Despite the film being set in America, most of us in Victoria would have heard of the horror film The Omen. But have we all heard of the evil goings-on that surrounded its filming?
A movie set around the life of a demonic little boy and the gruesome deaths that he unleashed, this story was not for the faint-hearted. Filming and post-production saw a number of very strange and dark situations involving the cast and crew of the horror flick, provoking many to believe that the film had angered Lucifer of the underworld, causing him to release his fury through these haunting events.
Prior to and during filming
In the weeks leading up to filming, The Omen star Gregory Peck's son committed suicide and the first day of filming involved a number of crew members being involved in a head-on collision whilst driving, according to MNN. Peck, scriptwriter David Seltzer and executive producer Mace Neufeld all experienced near-death during the weeks of production - whilst on three separate flights, each plane was struck or almost struck by lightning and taken down from the sky.
The deaths and dangers surrounding The Omen have to be more than coincidence.
Another eerie air-related happening occurred when the crew rented a plane for aerial filming, but the aircraft was provided to a different client at the last moment. The plane crashed upon take-off - killing everyone involved. Animals also proved to be affected, as a lion mauled its handler the day after filming the safari park scene and the group of dogs used during the cemetery clip also viciously attacked their handlers.
Post-production
Unfortunately, these dark experiences didn't end when filming finished. The most horrifying story that came from The Omen was several months after the film had wrapped up, and special effects director John Richardson and his assistant Liz Moore were working on a film in The Netherlands. Life imitated art when they were in a car accident and Moore was decapitated on the scene - similar to the scene in The Omen when David Warner's character is beheaded by a sheet of glass - a part Richardson had helped create.
This accident occurred on Friday the 13, 1976.