#25 - The Omen (1976)
The "demonic/satanic possession" genre is full of a lot of bad movies. After a good initial run of Rosemary's Baby (which I'll be watching later this month), The Exorcist, and this one, it went basically downhill for about 30 years until Paranormal Activity finally did something different. That's not to say that there wasn't anything worth watching in that time, but even today you'd be hard pressed to find a film about demonic possession that wasn't either a sequel to or highly derivative of one of the originals I mentioned.
I guess technically Damien isn't possessed, but the concept is the same. There are quite a few iconic scenes here, and while I didn't find it very scary, I do think this is a pretty good movie. I like the scene in the creepy ancient graveyard especially - the cool gothic atmosphere doesn't seem to fit the rest of the film, but it's great while it lasts. Some of the leaps in logic are kind of funny. "From the eternal sea" is referring to the world of politics, really?
I dunno, maybe this would be scarier if you were a religious person back in the 70's and believed in Satan and that stuff like this could really happen somehow. Just like most movies that deal with this subject matter, it takes itself too seriously for it's own good. I'm not saying that demons can't be real in the world of the movie, but a little acknowledgement of how absurd the premise is wouldn't hurt. Most horror requires some level of disbelief, but when the frightening parts require that you actually believe in the supernatural stuff, a large portion of the audience is gonna be left behind.
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