The Omen Review Country : USA Year: 2006 Genre: Supernatural / Devilry Format: Cinema Running Time: 105 Minutes Distributor: Twentieth Century-Fox When a politican secretly accepts an orphaned changeling in lieu of his stillborn son, he unwittingly secures the diabolical future of evil incarnate.... Credits Directed by John Moore. Written by Dacid Seltzer. Starring Liev Schreiber, Julia Stiles, David Thewlis, Mia Farrow, Pete Postlethwaite, Giovanni Lombardo Radice and Michael Gambon. The Omen (1976) is one of the premier Horror films when it comes to The Devil. Sadly, the 2006 remake pales in comparison....another case of the trailer being better than the actual film itself. Liev Schreiber (Scream II and III) plays Robert Thorn, a wealthy politician and Julia Stiles (10 Things I Hate About You) is his wife, Katherine. Katherine is pregnant but after the baby is born it dies before the mother can see it. Knowing the shock that Katherine will receive Father Spiletto (Giovanni Lombardo Radice a.k.a. John Morghen from Fulci's The Gates of Hell) convinces Robert to take an orphaned child as their own. The child was born at the same time and day so all would be well....sure. They name their child Damien. Five years later while (by default) Robert is U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain, the child's past starts to come to life. Their first nanny decides to hang herself at Damien's fifth birthday party. Thereafter a Father Brannen (Pete Postlethwaite), visits the Robert to tell them that the child they took as his own is the son of the Devil. Thorn doesn't believe him and tries to go on with his life. A new nanny is brought in, Mrs. Baylock (brilliantly played by Mia Farrow), and Damien seems to take an immediate liking to her. After this we see incidents of Damien and his fear of churches. On the way to church he kicks and screams and forces his parents to abandon that Christening, beating the living shit out of Katherine (one of the better scenes). At the Zoo, the baboons attack the glass. Father Brannen finally gets a shot with Robert to talk to him but Robert is still a non-believer. Minutes after the meeting ends, the Father is killed. When Kathy becomes pregnant again, Robert refuses all notions of an abortion, but it is with that that Damien injures his mom with his Razor scooter rather than the cool ass big wheel, thereby terminating her pregnancy. Finally, with the help of a photographer, Keith (David Thewlis) Jennings, Robert goes to see an Israeli archeologist, Bugenhagen, who knows who Damien is. It is then that Damien has finally met his match or is the son of the Devil up for a game? Does this at all sound familiar? Yes, it does... Of course we get the speared priest and the decapitation, which is hands down the best scene in the film, but I couldn't help but think of the Final Destination films while watching this movie. It brought absolutely nothing new to the table. Other than the opening, this was almost a shot for shot remake, but without the excellent performances from Gregory Peck and Lee Remick. I mean the original end scene where Robert is about to dispatch of the little devil, it just did not hold a candle to Peck and his brilliant emotion. Schreiber, while an excellent actor, seemed really wooden, and Stiles was just....there. The stand outs in the film were of course Mia Farrow (who gives the film's best scare), Giovanni Lombardo Radice and Michael Gambon as Bugenhagen. And what about Damien? Newcomer Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick was just too damn cute to be the Antichrist and brought nothing creepy to the role like Harvey Stephens did in the original. Not to mention, the direction from John Moore was just off, not creepy or ominous, and didn't hold a candle to Richard Donner's brilliant direction of the original. And you know what else? I'm tired of these shock cuts and visions where the actors flip around all fast....has this effect not been done to death? It's just NOT SCARY ANYMORE!!!! And finally, where is the scary music? It's not there!!! For God's sake, one of the scariest parts in the original was the brilliant score from Jerry Goldsmith. Marco Beltrami tried to recreate it, but failed. Overall, the film was good, but nothing special and certainly nothing new. I expected a whole lot more from all the 06-06-06 hype. That, the trailer, and the poster were the most exciting aspects of the film. One thing this film did originally was forever curse the name, Damien, but now you can expect plenty of goth kids to be naming their children Damien because I have a feeling this film will make some huge box office. However, it's worth a watch, and it gets the Pit seal of approval for sure. The film opens wide this Tuesday 06-06-06. OFFICIAL SITE DISCUSS ON OUR FORUMS Review by John Gray, for Pitofhorror.com