Find me here:
  The Paranormal Guide
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Videos
  • Photos
  • Atlas
  • Glossary

The Omen: Our Final Warning

16/12/2012

Comments

 
Picture
"It is the greatest mystery of all because no human being will ever solve it. It is the highest suspense because no man can bear it. It is the greatest fear because it is the ancient fear of the unknown. It is a warning foretold for thousands of years. It is our final warning. It is The Omen."

So reads the tagline for The Omen, a film about the Antichrist, a film, some said, should never have been made. Was it cursed?

The Anti-christ

Picture'Damien' from 'The Omen'.
The Omen, a suspense horror movie, was released in 1976 and shocked audiences everywhere. The 70's were a busy time for religious horror movies, and with each released film more shocking than the last, The Omen did not disappoint.

The plot of the movie concerns Robert Thorn (played by Gregory Peck), an American ambassador to Great Britain, and his wife. After the wife gives birth to a stillborn child, a priest suggests to Robert that he replaces the deceased baby with a live, healthy one, whose mother had just died whilst giving birth.

The baby, now a child named Damien, is surrounded by tragedy and strange events. However, the warning of a priest and clues pointing to young Damien, lead Robert to believe his son is pure evil; the Antichrist.

The movie was a great financial success nearly doubling its production budget on the opening weekend.

Many said the movie should never have been made, with disaster and tragedy during the movies production and, following its release, befalling many of the people involved.

Were these incidences a warning, an omen, that the release of this movie should not go ahead?

The Curse Strikes

PictureA Plane struck by lightning.
In June 1975, right before production was to begin, Gregory Peck's son killed himself with a bullet to the head.

During production Gregory Peck (who played Robert Thorn) and the films screenwriter David Setzer had to travel to the UK. Both took separate planes, yet both planes were struck by lightning on the journey. Executive Producer Mace Neufeld’s plane was also struck. Another production principle narrowly missed been struck by lightning in Rome.

A producer nearly lost his life when a hotel he was staying at in London was bombed by the IRA. After narrowly missing that experience, a restaurant the director and other actors and staff were to eat at was also bombed. Once again, narrowly missing killing everyone.


PictureGregory Peck.
Gregory Peck was to fly to Israel on a chartered flight, but he cancelled his plane at the last minute. The aircraft was then used as a regular passenger flight, where it crashed killing all on board. This also apparently happened to another plane used to take aerial shots of an archaeological digging for the movie. That plane was cancelled, but also crashed.

Many other accidents and deaths took place during the period of filming The Omen. An animal handler was mauled to death the day after shooting a scene for the movie, and Rottweiler’s mauled a stunt double on set.

After filming had finished, one of the stuntmen injured themselves quite badly when a stunt they were to perform on the set of 'A Bridge too Far' went wrong. When all was set up, and the stunt to be performed, the stuntman seemed to fall awkwardly and missed the air bag, seriously injuring himself.

After he woke up in the hospital, he told friends and family that he felt he had been pushed, however no one was with him at the time of the stunt...

A Most Horrific Accident and a Message

But the most shocking incident of all happened to special effects artist John Richardson. John Richardson had designed the special effects for The Omen, of which the most famous is the decapitation scene.

Soon after he had filmed that scene, he was working on another movie in Holland/Netherlands. He, and a female friend/colleague, were driving when they were involved in a major accident. Richardson was able to stumble free of the wreckage, but his passenger did not fare quite so well.

She had been decapitated. Some say this was achieved in much the same way as the decapitation scene in The Omen, via a piece of glass.

But any doubts John Richardson had about this having to do with The Omen Curse were soon quashed. For when he looked up he saw a bike trail sign which read 'Ommen 66.6kms'. You can not get any more blatant than that!

(Ommen is in fact the name of a city in the Netherlands)

In Their Own Words

Picture
The following are excerpts from 'The Sunday Herald', who spoke to cast and crew about the strange experiences that took place both on and off the set.

---“Today, Richardson is sanguine about his experience. Others are less inclined to forget theirs. Producer Harvey Bernhard, well aware of the Hollywood gossip that had The Omen lined up as the latest in a long line of cursed films, started wearing a cross on set. “I wasn’t about to take any chances,” he says 30 years later. “The devil was at work and he didn’t want that film made. We were dealing in areas we didn’t know about and later on in the picture it got worse, worse and worse.”

Bob Munger, the man who came up with the idea for the film, had misgivings even before production started. “I warned Harvey at the time. I said, ‘If you make this movie you’re going to have some problems. If the devil’s greatest single weapon is to be invisible and you’re going to do something which is going to take away his invisibility to millions of people, he’s not going to want that to happen’.” ---

and when interviewing the crew about their experiences on set:

---“The crew that we spoke to had a sense that everyone involved in the production was freaked out to some extent. They all felt that something wasn’t quite right and that included the cast. These were seasoned professionals – they had seen a lot of productions and doubtless a lot of production accidents. Yet they themselves pick this film, more than any other, as having something extraordinary about it.” ---

Were the people involved in the making of The Omen cursed?
Or was it all coincidence, a series of accidents with no connection between them?
Did all these events even occur or are some just the rumour mill hyping up the stories?
That is for you to decide....


Ashley Hall 2012
Comments
comments powered by Disqus

    The Paranormal Guide Articles

    Here you will find all of the articles written for The Paranormal Guide on all things paranormal, strange, dark, macabre, weird, strange and bizarre!

    All photos with the blog posts remain the property of their respectful owners. If one of your photos is featured here without attribution please leave a comment on the blog and full credit will be given.

    Categories

    All
    Bizarre Experiments
    Conspiracy
    Cryptozoology
    Cursed And Haunted Objects
    Curses Demons And Exorcisms
    Earth Mysteries
    Fakes Frauds And Hoaxes
    Ghosts And Hauntings
    Ghosts Ghouls And Demons
    Interesting And Inspiring People
    Investigations
    Miracles
    My Paranormal
    Paranormal Photos
    Paranormal Vocabulary
    Phobias And Philias
    Post Mortem Practices
    Psychics Predictions And Seers
    Questions And Discussions
    Reviews
    Spirituality And Miracles
    Spirituality And Miracles
    Strange And Macabre Places
    Strange And Tragic Deaths
    This Week In Dark History
    Tragedy
    True Crime And Punishment
    Ufos And Aliens
    Unsolved Mysteries
    Urban Legend Superstition And Folklore
    Weird Odd And Bizarre


    Ashley Hall -
    The Paranormal Guide

    Ashley Hall explores The Paranormal, True Crime, Strange Deaths, Dark History, The Weird, The Strange and The Bizarre! Fact or Fiction? You decide!

    Picture

    Contributors

    Picture
    Matty Sweeney
    Picture
    Peet Banks
    Picture
    Nic Hume

    Picture
    Check out The Paranormal Guide Podcast and join three paranormal investigators and researchers for honest and raw discussions on all things paranormal, strange, dark and macabre HERE!

    Archives

    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012

    Please note that dates are from when the article was originally made.
    The Paranormal Guide does have posts all the way up to the current date.


    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.