Even though Halloween is actually next Tuesday, I know many of you will be celebrating this weekend. In case you do not dress up and hit the town, I have decided to indulge in the time-honored tradition of renting a scary movie in order to celebrate the holiday. With this in mind, I decided to rent the remake of the 1976 classic “The Omen”.
In case you are not already familiar with the plotline, in a nutshell, “The Omen” is the story of American ambassador Robert Thorn (Liev Schreiber) and his wife Katherine (Julia Stiles) realizing that their son Damien (Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick) is actually the devil incarnate. Through a series of bizarre deaths that remind any horror movie fan of scenes from the “Final Destination” series, and prophetic dreams had by Stiles’ character Katherine, we see that all the biblical signs point to yes, this dark-haired brooding boy is in fact the epitome of evil.
Honestly I was worried that this move would pale in comparison to the original, but I was surprised to see that this remake rang pretty true to the first version. The writers used much of the original dialogue, and even the first version had strange accidents that killed off the various characters. This adaptation manages to modernize the story, but also maintains the eerie aesthetic the original perfected with its cinematography. Although the use of the color red to signify evil was a bit of overkill, everything else about the film’s visuals was quite pleasing to the eye.
However, there were a few things that this version was lacking compared to its predecessor. First off, in the original, Gregory Peck played the part of Robert Thorn and let’s face it, how can you ever go wrong with Gregory Peck? Come on, he played Atticus Finch from the film adaptation of “To Kill a Mockingbird”. Schreiber performed well enough, but I found myself really having to try hard to believe that little Miss “Save the Last Dance” or Stiles could be not only an ambassador’s wife, but also a mother.
This is not to say that she is not talented, but her part in the film seemed a little unbelievable. In addition, Mia Farrow’s portrayal as the satanic disciple/nanny to Damien, Mrs. Baylock, was in fact creepy, but Billie Whitelaw’s portrayal is in fact a lot more sinister.
When the weekend presents itself and it is time to pick up a scary movie, I would say that “The Omen” would not be a bad choice, but a mediocre one. The original is overall scarier and I would choose to watch that version instead.
Also, in case you plan to pick up more than one movie, because you can never have enough horror flicks, I would suggest “The Exorcist” if you want to stick with the religious theme we have got going. Also, I would highly recommend trying out either of the “Evil Dead” movies or “Army of Darkness”. These movies are not necessarily scary, but they are classic and are best viewed in a group. Seriously, go rent these now. If all else fails I would go rent Stanley Kuberick’s “The Shining”. More often than not Jack Nicholson scares me.

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