Before he stormed the box office with 1976 horror The Omen, director Richard Donner was stuck helming episodes of Kojak and The Six Million Dollar Man. In his modest introduction to this 30th Anniversary Edition DVD he takes the credit for funding "George Lucas's little action film" Star Wars, which was Fox's next major venture after this bone-chilling tale of the antichrist in pint-sized form. For star Gregory Peck (playing dad) it was one of the last big hits of his career.

To Hell And Back

As well as helping to greenlight Star Wars, Donner takes credit for boosting sales of the Christian bible in the documentary The Omen Revealed. He stops just short of declaring himself the Messiah and sings the praises of Alan Ladd Jr who set up the project at Fox after everyone else turned it down. It was the brainchild of producer Harvey Bernhard who insists, "I simply believe the devil did not want this picture to be made." Cue the catalogue of mysterious happenings behind the scenes, including a plane being struck by lightening and the IRA machine-gunning Gregory Peck's favourite London restaurant. (These anecdotes are regurgitated in the featurette Curse Or Coincidence? on disc one.)

Later on Donner talks about staging the scene where Damien's mother (Lee Remick) takes a tumble off the balcony. However, much more amusing is the story behind the filming of the baboon attack that nearly wound up in real-life carnage. Donner jokingly says of Remick, "We had to change her wardrobe three times." Another documentary, The Omen: The Legacy retreads the same ground except that it benefits from a creepy voiceover by Jack Palance.

In the Screenwriter's Notebook, David Seltzer explains that he only took the job because "I needed the money" and set it in England because he fancied a holiday there. As the featurette progresses, however, we see that Seltzer took the work quite seriously, swotting up on the Book Of Revelations and working with Donner to tone down some of the more fantastical elements of his first draft.

The Number Of The Beast

Composer Jerry Goldsmith isolates four scenes to explain his creative process. For instance, when Damien goes to a church, he talks about Donner wanting a "strong rhythmic" number "like Jaws". Other extras include horror maestro Wes Craven talking about his favourite scenes and naming Donner one of our "primo directors". Perhaps he would revise his opinion if he saw one deleted scene where Robert (Peck) and son Damien (Harvey Stephens) are attacked by rabid dogs. Donner confesses, "It was cut very badly."

Don't bother tuning into Donner's film commentary with editor Stuart Baird. It's just a couple of old farts stumbling half-blind down memory lane, ie Donner asking, "Remember that?" to which Baird replies either "Oh, yeah," or, "Um. No." The alternative track, which Donner shares with writer/director Brian Helgeland, is much more edifying. Helgeland has absolutely nothing to do with the making of the film, but he comes from the standpoint of a fan, asking Donner questions about the nuts-and-bolts of production. Occasionally Donner gets quite technical, talking about the Panavision lenses that allowed him to shoot vast landscapes and at the same time preserve an "intimate" feel. Occasionally he just blathers like a madman: "I have a picture of Ed Begley as a ghost in my yard..."

This DVD is a wild ride, a bit bumpy in places, but fans of the seminal horror flick won't be disappointed.

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