Damien Thorn is the Antichrist, and the trilogy that tells his unholy tale remains popular almost fifty years later. Indeed, while putting together this movie ranked list and revisiting the original Omen franchise, we were surprised at how well the old movies held up. Omen fans will be happy that the series has been restarted in a pretty interesting way earlier this year, with The First Omen a surprisingly excellent prequel to the original trilogy (check out our interviews with the director and cast here), even if it takes one large liberty involving Damien’s birth that some fans may have an issue with. So, how do the Omen films rank against each other? Let’s take a look, but remember that the TV series Damien (which lasted for one season in 2016) is not included, as we’re sticking with feature films.
There’s honestly no reason for this movie to exist. It’s a scene-for-scene remake of Richard Donner’s original classic, with it being so faithful that the original screenwriter, David Seltzer, has sole screenplay credit. Despite a decent cast, you can tell the difference between an old pro like Donner and a guy like John Moore, who gets outclassed in his attempt to bring the original film up to date. This remake is without any real merit, with it losing the Jerry Goldsmith score and the slew of great performances delivered in the original. Liev Schreiber and Julia Stiles do their best but are too young to play their parts and lack any sense of gravitas. Overall, this movie is a giant waste of time, which is why it’s at the bottom of this Omen movies ranked list.
What do you do when you’ve killed off the Antichrist in your franchise about the rise of the Antichrist? Well, of course, you just start the process all over again. Turns out, the late Damien Thorn left behind a daughter who is adopted into a political family and named Delia… and while Delia isn’t the Antichrist herself, she is an evil little tyke who’s paving the way for the new Antichrist who will try to be more successful than Damien was. Faye Grant gives a good performance as the adoptive mother who gradually comes to suspect that her daughter is trouble. Omen IV is essentially a remake of the original movie, following its basic structure and featuring a lot of similar scenes. But it was working with a different script and has different characters, which puts it ahead of the actual Omen remake, and manages to have some creepy moments, despite the made-for-TV atmosphere (the movie made its debut on Fox, since this is a 20th Century Fox, now 20th Century Studios series). Plus you get to see a private investigator played by Michael Lerner get smashed by a wrecking ball.
Omen III is probably the silliest of the Damien Thorn movies, but it also boasts an intense performance by Sam Neill as the now-grown Damien. Neill was a rising star at the time, making Zulawski’s classic Possession the same year. Young, charismatic and good-looking, you buy him as the son of the devil. But, it has two problems. One is that adult Damien will never be as scary as child Damien. The other is that they decided this would be the end of the franchise, and they opted to end it on a happy note rather than the foreboding conclusions of its predecessors. It also comes up short in the gore department, with no signature kills like in the other movies.
Most horror fans were wary of a prequel to The Omen, having been burned by the remake. Yet, despite everything, Arkasha Stevenson’s prequel to Richard Donner’s original film, which is primarily faithful, managed to earn a good number of appreciative fans. The only issue is that they changed an essential detail about Damien’s conception at the end in order to this into a new series. But the change they made is pretty disturbing in its own right, so we can forgive it. Nell Tiger Free gives a great performance in the lead, proving that she is a star on the rise. The box office numbers were a bit soft, which is too bad, as it would be interesting to see this franchise continue.
No one will ever say that The Omen II lives up to the original, but you must hand it to director Don Taylor. Despite being little more than a journeyman, he made a pretty bold sequel, with a couple of gory kills that almost outdo the original. The guy getting chopped in half in the elevator (Meshach Taylor – who would play Hollywood in Mannequin) is pretty gnarly, and the drowning of Lew Ayres under the ice of a frozen lake is disturbing. The legend is that the movie’s star, William Holden, was the original choice for the first film, but he turned it down and regretted it when the movie became a hit (Gregory Peck also had a percentage of the box office and made a killing). He was a contemporary of Peck’s, but by this point, alcoholism had begun to take its toll, and his decent performance doesn’t compare to Peck’s. Still, it has a young Lance Henriksen in an early role, and Jonathan Scott-Taylor delivers a good performance as a believably conflicted Damien.
If you’re making a list ranking The Omen films, only one could ever top the list. The granddaddy of them all. The story of a potentially evil child in the care of the United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom. At the time, the film was critically maligned, with many calling it little more than a rip-off of The Exorcist, but time has proven the naysayers wrong. Richard Donner made a smash hit but adopted a classy, realistic style and cast it perfectly. People nowadays may not realize how provocatively cast Gregory Peck was, as he was perhaps the most beloved actor in Hollywood at the time. After all, he was Atticus Finch! Men of his stature didn’t make horror films, and the film benefits from his fantastic performance. It’s great that he and Lee Remick portray an older couple who are getting their last shot at being parents, making their disbelief at the fact that their presumed son is evil and being all the more potent. Plus, there’s David Warner, Leo McKern, the amazing Billie Whitelaw, and some unique kills. Damien! It’s all for you!
Do you agree with this Omen movies ranked list? Let us know in the comments!