The Omen (1976)
82%RT Audience Score: 80%
Awards & Nominations: Won 1 Oscar
5 wins & 8 nominations total
The Omen eschews an excess of gore in favor of ramping up the suspense — and creates an enduring, dread-soaked horror classic along the way
If you’re looking for a movie that will make you want to sleep with the lights on, The Omen is the one for you. Gregory Peck gives an amazing performance, but let’s be real, it’s the untimely deaths that really steal the show. And can we talk about that final scene? Chilling. Just make sure you don’t watch it alone in the dark.
Production Company(ies)
Toho Company, Kurosawa Production Co.,
Distributor
CBS/Fox, 20th Century Fox, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, Fox
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
Windsor Safari Park, St. Leonards Hill, Windsor, Berkshire, England, UK
MPAA / Certificate
R
Year of Release
1976
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Mono
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Aspect ratio:2.39 : 1
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Runtime:1h 51m
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Language(s):English, Latin, Italian
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Jun 25, 1976 Original
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 2, 2003
Genre(s)
Horror
Keyword(s)
starring Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, David Warner, Billie Whitelaw, Leo McKern, Harvey Stephens, Patrick Troughton, directed by Richard Donner, written by David Seltzer, horror, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Chris Stuckmann, Anna Baddeley, Dave Kehr, David Parkinson, Variety Staff, Eric Henderson, produced by Harvey Bernhard, R-rated, Antichrist, American diplomat, adoption, stillborn child, nanny, Father Brennan, Katherine, miscarriage, balcony, Robert investigates, Keith Jennings, Mrs Baylock, Carl Bugenhagen, mono, scope, CBS/Fox, 20th Century Fox, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, Fox
Worldwide gross: $60,922,980
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $345,485,834
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 440
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 37,675,663
US/Canada gross: $60,922,980
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $345,485,834
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 154
US/Canada opening weekend: $4,273,886
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $24,236,619
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 557
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $2,800,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $15,878,415
Production budget ranking: 1,491
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $8,550,526
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $321,056,893
ROI to date (est.): 1,314%
ROI ranking: 86
Lee Remick – Kathy Thorn
David Warner – Keith Jennings
Billie Whitelaw – Mrs. Baylock
Leo McKern – Carl Bugenhagen (uncredited)
Harvey Stephens – Damien
Director(s)
Richard Donner
Writer(s)
David Seltzer
Producer(s)
Harvey Bernhard
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
Won 1 Oscar
5 wins & 8 nominations total
Academy Awards
All Critics (50) | Top Critics (11) | Fresh (43) | Rotten (7)
Gregory Peck takes everything pitch-perfect seriously. This is one of his best performances.
October 21, 2019 | Rating: A-
Chris Stuckmann
ChrisStuckmann.com
TOP CRITIC
The Omen contains some of the most memorable untimely deaths in cinema history.
December 29, 2014 | Rating: 5/5
Anna Baddeley
Daily Telegraph (UK)
TOP CRITIC
Richard Donner directs more for speed than mood, but there are a few good shocks.
October 9, 2012
Dave Kehr
Chicago Reader
TOP CRITIC
It was the performance of Harvey Stephens as the young Damien that invested the film with the chill of genuine credibility.
October 9, 2012 | Rating: 4/5
David Parkinson
Empire Magazine
TOP CRITIC
Richard Donner’s direction is taut. Players all are strong.
March 26, 2009
Variety Staff
Variety
TOP CRITIC
A bald-faced lamprey hitching its razor-tipped maw on the chassis of The Exorcist, The Omen’s Sunday school parable of gothic Cathsploitation comes twice as thick and thrice as pious.
June 21, 2006 | Rating: 2/4
Eric Henderson
Slant Magazine
TOP CRITIC
Rich with forbidding details and impressive scare tactics.
August 30, 2020 | Rating: 8/10
Mike Massie
Gone With The Twins
[It’s] directed by Richard Donner at a pace that creates moods of fear punctuated by sly and devilish humor. The climactic scene alone should win him any award for which he is nominated; it is, perhaps, the most chilling final 20 minutes ever put on film.
May 26, 2020
Ed Barnard
Philadelphia Gay News
The Omen delivers splendidly.
October 31, 2019
Jacoba Atlas
Los Angeles Free Press
One of the finest horror films of the 1970s.
October 19, 2019 | Rating: 3.5/4
Matt Brunson
Film Frenzy
Richard Donner has narrated this horrifying story in a humdrum style that only at times reaches acceptable levels, thanks to Gil Taylor’s cinematography and the anonymous labor of the special effects technicians. [Full Review in Spanish]
July 18, 2019
Jesús Fernández Santos
El Pais (Spain)
A good movie, that changed the guidelines of horror movies, becoming a huge blockbuster. [Full Review in Spanish]
June 28, 2019
Alberto Abuín
Espinof…
Plot
Robert and Katherine Thorn seem to have it all. They are happily married and he is the US Ambassador to Great Britain, but they want nothing more than to have children. When Katharine has a stillborn child, Robert is approached by a priest at the hospital who suggests that they take a healthy newborn whose mother has just died in childbirth. Without telling his wife he agrees. After relocating to London, strange events – and the ominous warnings of a priest – lead him to believe that the child he took from that Italian hospital is evil incarnate.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
There is no goofy or funny or odd comment about the film in the Fresh Kernels database.
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