What happens when you make a movie about the Antichrist and then everyone involved starts seeing signs of evil everywhere?

In this episode of Cursed...ish, Daniel and Angela kick off Cursed Cinema with The Omen, the 1976 horror classic about Damien, a very creepy child who may or may not be the literal Antichrist.

The movie leaned hard into demonic imagery from the beginning, with 666-themed release dates, ominous posters, satanic marketing, and a campaign practically begging audiences to believe something sinister was happening behind the scenes.

Then the stories started piling up: Gregory Peck’s plane was struck by lightning. So was screenwriter David Seltzer’s. Members of the production narrowly missed deadly plane crashes, survived nearby IRA bombings, and dealt with dangerous animal incidents on set. And then came the tragedy that helped cement the legend. Special effects artist John Richardson, who helped create the film’s famous decapitation scene, later survived a car crash that killed fellow effects artist Liz Moore in an eerily similar way. The accident happened on Friday the 13th, and later retellings added even more suspicious details involving 66.6 and a nearby town called Ommen.

Along the way, we talk The Omen curse, Gregory Peck, Richard Donner, Damien, 666, biblical numerology, lightning strikes, near-death coincidences, cursed movie sets, horror marketing, and the very blurry line between supernatural warning signs and a studio realizing that “the devil doesn’t want us to make this movie” is excellent publicity.

Was The Omen actually cursed, or did one very smart marketing campaign teach everyone to start connecting dots that were never really connected?

Maybe cursed. Maybe not. Actually, this one might just be not cursed.

https://www.whatsleepsbeneath.com/archive/the-omen-still-relevant-at-fifty?

https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/55833

https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.com/search-newspapers/results?&enddate=1979-12-31&keywords=%23kills+%23lion+%23tiger&startdate=1970-01-01

https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1975/nov/21/dunsfold-aerodrome-accident

https://www.worldbirdstrike.com/images/Resources/IBSC_Documents_Presentations/Warsaw/IBSC26_WPSA1.pdf

https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55833-THE-OMEN

https://www.tcm.com/articles/021416/the-omen-1976

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/lightning-strikes-decapitations-curse-original-110000012.html

Questions, comments, or your own accursed tales to share? Send us a hex at uhoh@cursedish.com.

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