In 1973, The Exorcist changed the way horror films were perceived. The film shocked audiences and instantly became known as the scariest film of all time. Today, the film still mostly has that distinction. While still known as a terrifying classic, many horror fans are naming other films they feel better deserve that title. While this is purely subjective, there is no doubt The Exorcist is at the very least one of the scariest movies. But what film could dare stand up to it?

To many fans, 1973's The Omen is a top contender. The film follows a politician who secretly adopts a newborn baby after his own son dies in childbirth. As his adopted son, named Damien, grows older, it is revealed he may very well be the Antichrist. While The Exorcist is and will always be terrifying, The Omen is scary in a different way. Here are a few reasons The Omen could very well beat out The Exorcist as the scariest movie of all time.

Damien is More Threatening Than Reagan

Damien Thorne
20th Century Fox

One of several things the two films have in common is a child is at the center. Damien is the Devil's spawn while The Exorcist's Reagan is a girl possessed by a demon. While Reagan is no doubt one of the scariest things ever put to film, let's look at them if they were real. When it is all said and done, Reagan is simply a vessel. While she looks terrifying and her actions are unspeakable, it can be argued that it isn't Reagan doing it.

Damien looks like a normal child. At no point does he look demonic or disfigured, and he doesn't do anything directly malicious throughout the first film. However, it is what he is and what others will do on his behalf that is chilling. Anyone who comes into contact with Damien that doesn't serve the ultimate purpose of bringing on the apocalypse will be dealt with in a deadly fashion.

Related: The Exorcist: Every Movie In The Franchise, Ranked

Not even Damien's own mother is safe. Most people who encounter Damien have no idea what he is, and yet they will often times die in horrible fashion for no other reason than being in the way. The only people the possessed Reagan dealt with were the ones who tried to deal with her directly. Also, Reagan is clearly possessed while, again, Damien is as normal as any child. While this is bad enough, defeating the two children is another beast entirely. As The Exorcist showed, once Reagan is exorcised, she is a normal girl again. Damien will never be normal. He was quite literally born evil. The only way to stop him is to kill him, and who could kill a child? Even his father couldn't do it even though he saw firsthand what his son is. Damien is much harder to defeat, and the older he gets, the more powerful he is.

The Omen is Darker

Damien at church
20th Century Fox

While Pazuzu, the demon from The Exorcist, was certainly terrifying, his end goal wasn't nearly as dire as the one in The Omen. Pazuzu simply wanted to damn the souls of those he possessed and to get revenge on Father Merrin. If he was successful, then only two lives would have been lost. With Damien, the end goal was the end of times. The literal apocalypse was at stake in The Omen, which is a bit more dire. The threat of the end of the world and the rise of Satan looming over the film makes things arguably darker in The Omen. It is almost like, for lack of a better word, a bad omen is lurking in the film's plot, giving the viewer a sense of dread. Once things get going, The Omen is a foreboding film with little breathing room.

Related: The Exorcist Star Ellen Burstyn Explains Why She Returned For Upcoming Sequel

Even when some levity presents itself in the form of a helpful character, they are dispatched in a brutal manner. Even The Exorcist has a happy ending, while the final shot in The Omen is the literal face of evil grinning, having been victorious. The Omen isn't just scary, it is depressing and ominous. It is the type of film that sticks around long after the end credits roll. While The Exorcist certainly sticks with viewers, Omen will make them second guess any child, even their own. Everything will seem like a sign of the end times, and they will not feel truly safe for a long time.

The Omen is Spiritually More Upsetting

Damien graveyard
20th Century Fox

The Exorcist is absolutely upsetting. Seeing an actual child do and say the things the script calls for is not an easy thing to watch. The Omen, however, is upsetting on a different level. What makes The Omen so unsettling is the feeling of hopelessness. With The Exorcist, there is always the fleeting feeling that things will turn out okay. The titular Father Merrin has tangled with Pazuzu before and has come out on top. So even when things are at their worst, there is a very faint feeling of hope. With The Omen, there is no hope. When a priest, one of the symbols of hope and good, is violently killed, all bets are off.

Even when things are made clear that there is a way to kill Damien, it is still discussing killing a child. Evil or not, talk of killing a child will leave a bad taste in viewers' mouths. Not to mention the countless talk of Satan and the Antichrist will upset many viewers depending on their beliefs. As mentioned before, The Omen is incredibly bleak for most of the film. There is no light in sight and even the destruction of the main threat seems depressing; nobody wins here. While this isn't as blatantly scary as The Exorcist, it could be argued it is worse on a more subconscious level.

At the end of the day, both films are incredibly scary and should be praised as such. Whether a fan feels one of these films or perhaps another is the scariest, it doesn't truly matter. Someone could watch The Exorcist or The Omen and not blink an eye, but lose sleep for days after watching Halloween. It is all subjective and what may scare one person won't scare another. That being said, many fans are finding The Omen scarier on a technical level. Both films are chilling and fantastic, but as to which one is scarier is up to the viewer. Both films are getting new additions, with The Exorcist getting a new reboot series from David Gordon Green (who is just wrapping up his Halloween reboot trilogy) and The Omen getting a prequel. This could enhance or ruin the original depending on who is asked. But when it comes to the first films, fans can at least agree they are horror royalty.