The Omen by David Seltzer
(from the back of the book)
A young nursemaid dies for the sake of little Damien…
A priest is speared to death for revealing the horrifying
truth about the birth of Damien…
In a peaceful zoo, animals rend themselves to bits in a death
frenzy caused by the sight of Damien…
For a world-renowned diplomat and his wife, “accident”
follows “accident,” from Rome to London to Jerusalem, as they stalked by a
terror they cannot understand, a terror that centers on their son Damien… and
his ominous hidden birthmark.
Is ultimate evil to be released upon an unsuspecting and
unprepared world because of Damien?
Right from the beginning the book has an ominous feel. Seltzer manages to make characters creepy
even before they do anything creepy. So
the whole book has a horrible dark feeling even between the big, blatantly
scary events. It was interesting
watching Damien’s parents try to come to grips with things that are happening
but cannot possibly be real. The tension
builds as things start to go wildly out of control and comes to a head in an
exciting climax where you don’t know what will happen until the very end. It is a fast moving, fast paced story that
pulls you along. And I think it has the
right balance of big shocking moments and the dark brooding menace that gives
you a good story and doesn’t rely all on shock value.
1 comment:
I saw this movie in high school and it still creeps me out. There was a horribly ominous feeling throughout, just as you said, and the violent parts were almost incidental (nothing like today's movies). I'm glad it wasn't too dark for you to enjoy it!
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