The Omen by David Seltzer

 

(pb; 1976: movie tie-in book. First book in The Omen pentalogy.)

From the back cover

“A young nursemaid dies for the sake of little Damien. . .

“A priest is speared to death for revealing the horrifying truth about the birth of Damien. . .

“In a peaceful zoo, animals rend themselves to bits in a death frenzy caused by the sight of Damien. . .

“For a world-renown diplomat and his wife, ‘accident’ follows ‘accident,’ from Rome to London to Jerusalem, as they are stalked by a terror they cannot understand, a terror that centers on their son Damien. . . and his ominous hidden birth mark. . .”

 

Review

Seltzer’s movie tie-in book (from his own script) for The Omen (1976) is an above-average work for the genre. Seltzer fleshes out the melodramatic, B-flick structure of the movie’s paranoid and creepy storyline by providing backstories for several characters in the book version (e.g., Edgardo Emilio Tassone, shown as Father Brennan in the film version). Not only that, more Biblical-based background is provided─most of it made up by Seltzer. This, like the expanded characterizations, is effective, further suspending reader disbelief regarding Omen’s over-the-top events, overall tone, and characters. It helps that Seltzer couches Omen’s events in a way that it’s possible that the satanic conspiracy might be a cultic delusion─at least up to certain points (thank film director Richard Donner for insisting that the script, upon which the book is based, be written this way).

Omen, for its genre, is an excellent, B-flick entertaining potboiler of a satanic conspiracy thriller with over-the-top notions and characters, elements that were reflected in the blockbuster, wildly silly and fun film.

Those who read the book and compare it to the movie may also note name changes to the some of the characters (e.g., Chessa, the book-version/suicidal nanny, is called Holly in the film, named after the actress who played her, Holly Palance─IMDb, in its listing of her character, simply calls her “Nanny”).

Followed by four book sequels, the first of which is another movie tie-in, Damien—Omen II by Joseph Howard.

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The film was released stateside on June 25, 1976. Richard Donner directed the film, from David Seltzer’s screenplay.

Gregory Peck played Robert Thorn (book version: Jeremy Thorn). Lee Remick played Katherine Thorn. Harvey Stephens played Damien Thorn.

Holly Palance played Holly/Nanny (book version: Chessa Whyte). Billie Whitelaw played Mrs. Blaylock/Sister Teresa/B’aalock. Martin Benson played Father Spiletto.

David Warner played Keith Jennings (book version: Haber Jennings). An uncredited Leo McKern played Carl Bugenhagen.

Patrick Troughton played Father Brennan (book version: Edgardo Emilio Tassone). Anthony Nicholls played Dr. Becker. Robert Rietty played Monk.Tommy Duggan played Priest. 

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A remake was released stateside on June 6, 2006 (get it?). Directed by John Moore, IMDb attributes its source material to David Seltzer’s 1976 screenplay.

Liev Schreiber played Robert Thorn. Julia Stiles played Katherine Thorn. Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick played Damien Thorn (ages four to five).

Giovanni Lombardo Radice played Father Spiletto. David Thewlis played Keith Jennings. Pete Postlethwaite played Father Brennan. Michael Gambon played Bugenhagen.

Mia Farrow played Mrs. Baylock. Harvey Stephens, who played Damien in the original film, played "Tabloid Reporter #3."

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The television show Damien aired on A&E on March 7, 2016. On May 20th of the same year, A&E cancelled it after one season.

Damien, ignoring the storylines of Damien: Omen II (1978) and The Final Conflict (1981), reimagined Damien Thorne as a thirty-year-old war photographer who─after years of not being aware of his satanic destiny─is confronted by it during a photo shoot. This drawn-out, angsty, cultists-grooming-Damien-for-hellish-majesty show had Damien (played by Bradley James) resisting the insanity of the situation, though he was slowly succumbing to it.

Other actors in the show included: Megalyn Echikunwoke (as Simone Baptiste); Omid Abtahi (as Amani Golkar); Barbara Hershey (as Ann Rutledge); Robin Weigert (as Sister Greta Fraueva); and Scott Wilson (as John Lyons).

The Boys from Brazil by Ira Levin

(pb; 1976)

From the back cover

“Scattered throughout the world, ninety-four men. Each one a civil servant. Each one approaching retirement. Each one harmless, unknown to the other. Each one marked for death.

“Hiding in the jungles of Brazil, a Nazi scientist with a diabolical plan to create a new Hitler─and the deadly means to carry it out.”

Review

Boys is an intense, sharp and entertaining B-movie take on horrific world events, with a role-shifting cat-and-mouse game between Lieberman, the avenging Jew, and Mengele, the homicidal scientist, as the structure. Levin’s prose is tight, the characters well-developed, the action succinct and gripping, the pathos affecting, and the scenario─wild as it is─even more plausible when re-read in 2020 (I read it decades ago, when I was a teenager). This is an excellent, memorable thriller, one worth owning.

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The resulting film was released stateside on October 6, 1978. Franklin J. Schaffner directed it, from a screenplay by Heywood Gould.

Laurence Olivier played Ezra Lieberman. Gregory Peck played Dr. Josef Mengele. James Mason played Eduard Seibert. Lilli Palmer played Esther Lieberman. Bruno Ganz played Professor Bruckner.

Steve Guttenberg, billed as Steven Guttenberg, played Barry Kohler. Denholm Elliott played Sidney Beynon. Walter Gotell played Mundt. Rosemary Harris played Mrs. Doring.

Uta Hagen played Frieda Maloney. John Dehner played Henry Wheelock. Anne Meara played Mrs. Curry.

Jeremy Black played Jack Curry / Simon Harrington / Erich Doring / Bobby Wheelock.

The Executioners by John D. MacDonald

(pb; 1957, 1958: also published under the title Cape Fear)


From the back cover:

"For fourteen years convicted rapist Max Cady nursed his hatred for Sam Bowden into an insane passion for revenge. He lived only for the day he would be free -- free to track down and destroy the man who put him behind bars.

"Murder was merciful compared to what Cady had in mind -- and what Cady had in mind was Bowden's innocent and lovely teenaged daughter. . ."


Review:

Taut, realistic, and terrifying work, this. Its terrors strike at the heart of what most of us subconsciously fear: losing those we love to primordial forces beyond our control.

MacDonald leavens Cady's intended brutalities -- which are largely left to the reader's imagination, but more effective for being so -- by intercutting them with scenes of Sam Bowden with his affectionate family (his wife, Carol; their three kids), making The Executioners more palatable for squeamish readers.

The actualized violence in the novel is potent enough to send shivers up even the most hardened reader's spine. It's not as explicit or brutal as much of Jack Ketchum's ouevre, but a jungle-law mentality runs darkly through The Executioners, making it read like read like a logical, if restrained, influence on Ketchum's works.

Max Cady is pure malevolence, a canny, "animalistic" predator in our supposedly-civilized world -- one hundred percent nightmare, and all too believable (I've met people like Cady). I'll probably have a bad dream or two about him in the near future, but it's worth it, given how mean and lean this novel is.

Perfect suspense work from a prolific, consistent writer. Own this, already!

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The Executioners has been filmed twice, under the title Cape Fear.

The original Cape Fear was released stateside on April 12, 1962. Gregory Peck played Sam Bowden. Robert Mitchum played Max Cady. Polly Bergen played Peggy Bowden (cinematic stand-in for Carol Bowden). Lori Martin played Nancy Bowden, the Bowdens' teenage daughter. Martin Balsam played Police Chief Mark Dutton. Telly Savalas played Private Detective Charles Sievers. Page Slattery played Deputy Kersek. J. Lee Thompson directed, from a script by James R. Webb.

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The remake, bearing the same title, was released stateside on November 13, 1991. It was directed by Martin Scorsese, and scripted by Wesley Strick (from an earlier script by James R. Webb).

Nick Nolte played Sam Bowden. Robert DeNiro played Max Cady. Jessica Lange played Leigh Bowden (cinematic stand-in for Carol Bowden). Juliette Lewis played Danielle Bowden (cinematic stand-in for Nancy Bowden). Joe Don Baker played Claude Kersek. Robert Mitchum, who played Max Cady in the original film, played Lieutenant Elgart, an honest cop, in the remake. Gregory Peck, who played Sam Bowden in the original film, played a sleazy lawyer named Lee Heller in the remake. Martin Balsam, who played Police Chief Mark Dutton in the original film, played a "Judge" in the remake.

Illeana Douglas played Lori Davis. Charles Scorsese, Martin Scorsese's father, played a "Fruitstand Customer". Catherine Scorsese, Martin Scorsese's mother, played a "Fruitstand Customer". Domenica Cameron-Scorsese, Martin Scorsese daughter, played "Danny's Girlfriend".