and highly artistic movies or religious-horror I heartily recommend this movie. I certainly believe this is a must-see for horror fans. My rating for ‘The Omen' - 8.5/10.