Standard horror remake

Considering the paranoid religious gibberish pertaining to the release of Richard Donner's 1976 horror flick The Omen, it's scarcely surprising that a remake was commissioned to tie in with the rare date of 6-6-06. In the current cinematic age, remakes of horror movies are a fickle beast endlessly being rolled out for money. Only rarely have I witnessed a horror remake that produced decent results (I have yet to see a brilliant remake) such as Zack Snyder's reinvention of Dawn of the Dead. Other remakes such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre have become some of the worst segments of modern cinema. Put very simply, Hollywood has become too lazy to create original ideas, so they're recycling and reusing ideas for an easy profit. The creative team for The Omen were so lazy that the person who penned the screenplay for the original (David Seltzer) was hired to polish his own script for the remake.

This remake is absolutely futile. In essence, this remake adds nothing but occasionally impressive gory CGI effects, tasteless references to modern disasters (as a way of displaying the fulfilment of some religious mumbo jumbo that supposedly describes the signs of an impending Armageddon) and a more refined visual style. Aside from that it's essentially a word-for-word, almost shot-for-shot remake of Richard Donner's 1976 original with no additional scares. The filmmakers could have expanded the original film...they could have executed an entirely different treatment of the Book of Revelations...instead this is a purely futile duplicate of the original. Sure, some may think that if this is identical to the original than the scares must be the same...right? Wrong! The death scenes are more predictable, Marco Beltrami's score cannot set the creepy atmosphere of Jerry Goldsmith's music, and the cast are mainly woeful.

The plot is of course identical to that of Richard Donner's 1976 original, except the opening is a little different. The opening of this film depicts activity at the Vatican as the sighting of a comet confirms the world is on the eve of Armageddon. Cut to political figure Robert Thorn (Schreiber) who's racing to the hospital to be with his wife Katherine (Stiles) who has gone into labour. Complications during childbirth leave the child stillborn and Katherine unconscious with permanent damage to her womb resulting in an inability to bear another child. Father Spiletto (Radice), a priest working at the hospital, offers Robert a replacement for his loss: a young child born on the same night whose mother passed away during labour. Believing it is best for his wife's sake, Robert agrees to take the child; raising it as his own with Katherine's oblivious to the situation. Roughly 5 years later, young Damien (Davey-Fitzpatrick) is developing smoothly. But a series of peculiar deaths result in suspicions that the child is in fact the Antichrist - the son of the devil. Robert Thorn then works with photographer Keith Jennings (Thewlis) to discover more about the heritage of Damien.

The characters are portrayed poorly by a disappointing cast. Liev Schreiber cannot replace someone of Gregory Peck's stature. It's impossible to comprehend the praise that Schreiber received. He's a dreadful actor: emotionless expressions, monotone voice, no intensity in line deliveries. Julia Stiles should never have become an actress. Every time Stiles hauls her oversized cranium into shot, the movie grinds to a screeching halt as the theme of the film flips from proficient thriller to daytime soap-opera territory. Mia Farrow supplies the film with the only terrifying moments (a faint praise) as Damien's demonic nanny. Farrow flexed her only decent acting muscle in Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby...roughly 40 years ago! Her time arrived and passed long ago. Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick is not sinister or frightening...he's an innocent little boy who cannot act! In the original, the young boy's facial expressions sent chills down your spine. Davey-Fitzpatrick sends tickles down your spine. David Thewlis was nominated for a Razzie award for 'Worst Actor'. I'm shocked at this because Thewlis is one of the only good actors in an otherwise dreadful cast. Julia Stiles and Liev Schreiber should have received the nominations! Pete Postlethwaite is frequently sincere in the role as a priest trying to warn Schreiber's Robert Thorn of the danger. Unfortunately, even he cannot cover up the flaws in the rest of the cast.

Overall, The Omen is yet another addition to the disparagingly extensive list of horror remakes that should never have been authorised. Perhaps as a standalone film it'd be a decent horror outing for the genre buffs. For those who've never seen Richard Donner's 1976 original, maybe some satisfaction will be uncovered. John Moore is a competent director who brings an intriguing visual style to the production; however this remake is pointless and there was never an apposite warrant for a remake (apart from the obvious marketing purposes). At the end of the day you end up wondering what the point was. Cinematic déjà vu is the most probable reaction.

4.2/10