Boring. Was it ever considered scary? - The Omen (1976) Discussion

[–] treadstone-78651 8 years ago

Firstly, you're in the minority. The Omen is considered a masterpiece of cinema making, from direction, cinematography, score and the flawless acting.

Secondly it's an intelligent thriller/horror, not just some mindless bloodbath, like Saw and the likes of, for the short attention spanned minds of the Xbox generation, who don't and can't appreciate class movie making.

Thirdly, As an Englishman, I find you very offensive, and you obviously was not watching properly, as it was a cast of English and American actors. Obviously, you fall into Xbox generation as mentioned above!

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[–] Mr_K_Pratt 8 years ago

And the English accents did my head in

That's incredibly shallow of you.

YOU SHOULDN'T BE EATING SAUSAGES!!

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[–] coolaree 8 years ago

Maybe it was very novel in its time before, but I found it boring and predictable as well. Maybe its partly due to my internet porn riddled mind. But I still love Westerns, old and new, and that's the 'slowest' genre around...

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[–] bastasch8647 8 years ago

I can only answer for myself alone. I thought it was well-paced and photographed.

My objection is that it's just bad drama - overwrought, completely lacking in truly effective horror (David Werner's decapitation was just gross, not supernaturally scary, and the other deaths were comic-opera), and it panders to a skewed fundamentalist view of the book of Revelation - biblical/cinematic crimes not attributable to Rosemary's Baby or The Exorcist.

Bad "peripheral characters" such as the poached-eye priest who (Gawd. Awful.) tells Peck that Damien's mother was a jackel, and who Satan punishes by throwing a church lightning rod through his body. A stupidly slapstick scene among others of its type.

For me the only semi-effective scene is the graveyard quest for the casket of Damien's real mother, which is saved only by Goldsmith's dark score and the dog attack. But still, the scene itself is silly and overwrought...like the entire film.

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[–] DrDanielChallis 7 years ago

i totally get where you are coming from with your assessment except for the part where you say it panders to a skewed fundamentalist view of the book of Revelation

I actually think the entire theme around terrible coincidences and paranoia calls out fundamentalist beliefs as in saying "do you see everything that has to happen for these words to actually come to fruition!?"

as a man who has dealt with some really strange coincidences - both good and bad (obviously not of this fictitious magnitude) it certainly does a great job of the "what if" game you can let your mind submerge into - even just for the pure fun of being creeped out

its like a man with a fedora and knives for fingers - it is really rediculous - but if you can just "go with it" it still has value

Who would you rather have on top of your automobile - Tawny Kitaen or Julie Carmen?

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[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

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[–] ShogunofYonkers (73528) 7 years ago

It scared me as a kid in the early '80s on cable
Now i love it for the nostalgia...and the performances were really enjoyable/somewhat overwrought
Good fun but not super scary

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[–] kenburke (2308) 7 years ago

I agree. If it weren't for Gregory Peck being in the starring role I doubt people would have given it a second look.

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[–] jejebinks (67) 5 years ago

This has been on my list for a while, and I finally watched it today...I loved it. I have seen my fair share of horror movies and a lot of occult/exorcism/possession themed ones, so this was quite predictable for me, but bearing in mind that this was from the 70s, and The Exorcist already came out, this held its own. True, The Exorcist is more terrifying a film, but taking into consideration that this could be true to life, that there could be an antichrist somewhere in the world, right now, in the form of a harmless little boy, that’s a hair-raising thought for me. I enjoyed the flow of the movie, and I personally didn’t find any scenes that needed to be omitted. I thought it was perfectly cast (including the dog), and I honestly appreciated the that this was a slow-burn. While watching the movie I didn’t feel scared, but this movie is more like eating something spicy, and you saying “that’s not spicy” only to have your tongue burn in the aftertaste.

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