Omen (2006)

directed by John Moore

As many of you know, on Friday nights in our household we order out and watch a movie. Since it was just Halloween weekend, I wanted to see something that would really creep me out. I don’t like watching scary movies by myself; Brian doesn’t really like watching them at all because most of them are so rotten. We don’t have a Netflix account because the DVDs wouldn’t fit in our mailbox, and because we live in an apartment, anyone could just pick up the package from the floor. And…pretty much all of the nearby Blockbusters have closed down, so we rely a lot on Comcast On Demand. Unfortunately, the choices aren’t the best, but the other night we decided to give this remake of the 1976 super-creepy film, The Omen a shot.

I remember being sufficiently creeped out by The Omen, so I hoped this would do the same. Though I was a tween when I saw the original, most of the story seemed the same: a U.S. Ambassador to England and his wife have a son, Damien, who might possibly be the anti-Christ. I especially remember a scene that takes place at Damien’s 5th birthday party and which was effectively included in the remake. The only other thing I remember from the original was that Damien was cuter and that at the end, his father has to make a touch decision.

This movie has an awesome cast that includes Liev Schreiber, Julia Stiles, Pete Postlethwaite, Mia Farrow, David Thewlis, and Michael Gambon, so my expectations were high. I mean, come on: the (remade) Manchurian Candidate, the chick from most every modernized version of Shakespearean plays, Kobayashi (Keyser Söze’s right-hand man — Keyer Söze? as in the devil himself???), Rosemary (as in the one who gave birth to a devil baby), Professor Lupin, and Dumbledore. In fact, Lord Voldemort has a cameo. I shit you not. I don’t mean the actor, either. The acting wasn’t superb, but it wasn’t horrible; it was certainly more than mediocre.

Though the film was beautifully shot, the cinematographer went overkill on the visual metaphors suggesting all things evil. I don’t remember enough about the original for this version to be ruined for me, but this much I can tell you: I was not sufficiently creeped out.