1. The Omen
The Film
Due to the nature of events that followed its production to the cast and crew, many of which have a Final Destination aura around them, the 'C'-word isn't used lightly for this film. As Ive said before, cancer and strokes and heart attacks happen every day, technical equipment plays up, fires start and people get hurt. Those who worked on The Omen wished they had a curse as soft as other films; these are not your average coincidences. The Omen is a 1976 suspense/horror film directed by Richard Donner and starring Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, David Warner, Harvey Stephens, Billie Whitelaw, Patrick Troughton, Martin Benson, and Leo McKern. It is the first film in The Omen series based on a horror novel by David Seltzer. A remake called The Omen 666, was released on the 6/6/2006. The story is based on Robert Thorn and his wife Katherine who's baby died at birth, to save his wife from heartache, Robert substitutes the dead child for a orphan Damien. For some reason events keep taking place as the boy gets older, Robert starts to suspect his adopted son is in fact the Antichrist. The movie boasted a particularly disturbing scene, in which a character willingly and joyfully hangs herself at a birthday party attended by young children. It also features a violent decapitation scene caused by a horizontal sheet of plate glass.
The Curse
Bob Munger, the man who came up with the idea for the film, had misgivings even before production started.
I warned Harvey at the time. If you make this movie youre going to have some problems. If the devils greatest single weapon is to be invisible and youre going to do something which is going to take away his invisibility to millions of people, hes not going to want that to happen.In hindsight these were words that probably should have been heeded. Problems started in June 1975, just two months before filming was due to begin. Gregory Pecks son unexpectedly committed suicide, killing himself with a bullet to the head without any real explanation. Gregory set off from London in September when his plane was hit by lightning high above the Atlantic. This became a growing trend as Scriptwriter David Seltzer's plane was also hit by lighting as was executive producers Mace Neufelds. Who doesnt enjoy a good plane trip in a wild storm? You would think this would have put them off using planes in this film, unfortunately they were necessary for aerial filming. The plane they had scheduled to use was switched to another client at the last minute. It crashed on take-off, killing all on board. Some things do come in twos... like IRA bombings. A hotel Neufeld was staying at during production was bombed by the IRA, as was a restaurant the director and actors were scheduled to eat at. No casualties in these turns of events but they are slightly more dramatic than the faulty electrics in The Exorcist. Also the principal actors were involved in a terrible head-on car crash the day filming commenced. Strange events continued on set, during filming there was more than one account by the trained animal handlers of being viciously attacked by the Rottweilers being used in the film.. Pete Postlethwaite (Father Brennan) not only lost his brother while he was filming the movie, but before he passed, his brother was in a card game in which he drew three sixes. Postlethwaite didnt believe there was any correlation, he is quoted saying...
"I think things like that do happen and it's just sometimes we're not sensitized enough to see the problem." The curse was to take more lives in extreme circumstance after filming and this for me gives the curse real merit. John Richardson, special effects consultant on the film and his assistant had a series of real unfortunate events. On Friday the 13th of August 1976, Richardson had a horrific car crash in Holland. His assistant Liz Moore was sliced through, butchered by the car's front wheel that tore through her and her seat all the way through to the back of the car. Dead from her extensive injuries that bore an uncanny resemblance to the ones he had prepared and used in the film. He staggered out of the wreckage and looked up at an ominous road sign: Ommen, 66.6km. Continuing the paranormal events post production, an experienced tiger handler died two weeks after working on the film was pulled headfirst into a lion's cage and was eaten alive. The next film Stuntman Alf Joint went to work on would have him badly injured and hospitalised when a stunt went wrong. He only had to jump from a roof on to an airbag, an average days work for a stuntman. Something odd happened to him. In the recording he appeared to fall suddenly and awkwardly. When he woke up in hospital, he told friends he felt like he had been pushed. These and other stories surrounding The Omen have now been collected for a Channel 4 documentary, 'The Curse Of The Omen'. Producer Alan Tyler admits that he was as skeptical as anyone else when researching the project, but says he was gradually convinced by the facts.
What we were really shocked by is that, while there are some aspects of it where you can say, I dont really buy that, the further into it you go, the more youre not sure. So we went from being quite cynical to at least having doubts.
Possible Reasons for the Curse?
If there is a Satan, he has no sense of humour.