Look At Me Damien, It's All For You: The Omen (1976)

As I am approaching the actual date of Halloween I am realizing that there are so many real classics of the horror genre that I have completely failed to watch, particularly some of the works from the seventies, and a whole ton of the films from the eighties.  As such I am going to try to sneak a few more of them in in these last few days before Halloween, and who knows maybe next year I can undertake an entire new set of works and focus specifically on some of the major holes in my viewing list.  The Omen is one such film and I was quite excited to undertake the work, because something about Gregory Peck dealing with demonic children just seemed to be a great concept to me, however, I must admit The Omen was considerably underwhelming when the entire product comes together.  Sure the famous moment of the nanny committing suicide and some of the frantic cinematography lends nicely to a horror vibe, but it is clear that the film has become somewhat dated and despite my adoration for Gregory Peck, it is clear that he phoned this performance in, but I may just chock it up to his age at the time of performance or a lack of general direction to the film.  While I can applaud the movie for being transnational in its concept, it manages to take a great concept of the devil's child and blow it way out of proportion to the point where some brilliant commentaries on evil within politics, the philosophical nature of faith and the problem of assuming the necessity of a child are outdone by laugh inducing beheading scenes and one of the worst replicas of a baby skeleton that has ever been produced.  Of course, The Omen is not all bad, it is generally a better than average movie and I can certainly see why it has accrued such a reputation, I was blown away by at least a few scenes and their cinematography and the message they are attempting to posit is quite ambitious, unfortunately the sum of all The Omen's parts just does not equal what it could have.  For a film about a demon child, Damien factors in quite little into the plots movement.

The narrative of The Omen begins in Rome with the birth of child for husband and wife Robert (Gregory Peck) and Katherine Thorn (Lee Remick).   Tragedy strikes though when Robert is informed that his baby has not made it through the night and has died, but that the church had another child born at exactly the same time that could easily pass as their own.  Not wanting to destroy his wife's happiness Robert agrees to take on the child and the two raise a new boy who they unknowingly name Damien (Harvey Spencer Stephens).  During Damien's fifth birthday party his then maid yells from a window of their house that everything she does is for him and then proceeds to jump off the balcony with a noose tied around her neck.  This dark and unusual moment leads to a spiraling of equally bizarre events beginning with the emergence of Mrs. Baylock (Billie Whitelaw) who claims to have been sent by "The Agency" to take care of Damien, along with her comes a scary dog who was by no coincidence preset during the suicide.  Robert is then approached by Father Brennan (Patrick Troughton) a maniacal Irish priest who warns Robert that if he does not seek salvation that he will die.  A photographer who works closely with Robert catches images of this priest at another event only to discover that whenever he takes his picture an unusual black line pierces through his body, something that eventually foreshadows the priests death by impalement.  It is during this point that Robert realizes he is dealing with something larger, particularly after his wife's pregnancy and eventual miscarriage are visioned by the priest prior to his death.  This realization leads Robert, along with the photographer, who fears for his own life, on a quest to find the origins of Damien's mother, a quest that takes them all about biblical locations and through the deepest bowels of satanic attachments to the church.  The climax is intense and suggests some rather intense things about the state of global politics and would be extremely brilliant were it not for the films roundabout methods.

While I mentioned the political commentaries in this film multiple times, I am more concerned with the films statements on birth and motherhood as they relate to Damien's presence.  One almost feels bad for Damien throughout the movie because the ways he reacts to being near a church or the defeated looks he gets on his face when the animals at the zoo flee at his presence almost seem to suggest that the young boy is merely a vessel in a greater evils actions.  Even the one scene in which you can attach direct blame to Damien for a violent act is set up in such a way as to suggest that it was an outside force literally causing the boy to break out of his orbit and attack his mother.  Perhaps this set up suggests that it is not Damien to blame for the actions, but, instead; Robert for thrusting the child in a situation in order to placate a worried Katherine.  It is obvious that these grandiose issues of demonic presence and evil afoot would have been avoided were Robert to simply be honest with Katherine and tell her that their child had not made it, particularly since we learn he is murdered.  Furthermore, the emphasis that Katherine have a second, sort of replacement, child alongside Damien adds another layer of issue in that one can assume that Robert and Katherine's answer to fixing their familial issues is not to address the issue at hand, but instead to add another body to the problem.  Ultimately, of course, this is completely undermined by the films end as not only is the new child exacted from the situation, but (SPOILERS) so are Katherine and Robert, leaving the troubled Damien to exist in a world in which he is destined, arguably, against his will to do evil.  If only the Thorn's had not been so focused on having a child all would be well.

Key Scene:  It is hard to top the iconic suicide scene, but the cemetery scene sure comes close.

I am not completely enthralled with this film, but to tell you not to watch it would be to ignore its incredible historical presence, and I am sure the bluray looks way better than my watch instantly version did anyways.

Death Has Come To Your Little Town, Sheriff: Halloween (1978)

From that ever iconic musical score to the commentary on repressed sexuality, right down the the awkward placement of jack-o-lanterens a revisitation of Halloween was a long time coming for myself. I have not seen this film since I was quite young and I only recalled it being incredibly scary, particularly the heavy use of POV shots to help intensify the actions and chases undertook by the films iconic killer Michael Myers.  Now that I have a far deeper understanding of cinema than the one I did as a child, I can better understand exactly why this film is hailed as one of the horror cinema classics.  From a psychological example the films combination of great editing, pulse heightening music and just the right amount of stagnant pausing camerawork to intensify discomfort in the viewer.  Not to mention that it is an incredibly cinematic film, particularly in its early use of solar flares, something that has become all to common and nearly unbearable in contemporary movies.  I had not realized how low of a budget Halloween was recorded on initially, because when watching it John Carpenter manages to make a film that seems far more intense and grander than many of the films from the same period that had far grander budgets.  It always amazes me when I find out that films that not only I love, but many other people seem to enjoy, suffer from almost falling to the wayside in the politics of film production, this was certainly the case for Halloween which as conversations show was, ultimately, funded purely on the realization that Carpenter was quite passionate about making the work.  Long sentences aside, one can quickly pick up on Carpenter's passion in the work as it is a seemingly flawless film, everything happens so perfectly and the suspense rises and falls with such magnitude that one would be hard pressed to find a reason not to love this film.  It is Halloween for Christ's sake it is a classic of horror and cinema in general.

Halloween begins with a point of view shot of the murdering of a woman named Judith Myers (Sandy Johnson) on Halloween night of 1963, only to quickly reveal that murder was undertaken by a young boy, Judith's brother Michael, the younger version played by Will Sandin.  The narrative then flashes forward to a few days before Halloween in which one Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Peasance) along with the assistance of a nurse returns to an insane asylum where the older Michael Myers (Tony Moran) is staying to bring him to a local penitentiary as part of his sentence changing.  Unfortunatley, while stopping off at the asylum it is evident that not all is right when one sees many of the patients roaming the fields, in a matter of moments it is revealed that Michael Myers has also broken free and manages to steal Dr. Loomis's car and drive away.  It is then revealed that he is returning to his hometown to continue his murderous rampage.  At this point we are introduced to the narrative's heroine Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) a chaste young woman who has decided to spend her Halloween babysitting local kids, instead of boozing and sexing it up with her less than respectable friends.  After a request by her father to drop a key off at the old Myers house a newly returned Michael begins to follow Laurie, assuming she has some attachment to the location.  In a creepy game of cat and mouse Michael incessantly follows Laurie about town and eventually around the house where she is babysitting, killing off her friends one by one, interestingly enough while they are all engage in sexual activities.  By the films closing scenes it is left to Laurie to fend off Michael, an act that is incredibly intense because Laurie assumes victory on more than one occasion only to realize that the pyschotic killer is seemingly immortal.  With the eventual help of Dr. Loomis they are able to exile Michael from the house, however, upon going to find his body outside it is revealed that he is gone yet again, setting up nicely for god knows how many sequels have followed.

Despite the many dismissive statements on the part of John Carpenter the sexual nature of the violent acts within Halloween cannot, and should not, be overlooked.  From the very onset of the film, Michael kills his sister after she has engaged in sexual activities with her boyfriend, suggesting some level of repressed sexuality that inevitably acts out in violence.  Sure if this were the only case of this occurring in the film then perhaps it could be seen as a misreading, but one only needs to continue analyzing the murders in the film, his killing of the nurse after exposing her breasts adds a layer of sexuality, and while he stripped the man for his work outfit, it, nonetheless, suggests a sexual action.  Furthermore, the victims he is able to kill throughout the narrative are inevitably engaged, had been moments earlier, in sexual acts.  Perhaps this triggers a particular form of violence within the killer that makes him punish those engaged in that which he has particularly negative connotations.  It then is no coincidence that he is incapable of punishing, via death, Laurie, because the film suggests her virginity and as such he has no ground for murder thus explaining her ultimate survival.  Furthermore, it always adds a lovely layer of phallic imagery to Michael's possession of  knife, as well as a means of observation in Laurie's refusal to possess the knife for more than a few fleeting moments.  With this sexual commentary in tact, perhaps the most interesting scene arises when Laurie attacks Michael Myers with a coat hanger, an attack that is ultimately botched...I will let you delve into the possible metaphors with that act.  So while I am at no liability to say with certainty, it is hard to believe that Carpenter did not fully realize the suggestions latent in his film.

Key Scene:  There is a segment where Michael Myers is following Tommy (Brian Andrews) in a car and the camera simply pans back and forth from the backseat of the car...it is perfected cinematography if ever a moment existed.

I bought the bluray on a whim a couple months back and have just now cracked into it and was more than amazed by its quality, the film pops nicely on the screen and makes some of the films lingering shots on Michael that much scarier.