Drinking And Screaming - A Horror Movie Review Podcast · Charlene Bayer & Kelly Wright

S6E14: The Omen (1976)

October 10, 2022·44 min·2 clips

Gregory Peck and the crew were hit by lightning, car crashes, and a bombing during production.

1. Drinking And Screaming’s S6E14 covers The Omen (1976), a horror film from the Halloween extravaganza. 2. Kelly and her cohost host the show, mixing horror-movie review with cocktail-making and personal commentary. 3. The episode asks whether The Omen works as a classic horror film or as a slow, overpraised family drama. 4. They open with the “ominous martini,” built from rhubarb liqueur, coconut vodka, and lemon juice. 5. The hosts warn listeners that the episode includes sexism, miscarriages, and child death. 6. Robert Thorne, played by Gregory Peck, is described as an American ambassador who lies to his wife about their dead baby. 7. The hosts keep returning to the family’s wealth and argue that the film gives them no convincing reason to care about the Thornes. 8. Kelly says the movie’s rich characters “did not utilize any of their wealth in an appropriate way.” 9. They contrast The Omen with The Conjuring, where they found the family easier to care about. 10. Their strongest complaint is that the movie is “incredibly boring a lot of the time” despite a few striking scenes. 11. The photographer’s visions become the most interesting plot device for them because he sees death before it happens. 12. They single out the priest impalement and the photographer’s head-slicing death as visually memorable moments. 13. The hosts also mention the zoo sequence with baboons and a car, which they find unusually intense. 14. They say Damien’s calm behavior makes him seem more like a rambunctious child than a supernatural threat. 15. Kelly connects that reading to a Seinfeld joke where Kramer calls Damien “just a rambunctious little kid.” 16. They debate whether the film is truly about the devil or about adults projecting fear onto a child they did not want. 17. The tone is sarcastic, conversational, and skeptical, with frequent side comments about class and religion. 18. The format moves from cocktail talk to plot summary, then to opinion, trivia, and recommendation. 19. Listeners who like classic horror trivia and sharp movie criticism should enjoy it. 20. Listeners wanting reverent praise for The Omen should probably skip it.

As heard by us

A playful horror discussion that keeps the film's dread in view without flattening the hosts' personalities.

Drinking and Screaming's The Omen episode keeps its queer, feminist point of view up front while still feeling like a loose Halloween hangout.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

Want The Omen with cocktails and queer horror banter?

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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