Film and Plot Synopsis

Robert and Kathy Thorn are a happily married couple who are about to celebrate the birth of their first child. However, tragedy strikes and the child, a boy, is still born. A local Roman priest approaches Robert and offers another child for the Thorns to raise whose mother allegedly died during childbirth. Robert accepts the offer, not realizing the true origins of the child and the danger that he will bring upon not only to himself and his wife, but to the world as a whole.

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‘The Omen’ Movie Summary

American diplomat Robert Thorn (Gregory Peck) and his wife Kathy (Lee Remick) are living in Rome when Kathy goes into labor with the couple’s first child. However, the delivery does not go well and the child, a boy, dies during childbirth. Before Kathy is informed, a hospital chaplain, Father Spiletto (Martin Benson), approaches a distraught Robert and offers him another baby to adopt whose mother had just died during the delivery. Robert accepts the offer and does not tell his wife of the arrangement. The couple decide to name the child Damien.

Five years later, Robert’s star is on the rise, and he is appointed as the United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom. However, mysterious things begin happening to and around the Thorns. Damien’s (Harvey Stephans) first nanny (Holly Palance) publicly hangs herself during Damien’s fifth birthday party. A short time later, a new nanny, Mrs. Baylock (Billie Whitelaw) arrives to replace the deceased nanny even though neither of the Thorns requested her. Mrs. Blalock brings a menacing Rottweiler into the home that is threatening to the Thorns, but highly protective of Damien.

Damien violently resists going into a church and frightens all the animals at a wildlife park when Kathy attempts to take him. At the same time, Robert is visited by Father Brennan (Patrick Troughton) who claims that Damien is not human and is the son of Satan. Brennan pleads for Robert to take Communion. He also warns Robert that Kathy is pregnant, and that Damien will seek to kill his unborn sibling and his parents unless the unborn child dies. Brennan pressures Robert to abort the pregnancy for their own sakes, despite Robert’s denials of his wife’s pregnancy. However, Robert is shocked when Kathy reveals that she is in fact pregnant and wishes to abort the pregnancy which Robert opposes. Before a decision can be made, Brennan is killed when he is impaled by a falling lightening rod, and Damien knocks Kathy over the second story railing of their home which severely injures Kathy and causes a miscarriage.

At the same time, photographer Keith Jennings (David Warner), who is frequently assigned to photograph Ambassador Thorn, begins noticing shadows in the photographs of the suicidal nanny and Father Brennan that indicates how they ultimately died. Keith contacts Robert and shares the information with him, along with news clippings and Biblical passages about the coming of the Antichrist that he found amongst Brennan’s belongings. Keith also shares a photograph of himself that indicates that he will meet an untimely end as well.

Look at me, Damien! It’s all for you. Young Nanny (Holly Palance)

The two men travel to Rome to conduct an investigation into Damien’s birth. Upon arrival, they learn that a fire destroyed the hospital where the child was born, and all the birth records were destroyed. Additionally, they are told that most of the people on staff at the hospital were killed during the fire. However, they do discover that Father Spiletto is still alive, although severely burned, and living in a monastery. Spiletto is partially paralyzed and blind in one eye. Spiletto does direct Robert to a cemetery where Damien’s mother’s body is buried. Robert and Keith find the cemetery and the grave. In Damien’s mother’s grave they find a jackal carcass. Next to the grave, they discover a grave for a baby with a crushed skull. Robert realizes that the jackal is Damien’s mother, and the child is his own son, who was murdered so that Damien could take his place. After the discovery, Keith and Robert are attacked by a pack of Rottweilers who drive them out of the cemetery.

Back at their hotel, Robert calls Kathy at her hospital room and tells her to leave London for Rome immediately. A confused Kathy begins to prepare for her trip when she notices Mrs. Baylock in the room. Mrs. Baylock throws Kathy through the hospital room window to her death several stories below. A short time later, Robert is informed of his wife’s death and states his wish to kill Damien. Not long after, Robert and Keith travel to Israel to meet Antichrist expert Carl Bugenhagen (Leo McKern). Bugenhagen informs Robert that if Damien is the Antichrist that he will have a birthmark in the shape of three sixes, the number of the Beast. Bugenhagen also gives Robert seven daggers with which to kill Damien on hallowed ground if Robert discovers that his son is the Antichrist. After the meeting, Robert tells Keith that he cannot kill a child and throws the daggers away. When Keith goes to retrieve the daggers, a freak accident occurs, and Keith is decapitated by a sheet of glass. After Keith’s death, Robert reluctantly accepts the gruesome but important task that he has been charged with.

Upon returning to London, Robert finds his home empty except for Damien, Mrs. Baylock, and the Rottweiler dog. Robert tricks the dog into the basement where he locks him away. He then cuts the hair off the back of Damien’s head to reveal a 666 birthmark. Mrs. Baylock attacks Robert, and the Ambassador is forced to kill the old nanny to survive. Robert then grabs his son and drives recklessly to a nearby cathedral. After dragging his son to the alter of the church, Robert prepares to kill Damien despite the young boy’s pleas for his father to stop. London police officers arrive, having been alerted to the situation by Robert’s reckless driving, and shoot Robert dead before he can kill Damien.

The film ends with the double funeral of Kathy and Robert, which is attended by the United States President and the First Lady. The camera closes in on the political couple who have Damien with them at their side.

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