The Omen appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.35:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Given the nature of the source, this felt like a strong representation.
Overall, the movie seemed crisp and well-defined. Occasional interiors looked a little soft, but some of that resulted from the occasionally gauzy style of photography. The film never came across as indistinct so it presented good delineation.
I saw no signs of jagged edges or shimmering and edge haloes remained absent. Grain felt light but natural and I saw no print flaws.
Colors leaned toward an earthy feel, and the Blu-ray replicated them well. Nothing jumped off the screen but the hues appeared natural and full.
Blacks also were deep and firm, while low-light shots offered nice definition and opacity. Unless the movie gets 4K UHD treatment, I suspect the movie will never look better than it does here.
The Omen featured the movie's original monaural soundtrack plus a remixed DTS-HD MA 5.1 track. The soundfield for the 5.1 version was fairly innocuous but it helped spread out the image.
Music showed very good stereo imaging, and effects occasionally broadened the track’s horizons. This usually came up via general environmental material, though a few louder scenes created greater involvement.
Storms and the baboon attack were the most prominent examples, and the 5.1 track even managed to present some split-surround material at times. This could feel a little awkward, but the mix usually offered a fairly smooth impression.
Audio quality showed its age but sounded pretty positive. Though speech could be a little thin, the lines lacked edginess and were always easily intelligible.
Effects suffered from only a smidgen of distortion, and they showed decent definition and punch. The louder parts kicked out fair range and power.
Music fared best, as the score was clear and reasonably dynamic. This was never a particularly impressive mix, but given the age of the source material, it did well for itself.
How did the 2019 Shout Blu-ray compare to the Fox BD from 2008? The 5.1 audio felt identical, though the Shout version gave us the original mono in lossless DTS-HD MA whereas that track remained lossy on the 2008 disc.
As for the image, the Shout BD cleaned up the smattering of small specks found on the Fox disc and it also felt a bit better defined and smoother. Because the Fox release already looked very good, this one didn’t come as a revelation, but it did deliver the superior rendition of the film.
As we begin with the set’s extras, we find four separate audio commentaries, and the first comes from director Richard Donner and editor Stuart Baird. Both sit together for a running, screen-specific discussion.
Donner can be engaging and entertaining, as he showed during the track for Lethal Weapon 4, but this piece largely falls flat. Unfortunately, there are plenty of silent spots, and when the two do speak, too many of their statements fall into the "remember him/her/that?" category.
Most of the discussion relates to general production info. The most interesting elements connect to a change in the film’s title, story alterations, and a few run-ins with Gregory Peck.
Occasional useful tidbits appear, but for the most part, I find this commentary uninteresting. There’s a lot of praise for the film and all involved. Donner and Baird seem to be old friends, and it sounds like they used the session to get reacquainted instead of telling us good tales about The Omen.
For the second commentary, we hear from Donner and screenwriter Brian Helgeland. Both also sit together and create a running, screen-specific chat.
Why is Helgeland here? I don’t know.
Helgeland had nothing to do with the creation of The Omen or its 2006 remake, though he did work with Donner on 1997’s Conspiracy Theory. I guess he and Donner just like to hang out together, so someone thought Helgeland might bring out the best in the director.
Unfortunately, this commentary doesn’t work a whole lot better than its predecessor. In truth, it covers much of the same material, and you’ll hear many of the same anecdotes and tidbits.
A few topics come with more detail, as we hear an extended version of the baboon story. However, little fresh information appears.
Helgeland offers some story dissection, and that helps keep him involved, though he occasionally overreaches. For instance, he reads the fact that David Warner’s character wore scarves as foreshadowing, but Donner then contradicts Helgeland and explains Warner did so to cover a skin condition.
This commentary doesn’t provide much that we don’t hear in the prior track, but it does so in a more engaging and complete manner. It still suffers from too much praise, but at least it gives us reasonable detail.
For the third commentary, we hear from film historians Lem Dobbs, Nick Redman and Jeff Bond. All three sit together for their running, screen-specific view of music, cast and crew, story and characters, filmmaking elements and genre domains.
This becomes a fairly good chat but not one that excels. We get some insights – especially related to composer Jerry Goldsmith – but the overall package never quite becomes better than average.
New to the Shout release, we find a commentary from Special Project Consultant Scott Michael Bosco. He delivers a running, screen-specific discussion of cast and crew, the film’s Exorcist connections and release, religious domains, and his thoughts on the movie.
Bosco starts the track with a long discussion of his older brother. Why? I don’t really know.
After that, he largely delves into filmmaking areas until he detours to explore Biblical topics. On the surface, that makes sense, but as explored by Bosco… not so much.
Perhaps someone else can connect the dots between the religious subjects Bosco discusses and Omen, but I couldn’t. He goes off onto faith-based tangents with little obvious relation to the movie at hand.
Indeed, matters get ugly when Bosco criticizes the development of laws regarding gay rights that he seems to view as abominable and obscene. Of course Bosco has a right to his views, but when he appears to link gays to Satan and Communism, that’s a bridge too far.
Bosco does offer occasional nuggets of useful material, even if I don’t know how much I trust a historian who refers to the actor as Christopher “Reeves” persistently. Nonetheless, his social commentary and perplexing tangents make this sporadically offensive track tough to swallow.
Another audio feature comes via an Isolated Score. This delivers Jerry Goldsmith’s work via Dolby 5.1 audio. It’s too bad the score isn’t lossless, but this still becomes a nice addition.
We find a one-minute, 55-second Introduction by Director Richard Donner. He tells us a little about problems getting the film made and its legacy.
Donner also talks about how terrific the 2006 DVD is. As with most introductions of this sort, nothing particularly interesting happens here, though he makes a funny comment toward the end.
Next comes Curse or Coincidence?, a six-minute, 19-second featurette that covers some of the spooky events that surrounded the production of the film. Though it duplicates some of the stories from the commentaries, it becomes fairly interesting and entertaining.
After this we find Jerry Goldsmith on The Omen Score. This gives us a mildly in-depth look at his creation of the film's music during which we see interview snippets with composer Goldsmith in which he talks about four different pieces of the score, and each of these is followed by the music in question.
The program lasts 17 minutes, 41 seconds total; the segments can be watched individually or as one running piece. Goldsmith doesn’t offer great detail, but he manages to give us some good notes.
After this we get 666: The Omen Revealed, a 46-minute, 15-second documentary about the movie. This show combines circa 2000 interviews with Donner, Baird, Goldsmith, writer David Seltzer, religious advisor Robert Munger, producer Harvey Bernhard and executive producer Mace Neufeld.
On the negative side, this program doesn't offer a very coherent telling of how the film came to exist. It touches on the important issues but does so in a fairly haphazard manner.
I also think it provides too many scenes from the movie, as these go on too long for my liking and seem unnecessary. I would have enjoyed some behind the scenes footage or stills from the production, and the absence of any actors seems odd.
Lee Remick died in 1991, but Gregory Peck was still kicking in 2000. David Warner also was – and is – alive, and since he does a cameo in the 2006 remake, that spooky little kid obviously was around somewhere.
Despite those flaws, "666" provides a generally interesting and entertaining piece. The various anecdotes we hear offer the most pleasure, as there are some good stories involved.
I also really like the moments in which Donner and Baird detail the unusual editing used in one scene. It's an inconsistent program, and it certainly could have been better, but it's definitely worth a look.
Richard Donner on The Omen goes for 14 minutes, 36 seconds. Here Donner discusses his career and how he came to Omen as well as story elements, cast/crew and aspects of the production.
Despite all the other programs on this disc, Donner manages a good array of fresh details here. While we get a little repetition, this becomes a largely solid show.
Fans will be more interested in a Deleted Scene. Called “Dog Attack”, this clip lasts one minute, 26 seconds and comes with commentary from Donner and Helgeland.
This isn’t optional commentary, so you can’t deactivate it since the segment lacks its original audio. Donner basically just narrates the scene and doesn’t tell us much about it.
Is the clip interesting? Yeah, I think so.
It’s a pretty frenetic sequence that would’ve appeared toward the end of the movie, and it might’ve been too much in the final product. On its own, it’s pretty fun to see.
Screenwriter’s Notebook goes for 14 minutes, 51 seconds and presents notes from Seltzer. He tells us that he did The Omen because he really needed money and goes through his research and story development.
Seltzer then relates cinematic inspirations, challenges of the horror genre, and the script’s path to the screen. He also chats about title changes, Donner’s approach to the flick, the impact of post-production, what he would have done with the sequel, and the film’s legacy.
After so many prior programs, I wasn’t sure what new material “Notebook” could bring to the table. Happily, it gives us lots of details we don’t hear about elsewhere.
Seltzer presents many nice notes with elements that don’t appear in the other shows. For instance, we learn that Charles Bronson almost did the flick at one point!
(The anti-Christ wouldn’t have lasted too long against Old Death Wish.) This is a tight and informative little show.
The prior Blu-ray included a subtitle commentary mixed with video clips. Though the Shout release drops the text, it brings back the snippets packaged under The Omen Revelations.
This collection runs a total of 24 minutes, 10 seconds. We hear from Baird, Donner, Munger, Seltzer, Goldsmith, Pastor George Bonsangue, composer Jerry Goldsmith, and special effects supervisor John Richardson.
The segments look at story/characters, cast and performances, music, stunts, effects and working with animals, and Biblical areas. Given the nature of the presentation, the clips come across as disjointed when viewed as one big package. Still, we get some good notes, so the segments merit a look.
For the perspective of a horror bigwig, we get An Appreciation: Wes Craven on The Omen. The filmmaker chats for 20 minutes, 17 seconds as he offers his appraisal of the movie.
Craven views it in the context of the genre and gives insight into various aspects of the flick. Inevitably this leads to some happy talk, but Craven brings out more than enough depth and introspection to make the program useful.
The Shout set adds some new materials, and these include another Interview with Screenwriter David Seltzer. This chat lasts 23 minutes, 25 seconds.
Seltzer offers some general notes about his career as well as details related to Omen and its aftermath. Inevitably, Seltzer repeats some info from elsewhere in this set, but he adds enough fresh content to make the discussion worthwhile.
We also find a new Interview with Actor Holly Palance. Her reel goes for 13 minutes, 14 seconds.
Palance tells us about how she got her role as well as her experiences during the shoot and the movie’s legacy. Though Palance provides some good memories, she also ladles out a fair amount of happy talk.
Next we locate an Interview with Composer Christopher Young. The piece spans 19 minutes, five seconds.
Young didn’t work on Omen, but he offers an appreciation for the work of Jerry Goldsmith. Young brings a few insights into how Goldsmith influenced his own scores, but he mostly praises Goldsmith in this forgettable reel.
Trailers from Hell goes for two minutes, 46 seconds. Here filmmaker Larry Cohen
In addition to the standard trailer, we also find six radio spots and three TV spots. The set completes with three Galleries as well.
Presented as running montages, we find “Behind the Scenes” (70 frames, five minutes, 46 seconds), “Movie Stills” (84, 6:16) and “Poster and Lobby Cards” (83, 6:08). All add value.
As noted, the Shout release drops the subtitle commentary from the 2008 Blu-ray. Given that the text popped up infrequently, I don’t mourn its absence.
The Shout package also loses a 2001 documentary called “The Omen Legacy”. Originally released solo on DVD, it ran about 102 minutes and covered the status of the franchise through a 1990s TV series.
Normally I would bemoan the exclusion of such a long documentary. However, “Legacy” tended to be superficial, so I don’t miss it.
Despite its status as a horror classic, I can’t say The Omen does a whole lot for me. It occasionally seems decently spooky, but it can't maintain these moments over the long haul. The Blu-ray offers very good picture and supplements along with pretty positive audio. While I don’t love the movie, this becomes a nice release of it.
Note that as of February 2025, this 2019 Shout Blu-ray of The Omen can be purchased solely as part of a five-film “Omen Collection: Deluxe Edition” box. It also includes the movie’s three sequels along with its 2006 remake.
To rate this film visit the original review of THE OMEN
