the omen 666

[romanD]

I told you!

anyhow, got the cd from Varese already nad played it to a couple friends who all like the score a lot!

come on guys, give it a shot! it's a good movie!

[AndyDursin]

Roman I hope you're right...but frankly after seeing that trailer, hearing Damien's one-liners (!), and reading these reviews, I have little interest in paying to see it.

God knows I'm not Harry Knowles fan but between his comments, those of David Seltzer (who HATES this remake), and Garth at Dark Horizons, you have to wonder...

From Harry's eloquent (but I have to admit amusing) review:

"God – just trying to remember this movie makes my head hurt. Marco Beltrami’s score was absolute ****. Very straight to video hack ****."

"It doesn’t help that Liev Schreiber is about as “statesmanlike” as Jerry Lewis. At one point, I wondered why on Earth they had cast him in this role, then I realized that his first name could be rearranged to spell EVIL, and I thought maybe the director thought that was a sign. He's just awful in everyway in this role."

"I’m warning you horror lovers – this is a steaming boring turd of indistinction. Move along, but when it plays on cable… tune in about an hour in – sit through about twenty minutes of pain and then see a great decapitation. That’s all this ***** has going for it."

http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=23490

[MikeSkerritt]

It all just seems completely redundant to me.

I'm curious to know more specifically what Seltzer thinks, since so little was changed from the original that he got a full screenplay credit.

[AndyDursin]

It all just seems completely redundant to me.

I'm curious to know more specifically what Seltzer thinks, since so little was changed from the original that he got a full screenplay credit.

Someone at the FSM board said the interview was in Rogue Morgue, and basically that he had nothing to do with the script (they changed so little of it apparently) but that everything about the movie was awful.

So far every review has essentially claimed the same thing...

[romanD]

well, just keep in mind, that the original when it was released got only horrible reviews, too and hands down, it is not a good film. It hasn't aged well and the only thing it has going for it are the spectacular death scenes and the score.

A friend of mine just watched it after many many years again yesterday and said he was shocked how bad it actually was. He remembered it being a great film, but now had to admit that it just didn't age well... so he said it's fine with him that they redone it, even by not changing anything.

[AndyDursin]

The conucopia of bad reviews continue to pour in, for the movie and the music...this from the Hollywood Reporter:

"the talented performers seem to be playing at being grown-up. Stiles in particular seems far too young and childlike for the role, while the normally effective Schreiber lacks the gravitas that would seem necessary for his character's elemental struggle against evil. Too often, his dark looks and menacing scowl deliver the wrong signals about whose side he's on."

"One element that should have been recycled from the original, Jerry Goldsmith's supremely chilling musical score, has been jettisoned, with the new score by Marco Beltrami proving thoroughly ordinary."

[Eric Paddon]

I don't agree that the original film hasn't aged well. To me, it's the most chillingly effective horror movie I've ever seen. To me it helps having the gravitas of performers like Peck and Remick in the cast, but I also find it effective because I am familiar with plenty of "Last Days" type movies and novels put out by Christian publishers and film companies (The "Left Behind" series) and to me, "The Omen" achieves the very kind of chilling effectiveness that those projects can never aspire to. There is a realism in the way the original "Omen" tells it's story inspired by the book of Revelation that is totally lacking in the entire "Left Behind" series from my standpoint.

I think what also helps is the fact that at the end, your imagination is still left to ponder the terrifying prospect of what's to come in the future. And this to me is why "Final Conflict" could only fail even if it had been done better (as a film it is devoid of logical coherence. The first two films established that Damien is supposed to be killed by being stabbed by all seven daggers, not just one). I think it's beyond the ability of any filmmaker to dramatize credibly an event like that which shows an adult anti-Christ.

Some of this stems from my own Christian perspective I admit, but I think from a filmmaking standpoint, "The Omen" works better than "The Exorcist" and can still pack a big wallop.

[MikeSkerritt]

... but I think from a filmmaking standpoint, "The Omen" works better than "The Exorcist" and can still pack a big wallop.

With all due respect there's just no way I can agree with that, on any level. THE OMEN is a solid genre film, but THE EXORCIST is a transcendent classic, one of the best films ever made, IMHO.

[Eric Paddon]

To me, "The Exorcist" fell flat on a number of levels. First, "The Omen" deals with a more chilling premise than "The Exorcist" and second I was put off by Lee J. Cobb's blatant copying of Peter Falk's Columbo in his portrayal of Lieutenant Kindermann. I was doubly unimpressed by how Friedkin and Blatty shamefully acused Richard Levinson and William Link of having stolen the Columbo character from the "Exorcist" novel, when in point of fact, the Columbo character was first created in a 1962 play that was written six years before Blatty started writing his novel.

[MikeSkerritt]

First, "The Omen" deals with a more chilling premise than "The Exorcist"

Well I disagree there but that's just a matter of opinion. Personally I think the idea that the Devil can take over a human life (one who is already innocent) is a more unsettling concept than the Devil's seed itself being born in human form (though he looks like a child, he is evil from conception).

... second I was put off by Lee J. Cobb's blatant copying of Peter Falk's Columbo in his portrayal of Lieutenant Kindermann. I was doubly unimpressed by how Friedkin and Blatty shamefully acused Richard Levinson and William Link of having stolen the Columbo character from the "Exorcist" novel, when in point of fact, the Columbo character was first created in a 1962 play that was written six years before Blatty started writing his novel.

I can't argue with that, but I'd offer that it has little to do with the film as a whole.

I suppose we'll have to agree to disagree, Eric, though I think one area that's not at issue is which movie's score is better!

[Eric Paddon]

Certainly true on the score! To clarify one other point, the reason why "The Omen's" premise is more chilling to me is because what I'm seeing is the beginning of the end of mankind itself. And that even though I as a Christian still have faith that the final battle will be won by Christ, the unknown variable of calamity and suffering and evil that will come upon the world because of this one individual, is enough to chill my imagination. I can look at "The Exorcist" and I'm still just seeing the power of the Devil manifest in one person only, and not affecting the broader world at large.

[romanD]

sorry, but you don't take THE OMEN or THE EXORCIST serious in any way, do you? Especially THE OMEN is just entertainment on a very silly, though maybe effective level...

the only thing it is really about is killing people in creative ways...

[Eric Paddon]

The subject matter touches on issues of concern to me as a Christian. Christians do believe in the book of Revelation and in the idea of a final judgment, and the idea of an anti-Christ as a real person is believed as well. Some choose to believe that is something that will happen in the present age, and so the storyline of The Omen, while not perfect, hits upon a theme that the practicing Christian, even if he does not believe in the idea of "We are now in the last days" can connect with. I don't presume for the non-Christian to understand that, but it does touch on a real issue depicted in an effectively entertaining manner. That's why I'd rather watch "The Omen" then suffer through one of the "Left Behind" novels again because it takes a similar premise, and does it so much better.

[romanD]

I have nothing against your beliefs and this is surely nothing we have to discuss here.. I just highly doubt that a makers like John Moore or Richard Donner really want to say something profound or whatever, but are just using some religious theme for cheap thrills...

THE EXORCIST may have some deeper things to say, but still.. it is silly entertainment and nothing more and you shouldn't waste your time and beliefs with trying to find some message or whatever in a movie like this. Just enjoy it for the kills...

[MikeSkerritt]

To clarify one other point, the reason why "The Omen's" premise is more chilling to me is because what I'm seeing is the beginning of the end of mankind itself. And that even though I as a Christian still have faith that the final battle will be won by Christ, the unknown variable of calamity and suffering and evil that will come upon the world because of this one individual, is enough to chill my imagination. I can look at "The Exorcist" and I'm still just seeing the power of the Devil manifest in one person only, and not affecting the broader world at large.

That's actually what gets my imagination going about THE EXORCIST. The movie depicts the possession of just one person, but the power evident in Regan's case may lead you to believe it's possible for the same to befall an untold number of people, in which event who's to say what power evil could wield on Earth. You could have a whole army of little girls spitting pea soup on the souls of mankind. Damien Thorn, on the other hand, is a singular presence only, a mortal who can be killed (albeit in a convoluted way). It's also that notion of voluntary versus involuntary, the innocent little girl's body becoming a battleground between good and evil against her will, or an emotionless little boy whose fate was sealed before he left his mother's womb.

I'm not trying to argue against you here, just explaining my own feelings.