The Omen

It's been awhile since I've seen the original. I remember it being rather creepy though and I really didn't see a need to remake it. Casting however to draw me in because despite the fact that he is seriously under used Liev Shreiber is a top notch actor and Julia Stiles is amazing as well. The fact that they got those two, especially considering Liev has more than fulfilled his horror film requirements, really had me intersted in seeing what they could do to make it better.

I don't really think they ended up making it better but, they didn't dishonor the original and they made a film that was decent for its time. It wasn't ask creepy as the original but, somehow they did manage to get me to jump several times. I never screamed and my heart rate never seemed to go up but, I did jump a bit 4 or 5 times. That is actually quite an accomplishment and it does speak well for the directing. It means the director set it up so that you weren't expecting it. One of the ways that was done was not changing the music or the background sound leading up to a scary moment. To often today horror films give away the scares by increasing the music to much. Big mistake the key to scaring people is to lul them into thinking it is safe. Even when they know something can't be that easy you have to find away to make them think it just might be that easy. That's how you get the scares and that's exactly what the director did with this film.

As for the performances. The were all strong as you would expect. The Omen is one of those rare horror/scary films that gives more importance to the male lead rather than the female lead. That isn't a bad thing it just unfortunately means not as much screen time for Julia. She did a great job with what she was given and did have a couple big emotional scenes. Liev was spot on perfect casting. There's just something really amazing about the way he goes about his job. I can't put my finger on it but he really draws you in and it seems like he's not even trying. Mia Farrow was strong. She played the line between sensister and caring perfectly.


Spoiler Alert:


Not a lot of things I want to touch on in regards to the actual movie.

First though it was interesting that they decided to change one of the scariest moments in the original. In the original they don't go to the zoo Damien and Kate (Julia) drive through an animal sancturary and a bunch of them attack their car. That is far more frightening than the apes throwing themselves at the glass in the zoo. That really wasn't a very smart thing to change.

Also at the end I was a bit confused as to why the cops where already in their riot gear when they came into the church and shot Robert (Liev). That was very odd they wouldn't have know what was going on until they got into the church so they had no reason to be in riot gear.



It was a good remake. Although I think they could have made it a bit more interesting if they had done a update and made it so the female character was the lead. Would be really interesting to see the mother go through the termoil of coming to terms with what must be done.

I did pay full price for it and I don't feel like it was a waste of money or time. However, I think I would recommend just waiting for dvd.