The Omen

The premise of The Omen comes from the end times prophecies of Christianity. The story, set in Fulham, England; tells of the childhood of Damien Thorn, who was switched at birth with the stillborn child of a wealthy American diplomat. Damien's family is unaware that he is actually the offspring of Satan and destined to become the Antichrist. His father, Robert Thorn (named Jeremy Thorn in the original book), eventually begins to realize this with the help of a photographer named Keith Jennings, after numerous people connected to Damien begin dying in tragic accidents. After Damien's first nanny hangs herself at Damien's fifth birthday party, a new nanny, named Mrs Baylock, arrives to tend to him. A priest who knows about Damien begins stalking Robert, and is eventually the one to first point out that Damien is the Antichrist, and that he intends to kill everyone in his way. The priest later dies in a bizarre accident (he is impaled by a church spire hit by lightning), and Katherine Thorn, Damien's mother, suffers a fall after being knocked over a railing by Damien. With Katherine in the hospital, Robert and Keith journey to Israel to find a man named Bugenhagen, an archaeologist who knows how to stop the Antichrist. While there, however, Katherine is killed by Mrs Baylock, who pushes her from the window in her hospital room. Robert learns that he has to stab his son with seven special daggers to prevent the end of the world. Horrified by this, he tosses the daggers aside, only for Keith to run and pick them back up. As he does, a truck rolls down the hill he is on and, seeing it at the last second, crashes and sends a glass pane into his neck, violently decapitating him. Robert returns to London with the daggers, intending to kill his son.

Returning to his mansion, Robert finds Mrs Baylock's guard dog awaiting him. He manages to lock it in a cellar and then goes upstairs to check whether Damien has the "666" birthmark (as explained by Bugenhagen). Seeing it on Damien's scalp after cutting away some hair, Robert has no doubt about Damien's true identity.

It is at this moment that Damien's Satanic nanny attacks him from behind. After violently wrestling with her, Robert puts her out of play temporarily with a flying kick in the face. As he drags Damien downstairs, Damien kicks and screams at Robert. Bumping into a light fixture while descending the staircase, Robert and Damien tumble down the stairs, knocking Damien temporarily unconscious. As Robert prepares to exit the home, Mrs Baylock re-appears and the two struggle in the kitchen before Robert finally kills her with a roasting fork to the neck. Robert then exits, tosses a limp Damien into the front passenger seat of the car and proceeds to go to the church where he plans to kill Damien.

As he bursts through the gates of his mansion, his security is alerted and chases his car, followed by the police. Robert drags Damien to the church and, as he is about to stab him on an altar with one of the knives as directed by Bugenhagen, the police arrive and shoot Robert.

The movie ends with Robert's funeral where Damien is seen holding the president's hand. The camera lowers to Damien, who looks at the camera and gives an evil smile in one of the movie's most famous moments before the credits roll.

The Omen was characterized by the chillingly effective use of symbolism, such as the birthmark of the number 666 on Damien's scalp, the effective use of crosses and statuary for foreshadowing, and the wallpapering of a room with pages from a Bible to ward off evil spirits.