Kirk Douglas' 49-Year-Old The Omen Ripoff Is Now A Cult Classic In Its Own Right

The Omen was a massive hit upon release in 1976, with Richard Donner's demonic extravaganza grossing north of $60 million (around $340 million in today's money). Its real impact, however, wouldn't be felt for another decade or so. Initially dismissed by some as a gimmicky horror, much time passed before The Omen came to be appreciated as a true genre classic.

The film's cultural impact was huge regardless, the name "Damien" becoming synonymous with Harvey Spencer Stephens' creepy performance. A direct line of influence can also be drawn from The Omen to the possession movie boom that started in the late 2000s with the likes of Paranormal Activity and The Conjuring.

Naturally, The Omen's success spawned many copycats and ripoffs. Most were swiftly forgotten, but one has stood the test of time and become a cult classic in its own right.

Kirk Douglas' The Chosen Blatantly Ripped Off The Omen

Released only a year after The Omen, Kirk Douglas starred in The Chosen, also known as Holocaust 2000. Douglas plays Robert Caine, who is clearly intended as the counterpart to Gregory Peck's Robert Thorn from The Omen, the subtle difference here simply being that Caine is a business entrepreneur and industrialist, whereas Thorn is the United States' ambassador to the U.K.

Just like in The Omen, Kirk Douglas' character has a son whose presence sparks a raft of suspicious deaths. Damien and Angel (The Chosen's own spooky spawn) are both responsible for bumping off individuals who threaten their grand designs. Damien targeted his original nanny, a meddlesome priest, and his pregnant mother; Angel removed anyone who stood in the way of his father building a nuclear power plant.

Both movies link religious scripture to current events, such as The Omen interpreting "eternal sea" to mean Robert Thorn's world of politics. In The Chosen, the power plant's architecture is fatefully pulled right from a prophecy.

Despite superficial changes to job titles and character names, The Chosen follows the same overall progression as its demonic predecessor: an influential figure played by a Hollywood legend has a son who seeks to use his father's lofty position to bring about the apocalypse.

Kirk Douglas' The Chosen Is Now Considered A Cult Classic

Initially caught up in the wave of wannabe Damiens, The Chosen copied The Omen one more time by taking a few years to find its audience. The ripoff succeeds by embracing the wackier elements of The Omen's premise, which both differentiates it from Donner's movie and creates a certain intangible schlocky charm. The presence of Kirk Douglas keeps the biblical nonsense at least somewhat grounded.

So, whereas The Omen is a straight-faced affair from start to finish, The Chosen offsets its inferiority by having more fun - an element so often key to earning cult classic status. It would, however, be remiss not to mention that a certain subplot in Douglas' film has aged horrendously.

The Chosen also offers novel changes in both its setting and its antichrist. Moving from Europe and the U.S. to the Middle East injects The Chosen with a markedly different tone, as does the casting of Simon Ward as Angel Caine. Unlike 5-year-old Damien, who was never really a proper character, the fully-grown Angel affords The Chosen a distinct breed of threat. Angel is able to openly scheme against his poor dad, leading to a battle of wills rather than the one-man crusade seen in The Omen.