61. The Omen (1976) - Richard Donner

The Omen (1976) - Richard DonnerAn American ambassador learns to his horror that his son is actually the literal Antichrist. The original Omen (how depressing is it that so many films on this list have been remade) is a dark and emotional horror movie born out of the great horror decade of the 1970's that gave us the demonic classics of The Exorcist and Rosemary's Baby. Where I think The Omen is successful, is that it creates a fascinating horror situation then totally grounds it into a family drama. The focus is always on Robert Thorn and his struggle aganist the adopted demonic child Damien... the son of Satan...... the Anti-christ.... who was sent to earth at 6am on the 6th day of the 6th month. Character development and the emotional reality of the situation is key to the suspense and effectiveness of the film. The more genuienly scared and frightened the characters are, the more you are too. You can never relax with this film. Characters are being killed left and right, you never feel comfortable with getting too close to any of them because they may not be around much longer. The film has some terrifiying set pieces that are chillingly memorable. The shocking self hanging of a young nanny at a children's birthday party is something that I will never forget from the first time I watched the film, the moment made even more scary by the terrific score from Jerry Goldsmith. Modern horror directors really need to take note of what guys like Richard Donner and William Freidkin were doing in the 70's to create a horror tone that still scares audiences who re-visit it today. It's a shame they are no longer producing the body of work they were in the 70's but they are still churning out adequete (if not particulary great) films.