The Omen vs Rosemary's Baby

Better?

 

Like both but for me, Rosemary's Baby is the better piece of work.
Just better pace, better script, better acted & directed.

The Omen probably loses due to some ridiculousness in parts and still comes off 2nd-best to The Exorcist.

 

I dunno.

I think Gregory Peck does a better acting job in The Omen than anyone in RB.

 

I'd take The Omen over The Exorcist anyday.

 

The Exorcist is better than both, IMO... three (arguably four if you included Max von Sydow) crucial, complex, engrossing characters expertly interwoven... it's great storytelling and every actor delivers a great performance... it tackles a subject that should be preposterously stupid in ingenious ways

RB is definitely better than The Omen... much more complexity to the characters (Farrow is one of the most easily sympathetic protagonists ever, Ruth Gordon is brilliant and nearly steals the movie) and Shitbag Polanski's flair for capturing moods creates real terror with minimal visual cues and makes the cultists genuinely scary (its pitifully easy to completely fuck this up and make them cartoonish which is why movies with this kind of dynamic are typically very poor) ... I give it a slightly lower rating than The Exorcist for two minor reasons ... I've always found John Cassavetes a bit wooden as Guy and the slowness with which Rosemary catches on to the ulterior motives at play is mildly (mildly) irritating

The Omen is very enjoyable and is as tasteful as possible given its subject matter but there's basically only one multi-faceted character (Peck) ... while the child is the symbol of the antagonist, his youth makes him largely a passive figure in the film ... so the antagonist is intangible; it's evil itself ... and ultimately I think the weakness of the film (only speaking comparatively, of course... it's still very good) is that it struggles with how best to convey that force ... the solution is essentially Peck's encounters with dangerous people/creatures (the Dogs, the crazed nanny, ultimately the police) and the deaths of characters who are entirely one-dimensional (the priest, Remick, the photographer) which makes for some memorable moments but still feels a little bit campy in a way the other two avoid

The first two are 5 star type films...

The Omen is a 4 star type of film. Excellent, totally entertaining, well made. But it's not extraordinary or exceptional in the ways those two are

 

There's no real "terror" in RB.

It's a superb movie, but it's not scary at all.

I think it can be fair to say that RB is the better film, but The Omen is the better horror flick.

 

Very nice breakdown Cdizzle. I’ve never seen RB but I agree with all your Omen points.

 

You've moved the goalposts to allow your own personal favoritism: 'better' has now turned into 'scarier'.

 

The Omen is one of those movies that gets positive reviews retrospectively.
I remember when it came out, people really thought it was 'entertainingly scary' rather than 'creepy'.
Critics at the time hammered it:
"a dreadfully silly film"
"predictably contrived script"
"some memorable scenes in an overall goofy movie"
"summer smash lacking the appeal & impact of last year's summer smash, Jaws"
"piece of junk"
"more laughs than your average comedy"
And so on...

Rosemary' Baby is pretty much one of those movies that received both audience/critical acclaim from the start, didnt need a big marketing campaign, didn't require any schlock-horror, and remains impervious to negative crticism.

Plus, I already said it's the better movie.

 

Basically, X, you have been well and truly #pwned

 

I wouldn't say that much - in fact I'm surprised Xplosive prefers The Omen being as he's a Hitchcock fan, e.g. psychological suspense over visual-fear/thrills

 

Didnt say I preferred The Omen.

I agreed that RB is better.

 

I prefer REED to Xplosive

 

I don't care who you prefer....




You fuckin whore.

 

Wow, great write up, you should do more of these.

 

So, that's that over with, then.

Rosemary's Baby by (predictable) shut-out.


Next!

 

RB vs Psycho

 

PSYCHO!

 

Psycho is just fuckin nuts

 

In fact, I'm in the minority of the people who liked 78/52 - the documentary on how the shower scene was created.

 

There's a MAJORITY who disliked it?

I thought it was one of the best documentaries ever made on filmmaking.

 

Apparently it didn't go down to well with....'da critics'.

 

Exorcist is one of those rare films where the sequel was even better than the original.

 

Fuck them! I thought it was excellent, and extremely insightful/compelling.

And yeah, Psycho blows RB away.

 

I bet you tell that to all the messageboard dudes, you sweet talker!

 

I prefer Psycho

 

I watched Rosemary's Baby only once. Found slow, boring and it never paid off as a horror scene except for the brief nightmare scene. Extremely overrated IMO.

I have watched The Omen quite a few times. It has dated bad, but at the time it made quite an impact. It was the film that gave me curiosity about reading the bible and it started my spiritual journey. That plus the fact that Gregory Peck was one of my All Time favorite actors and Richard Donner proved with his next film that he wasn't a one-hit-wonder, made a perfect combination for a very entertaining film. The sequels SUCK!

 

The Omen is a classic.

I wouldn't put Rosemary's Baby in the same league as it though, but it is pretty disturbing and horrific.

 

If you mean The Omen is in the Championship and Rosemary's Baby is in the Premiership then yes, you'd be correct.

 

I re-watched RB yesterday (on Hulu), and I re-watched The Omen on Sunday.

I gotta be honest, The Omen is just a better horror flick.

Rosemary's Baby is well-made, but there's zero creepy/disturbing about it. I'm SURE it was creepy in 1968, but that scare factor hasn't aged well.

Unlike Psycho, which is still scary to this day.

The old ass Cassavettes are not scary/creepy people, and are barely believable.

The Omen also has a better ending than RB.