Question: What is the piece of classical music "Robert Thorne" plays on a vinyl album at 0:27:15? (This is not a Jerry Goldsmith composition).
Question: After the priest is impaled during the killer storm, the autopsy reveals he had the 666 birthmark on his thigh – what does this mean? Was he a child of the Devil too? Did he spend his life fighting against this knowledge and that's why he had his bedroom covered in Bible pages? Any explanation is welcome.
Question: How could Damien's mother be a jackal? That has always thrown me for a loop and I could never understand why they'd do that unless it was for entertainment purposes. I mean, I know it's Hollywood and all but that's just too far-fetched.
Chosen answer: The idea wasn't entirely Hollywood's. The antichrist is sometimes said to be "born of a jackal. " Jackals are mentioned in the Bible, and some interpretations consider them a symbol of something that is "not of God." In the movie, it means that the kid was scary as hell, literally.
Answer: It's Satan's twisted and macabre mockery of Jesus' virgin mother.
Question: How much did 5 or 6 year old Harvey Stevens understand about this story and his role in it while the film was being made?
Question: Why didn't Damien's parents notice the 666 when he was an infant?
Answer: It's possible that the mark didn't appear until Mrs Baylock showed up and began teaching him about his heritage. The mark of the devil is said to appear only when Satan accepts a follower, and up until Mrs Baylock appears, Damien is a normal boy. Yes, he's the devil's son, but he knows nothing of his evil nature until she starts teaching him. In fact, at one point, Robert mentions that he knew every inch of Damien's body since he raised him and never saw anything, so more than likely the mark didn't appear until Damien had areas on his body where it could be hidden more easily.
But it's a birthmark. He had it when he was born.
Question: Something that puzzles me about the thee Omen films taken together. In the first film of the series the very young Damien is taken into a church. As the son of the Devil he has a great aversion to all things Christian, so he has a huge tantrum, and screams, struggles and resists going into the building. So how is it, that, as the series progresses, he can enter Christian buildings without any ill effects? (The denouement of the third and final Omen film is set in Fountains Abbey, a venerated Christian church in Yorkshire).
Answer: It may be similar to myths around vampires. In many variations, their fear of crucifixes is purely psychological. As a child, Damian may have feared the symbolism of the church, but as he grew he realised it had no actual power over him.
Answer: There's no clear-cut answer. The first film was intended as a stand-alone movie. When the later sequels were made, the plot details were changed or otherwise adapted to fit a new story line.
A quick addendum to this correction: There was indeed a general idea from the start that the Omen could spawn a trilogy of movies, though there weren't detailed plans, and the first film was written so that it could function fine as a stand-alone movie if they never got around to sequels.
Answer: The priest you're talking about is Father Brennan. After he became a priest, he would meet Father Spiletto and become a Satanist. Basically once Satan accepted him, Brennan developed the 666 mark. He was present when Damien was born. It was only later in life when he was suffering severely with health issues that he decided to warn the Thorns about who Damien really was in hopes Christ would forgive him. At that point, he was afraid evil spirits would get him, which is why he covered his walls and windows in Bible pages.
Bishop73
Thank you! It has always bugged me.