Countdown to Halloween: Look at me, Damien — it’s all for you!

As a kid growing up, the Catholic Church was a constant presence in my life. I wouldn’t go so far as to say I was super-religious, but there was a Bible in the house and I went to church most Sundays with my family. I wasn’t even Catholic myself — but Grandma and Grandpa were, and that made me a de facto Catholic.

All of which means I had a healthy fear of the Devil. And lucky me, that dude was all over the movies in the 70s, scaring the hell out of me and teaching me to whip out the Sign of the Cross like holy lightning. Between The Exorcist (we’ll get to that one later) and 1976’s The Omen I spent a good part of my childhood absolutely positive that Satan had it in for me personally, and was either going to possess me someday or at the very least challenge me to a fiddle contest. Either way, I knew I’d be screwed.

It’s been years since I’ve been to church and I learned the trombone instead of the violin (so I’m really screwed). Luckily, though, I learned to love the devils I feared and now I try to watch The Omen at least once a year. What can I say? I’m a better movie fan than church-goer.

The Omen, of course, is the story of Damien, a cherubic little boy who also happens to be the Antichrist. This is a surprise to his parents Gregory Peck and Lee Remick, who are even more rattled by all the death and medieval chanting that seems to go on whenever their son is around. Meanwhile, Satanists are trying to protect Damien on the sly when they’re not throwing themselves out windows for him, and the good guys … well, the good guys have kind of a rough time.

Oh, OK — as a special bonus here’s The Omen‘s most famous scene, too. Let’s just say a certain someone made me do it.