The Omen

…had his big-screen breakthrough with The Omen, a violent supernatural thriller that starred Gregory Peck as an American diplomat whose son, Damien—switched at birth upon the suggestion of a priest—turns out to be the Antichrist. It was a critical and commercial success, and Donner’s focus shifted to films. For his…

…in the popular horror film The Omen (1976), the titular American general in MacArthur (1977), and a rare villainous turn as Nazi doctor Josef Mengele in The Boys from Brazil (1978). Although Peck continued to work into the early 1990s (at which time he announced that he was largely retired),…

…mother of a devil-child in The Omen (1976), a secret agent in Telefon (1977), and an impecunious baroness in The Europeans (1979). During the 1970s and ’80s Remick played various roles in many television movies and miniseries, including the title role in Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill (1975), the “other woman”…

…as Rosemary’s Baby (1968) and The Omen (1976 and 2006) and its sequels. The view of Antichrist as a diabolical institution is also reflected to some extent in the superstition that credit cards and electronic bar codes mysteriously mark innocent people with Antichrist’s sign, the number 666 (Revelation 13:18).