Directed by Richard Donner and written by David Seltzer,
The Omen
(1976) is perhaps the best in the devil-child cycle of movies that followed in the wake of
Rosemary's Baby
and
The Exorcist
. Released to a highly suggestible public,
became a major commercial success, in no small part due to an elaborate pre-sell campaign that played and preyed on apocalyptic fears and a renewed belief in the Devil and the supernatural. Since polarising critics and religious groups upon its release,
has earned its place in the horror film canon. It's a film that works on different levels, is imbued with nuance, ambiguity and subtext, and is open to opposing interpretations. Reflecting the film's cultural impact and legacy, the name 'Damien' has since become a pop culture byword for an evil child.
Adrian Schober's Devil's Advocate entry covers the genesis, authorship, production history, marketing and reception of
, before going on to examine the overarching theme of paranoia that drives the narrative: paranoia about the 'end times'; paranoia about government and conspiracy; paranoia about child rearing (especially, if one strips away the layer of Satanism); and paranoia about imagined threats to the right-wing Establishment from liberal and post-countercultural forces of the 1970s.