Starring Liev Schreiber, Julia Stiles, Mia Farrow, David Thewlis,Pete Postlethwaite
Written By: David Seltzer
Directed By: John Moore
Studio: 20th Century Fox
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Judging by this movie, I know now never to fight against Satan’s son because you’ll just end up dead. Might as well just sit back and watch TV and not get involved with everything. But seriously, this is the remake of the 1970’s movie that starred Gregory Peck. This time around, Liev Schreiber has one evil little bastard and has to deal with him. The Omen is a classic horror/thriller film but I’m just not sure this was necessary to remake.

The Omen is about an American family that think their son is the son of the Devil. Man, they must have shitty luck huh? Liev Schreiber plays Robert Thorn, the US Ambassador to England and Julia Stiles plays his unfortunate wife Katherine. They begin to notice certain things about their son Damien when he reaches the age of 2. Ok, so you name your kid Damien and you’re surprised he’s the son of the Devil? Robert Thorn gets approached by a whacked out priest and he pretty much says that Damien is the son of Satan and needs to be killed. Thorn brushes him off but starts to get concerned when his wife keeps getting tormented by Damien and freak accidents start to happen. The kid torments and goes after his mother worse than Stewie Griffin and eventually puts her in the hospital. While all this is happening, Damien gets a nanny and she is very protective of him in a mysterious way. She knows what Damien is and even helps him along with his evil ways. Good interviewing process the Thorns have right? Thorn tries to get to the bottom of things and gets the help from a freelance photographer. But can those two stop the son of Satan before they are both dead?

I never saw the whole original film by Richard Donner, but I have seen parts. But basically this was the first time watching this story. From what I read, this movie was pretty true to the original film and didn’t really deviate from it. Did they even re-write the script for this one? What’s the point of remaking a movie if you aren’t going to change things around that much? But anyway, the acting was standard and nothing really stood out to me. The kid playing Damien just had evil stares and didn’t say much. Damien was creepy looking but doesn’t hold a candle to the little twerp in Pet Sematary or even Problem Child! Yes, I said it! Problem Child mother fuckers! What I liked about the kid was how much he tormented Julia Stiles. There’s nothing more funnier than a little kid riding a little tricycle and having his Mom fall down a ladder AND then down 3 floors. Especially if that mom happens to be Julia Stiles. I like the character that David Thewlis played, but like with most horror thrillers, characters you usually like end up dead. Or in this case, losing their head. I thought the deaths in the film were well done and in the deleted scenes, they were a little bit more gruesome…or in some cases, more cartoony. I thought this movie would have been a little bit gory but it wasn’t that bad. People might be disappointed in that though.

The Omen offers some good bonus features that will satisfy fans. The deleted scenes show more gore and detail in the death scenes, but I can see why they were cut. The featurettes were decent and the documentary about 666 was interesting. I didn’t get a chance to listen to the commentary but it was with the director, the producer and editor of the film. I always like watching featurettes on the composer of the film, and this time you see Marco Beltrami recording at Abbey Road Studios. So there’s a good amount of stuff to watch after you see the film.

If you are looking for a super scary horror flick, the remake of the Omen isn’t it. This is more of a thriller with some scary scenes in it but nothing that THAT scary. I saw the movie from start to finish and I’m a big wimp when it comes to scary flicks so this isn’t that scary. I’m not really sure this movie really needed to be remade and I think they wanted to make this just to release the film on 6/6/06. It’s great marketing that it ended up being released then but in the end, the movie is all right. I think if they were going to remake a movie, do it differently and not so similar to the original film.

Features:
Unrated Extended Scenes and Extended Ending
Commentary By Director John Moore, Producer Glenn Williamson And Editor Dan Zimmerman
Omenisms Documentary
Abbey Road Recording Sessions Featurette
Exclusive Behind-The-Scenes Featurette: Revelation 666

Audio:
ENGLISH: Dolby Digital 5.1 CC
SPANISH: Dolby Digital Surround
FRENCH: Dolby Digital Surround

Video:
Widescreen 1.85:1 Color (Anamorphic)

Subtitles:
English, Spanish

Favorite Scenes: All the death scenes were cool to see, and the kid knocking Julia Stiles off the ladder was hilarious!
Rating: R
Running Time: 110 minutes
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating: