When I first heard that a remake of ‘The Omen’ was in the works, I thought it was a nifty idea. When I heard those responsible wanted the film to capitalize on a targeted release date -June, 6, 2006 – my heart sank. Feels like a gimmick. Still, some regard Richard Donner’s orginal to be a horror classic. I’m not one of them. See, when John Moore took over, I was sort of hoping, even if writer David Seltzer updated the story and script, that the update would go in other possible directions, and not use some of the plot trappings of the original. The remake turns out not to be a bad film. So why am I disappointed?

Because it is, with the exception of little things like Xbox, cell phones and other advances in technology- as well as opening scenes of real world disasters and evil, such as 9/11- it’s the same movie -aside from the demise of a character or two and how they go out- nearly shot for shot, beat for beat, as Donner’s film. That means, in a nutshell, the same jumps. The same moments of dread. Nanny hangs hereself. A balcony accident. Those mean spirited guard dogs. Everything- just with a bit more funky RGB color schemes in the climax. If you never laid eyes on the original with Gregory Peck, Liev Schreiber does just fine–well, sort of. See, he was also in the ‘Manchurian Candiate’ redo…should it be a criticism? I do know I want to go easy on Julia Stiles in the Lee Remick role, but I can’t buy her, although I was sad to see her character’s troubles as the film progresses. Strange how I felt the same way about Remick. The only real contribution the film makes is the brilliant casting idea of Mia Farrow as the evil nanny. If ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ is redone, I wonder if someone would use up David Warner in a supporting role to return the favor.

One great improvement, other than the casting of Farrow, is the advancement of photographs and evidence of the ghost like premonitions caught on camera. In the updated version, this bit of Omen lore gets the viewer involved and interested. What gets me a viewer un-intrerested is the absurdity of the original film is also kept intact in the film. Why is it, I always wondered, why Damien acts like a shrieking banshee at the mere sight of the crosses on a Catholic church, and the only one seemingly in London. How about past Sunday mornings-? Has the demon spawn always been like this? Afraid of getting tapped in the eye with holy water or sneeze at the smell of incense? If the only way to kill Damien is to stake him on ‘holy ground’ on an ‘altar’, why “that” denomination’s church? Why not Lutheran? Pentacostal? Baptist? It doesn’t help if Seltzer’s miniseries last year ‘Revelations’ is still fresh in the back of people’s minds, or the occasional ‘Omega Code’ films (whose second film borrowed heavilily from Omen II) or the popularity of the “Left Behind’ novels and DTV flicks.

One major difference the new film has from the old, is one ommision of a certain music cue that should have at least been in the end credits, or at least in the film’s original trailer : the Dante Inferno-like chant ” “Sanguis bebimus, corpus edimus-Ave Satani!” The absense of this begs a scarier question: Is this movie Anti-Christ brat scary anymore?

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The Omen (6-6-2006, of course)

Directed by John Moore
Starring: Liev Schreiber, Julia Stiles, Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick, David Thewlis, Pete Postlethwaite and Mia Farrow