OK as some of you may know im a bit of a movie buff and a pretty anal critic.
The Omen has been a classic of mine since I was a kid, I remember watching it hiding behind the sofa and I've always held a morbid curiosity for the supernatural because of this movie, in particular I am a huge fan of the novels (the original by David Seltzer is a must for any fan of this genre)
The first question I asked when i first heard about this remake was "why"?
The original for me was perfect. No gore, no cheap thrills, typical British suspense/horror film making in the style of Hammer, a great cast. Brilliant.
Well I just got back from the gimmicky 06/06/06 showing and surprisingly it was packed. In fact they told me it was sold out and I couldnt get a ticket, so I just bought a ticket for Xmen and walked in knowing there would be seats as there was a huge queue at the concessions (nice trick if you havent done it before).
Several things worked well. Several things didn't work so well and there was one huge huge thing missing.
The things that went well were the death scenes. Really cool actually and slightly twisted from the original. I wont post spoilers but you will like them. Also there were a few times that you jumped out of your skin, not in a "horror" sense but more psycological - which works for me.
What didnt work was some of the acting and some of the dialogue (like the way certain things were pronounced - like Bugenhagen and Megido - the yank says it one way the Preist and Jennings says it another etc). Now its very hard not to compare with the original but if you've seen the original you wont help yourself. The Thorns were crap imho (although Leiv Scheiber did a better job than julia styles did) Mia Farrow as Mrs Blaylock wasnt bad although not as good or as scary as Billie Whitelaw (Mia Farrow you may remember was in the famous rosemarys baby - but she just seemed too sweet and nice (although thats how she was played in the book tbh) - I also didnt like the Kathy death scene in this movie - pretty lame)
The actors who DID work for me were Pete Postlethwaite as the priest Brennan and David Thwelin as Jennings (Keith in the movie but his name was Haber in the book) They were actually very good. As good as the originals if not better. Dumbledore (sorry Michael Gambon) played Bugenhagen. So so - didn't rattle my cage - preferred Rumpole.
Now the boy Damian. Too much scowling. Not "sweet" enough (I use the term loosley - more like sweet with a "la-la-de-da-do-the-hokey-cokey-yeah-you're-dead-if-you-look-at-me-like-that-again" kinda persona - I felt like he over acted - although for a little kid - not too bad. Not terrifying enough in the way the original was though. Although the very very end scene was quite chilling.
Now the huge thing missing you ask? The score. The music just wasnt there - thats what made the original so psycologically terrifying. It just didnt work for me in that sense. In fact when I warez this I may add the score myself - it pissed me off THAT much - fans of the original will know what Im talking about.
Scenes better than the original:
The beginning.
The graveyard scene at Cervete
The priest getting pinned
Jennings getting a bit light headed
Blaylock gets pwned
Over all a good movie, if i wasnt such a fan of the original id give it an 8
However as the score was non existent and some of the acting was wooden ill give it a generous 7/10
I look forward to hearing others' views
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