An American ambassador (Gregory Peck) accidentally adopts the antichrist (Harvey Spencer Stephens) in this 1976 tale of diplomatic inanity.

The Omen piggybacks on the success of The Exorcist and throws all subtlety out the window faster than Damien’s victims; a parade of anti-antichrists and Satanic nurses hungry for a slice of the bureaucratic windfall Damien is apparently in line to inherit. The political subtext hinted at in The Exorcist is brought to the surface, where it remains for two ridiculous hours.

There is fun to be had in The Omen‘s real-world setting, bombastic Jerry Goldsmith score and strong performances, with Peck bringing much-needed gravitas to preposterous proceedings. But Richard Donner’s movie is best remembered for its elaborate kills, which prefigure Final Destination in both premonition and execution.

Yet the film remains impossible to care about because you believe none of its pseudo-religious rambling, its ripoff story riddled with more plot holes than a freshly dug graveyard. Compared to the stripped-down suspense of The Exorcist, Donner’s cabal is overstuffed with reheated scraps – everything from baboon attacks to a Scary Poppins nanny (Billie Whitelaw) to distract you from the undercooked sheen of its ideas.

By far the dumbest plot point though is that per the Book of Revelation, the establishment of the European Common Market heralds the return of the Roman Empire and therefore makes the European Union a harbinger of the apocalypse. It sounds ludicrous, but 40 years later saw legions of Brexorcists successfully convinced. Donner gave us a sign. We did but scoff beneath it.