While sinister new nanny Mrs. Baylock (Billie Whitelaw) assiduously protects Damien, Thorn's fears escalate when photographer Jennings (David Warner) shows him pictures from Damien's party with marks suggesting how the nanny and Brennan would die. Thorn seeks out Bugenhagen (Leo McKern), an exorcist who confirms Damien's identity and tells Thorn that the only solution is to kill his adopted son. As the bodies pile up, Thorn tries to do his duty, but trust the Law to get in the way of saving the world from future Armageddon.

Eschewing the less-is-more approach of Rosemary's Baby (1968), director Richard Donner matched the ancient conflict between Good and Satan with spectacularly "medieval" deaths by hanging, impalement, and decapitation. As in such other '70s Satanism horror as The Exorcist (1973), The Omen locates the ultimate evil in an "innocent" minor, creating a parent's worst nightmare: a child who will inevitably annihilate the world. With its familial and global anxieties, stylish production values, and major stars, The Omen became one of the most popular movies of 1976 (and the first horror film to win an Oscar for Best Score). While considered by some an exercise in Hollywood slickness, The Omen refuses to be comforting -- as may be expected from the first part of a trilogy that concluded with The Final Conflict (1981).