Damien
Season 1 Episode 1: “The Beast Rises”
Directed by Shekhar Kapur
Written by Glen Mazzara
Created by Glen Mazzara
Starring Bradley James, Barbara Hershey, Megalyn EK, Omid Abtahi, Scott Wilson, David Meunier, Tiffany Hines, Sam Anderson
A&E
Air Date: Monday, March 7th, 2016, 10pm

Richard Donner’s The Omen (1976) is legitimately the scariest movie I ever saw. As a young kid, I made it an hour before I ran screaming from the room and slept with the light on for weeks. I couldn’t get Jerry Goldsmith’s Oscar winning score out of my head, and I had nightmares of the theme, “Ave Satani.” While The Exorcist (1973) is more notorious, The Omen was more subtle, relying on the music, and editing to create horrific moments, rather than persistent gross out shocks. So when I heard a show based on one my favorite horror films was coming to the network that already has one of the best horror shows on TV (A&E/Bates Motel) I was psyched. I was even more psyched after watching the premiere episode “The Beast Rises,” the 33-year old version of myself was similar to the 9-year old; after watching it, I stayed awake another 2 hours unable to sleep.

SPOILERS Below!

Mondays are now officially “Horror Night” on A&E as Damien is set to join the already successful Bates Motel in the cable network’s prime time lineup. Damien is based on Richard Donner’s 1976 classic The Omen, which is about a wealthy political family whose adopted son turns out to be the Antichrist. Now a 30-year old war photographer, Damien begins having visions of the childhood he doesn’t remember, a childhood filled with crazy nannies, demonic rottweilers, and a father who was shot trying to kill him. A&E has released three sneak peek clips of Mondays premiere episode.

Check out the 3 sneak peek videos below.

Horror on TV is en vogue. Sure, for years cable and network television have been flooded with vampires, werewolves, and zombies, but in the past few years some our favorite movies have gone from the big screen to the small screen. MTV padded its summer schedule with a series based on Wes Craven’s Scream. The folks behind American Horror Story and Glee created a 80s horror homage with Scream Queens in the fall and Starz brought back the cult classic Evil Dead with Bruce Campbell for a 10-episode run last winter in Ash vs. Evil Dead. Rumors of a Friday the 13th series as well as Exorcist one are circulating. A&E, the network that brought Alfred Hitchcock’s classic Psycho to the world of episodic television with Bates Motel in 2013, is now making a show based on the scariest movie I ever saw, Richard Donner’s The Omen, called simply Damien.

Check out the trailer below.

The Damien panel at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con excited audiences on Thursday, when The Walking Dead alum (and a fan favorite) Scott Wilson (Hershel) joined Executive Producer Glen Mazzara (also ex-TWD), along with lead Bradley James (iZombie) and Barbara Hershey playing Ann Rutledge (Once Upon A Time) made an appearance. There they discussed what to expect (and what not to expect), and by the looks of the trailer, it will fit right in following Bates Motel next spring.

Check out the official trailer here below.

When you ask most people what the scariest movie ever made is, the typical answer is The Exorcist. While that is a classic, my pick has always been Richard Donner’s The Omen from 1976.

After two theatrical sequels and a made for TV 4th sequel, The Awakening, The Omen was remade and released (for obvious reasons) on June 6th, 2006 starring Liev Schreiber and Julia Stiles. Now, A&E is bringing Damien Thorn to the small screen in Damien, and a first look video for the show has been released.

Check out the Damien first look video here below.