I have only seen this once before. I don’t think I liked it all that much then. I found it kinda overrated, but hey, I ordered the box set for $9, may as well get my money’s worth.
This movie stars 60-year-old Gregory Peck and 41-year-old Lee Remick as Robert and Katherine Thorn. They are given a baby. Katherine’s baby died after birth, and this baby’s mom died during labor, so they pass the baby off as hers without her knowledge. The baby’s name is Damien, but you already knew that. Peck just got the job as US Ambassador to Great Britain, so they move, I think. They are living a charmed life.
We have this big birthday party for Damien, and this nanny jumps and lynches herself, all for Damien. It’s probably the most infamous scene from the film. Also, Damien keeps making eye contact with a dog.
A priest comes to visit Peck and tells him to accept Christ and how he was there the night Damien was born and how he saw his mother. Peck has him escorted out, thinking the priest was trying to blackmail him.
A nanny visits, Mrs. Baylock, and she says she was sent by an agency. The reality is, she is there to protect Damien as she knows what or who he is. The Thorns were going to a wedding at the church, and Baylock suggested Damien not go, but mom was insistent. As they get to the church, Damien flips the fuck out on mom. He beat her ass down, like a boss. Sweet, they brought the dog in from the birthday party, Baylock brought him in to be more specific as protection for Damien. He’s building up a nice gang. Peck wants her to get rid of the dog.
The scene with the baboons is utterly ridiculous and fantastic. Guy wants to meet with Peck again. Peck is done with this dude. After Peck leaves, bad winds start blowing and the guy is struggling to make it to the church. He gets close, but just then, a pole comes down like a javelin and impales the priest. Katherine is pregnant again, but she doesn’t want the baby, wants an abortion. Damien stresses her out a bit. Peck doesn’t want to do an abortion as it has been prophesied and he wants to go against the grain.
Next up is the infamous tricycle scene. If you haven’t seen it before, it’s epic. Damien is riding his tricycle in his room, and Baylock lets him out. At the same time, mom is upstairs near a balcony, on a stand and Damien runs into it, and well mom takes a huge fall that would make Mick Foley jealous. Well, that was enough to cause a concussion as well as lose the baby. She’s afraid of Damien.
Peck goes and checks in at home on Damien, and the dog is still there. Earlier on, Peck meets up with this photographer, who’s camera Peck accidentally damaged earlier. This guy has a ton of weird pictures showing odd lines. The guy who got javelin’d to death, well he had a birthmark of 666. Well, there are all kinds of 6’s involved, dates and times involving Damien. They are in the room of the dead dude, and the walls and windows are lined with pages from the Bible. That was actually pretty creepy. Also, the photographer has a picture of himself with the same eerie line indicating he may be next.
Lots of talky talky, blah blah going on. Well, mom just got pushed out the hospital window by Baylock. She went headfirst through the top of an ambulance. She only had 2 small trickles of blood, one from her nose, one from her mouth. Wait, she went headfirst and literally tore a body-sized hole through the top of a vehicle, and only 2 small trickles of blood??? In fine with it not being all gory, but be a little realistic. Things continue building up to unraveling. At one point, in the middle of the night, Peck cuts Damien’s hair, and it reveals the 666 mark that we keep seeing. Baylock attacks Peck. The dog is pissed. Peck just punted Baylock like as if he was Randy Orton. Peck is trying to carry away Damien, and he gets shocked. Baylock is back up. SPEAR! SPEAR! As god as my witness, he’s broken in half! Sorry, but everything always comes back to wrestling. Baylock gets stabbed with a screwdriver and a big pronged fork. She appears to be dead.
Peck has Damien in the car with him. The PO-lease is following him. What is Peck’s game plan here? Bring him to the church, of course. Why didn’t I think of that? Peck goes to stab Damien on the alter, and instead, a cop shoots and kills Peck. Peck, I don’t know how he didn’t get a stab in there. Oh well, we have a funeral, and it ends with Damien smiling at the camera.
In conclusion, I will never ever understand why this was considered scary. Was it good? Sure. Was it even the least bit frightening? Hell no. Some of the scenes are classic and very memorable, even nowadays. It stands as a very well done movie, although at points, I just want them to get to the damn point, but that’s the fault of me as a viewer, not the film really. I don’t know how to properly rate this. It’s not my favorite, it’s not scary, but it is a timeless classic with numerous quality/memorable scenes. I’ll say a very confused 6.0 keeping in mind that I could be persuaded to go higher. I recommend this to anybody who wants to see cinematic history, get some fun references that are still seen today. I liked it, I didn’t always love it though.
Final Rating: 6.0
All the pictures used in this blog are for review purposes. They are the property of:
- Twentieth Century Fox (presents) (as Twentieth Century-Fox)
- Harvey Bernhard Productions (as A Harvey Bernhard-Mace Neufeld Production)
- Mace Neufeld Productions (as A Harvey Bernhard-Mace Neufeld Production)
- Twentieth Century-Fox Productions (made by) (as Twentieth Century-Fox Productions Limited)
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