The Omen (2006)
Guess who has got the biggest Tuesday opening release ever? Yes trivia lovers, its The Omen 2006. The brilliant movie campaign of releasing this film on June 6th, 2006 couldn't have worked much better. Great job marketing moguls of Hollywood!
Now let's get right down to business, other than the snazzy release date of this film, was there any other reason to remake this movie nearly identical to the first version? I remember seeing the 1976 version in my teens and as far as I can remember it was pretty damn similar in every way. In fact both movies were written by David Seltzer. I am under the impression he changed and adapted the script for 2006, but really its difficult to tell without going back and rewatching the older version. David must have been pretty damn happy when he heard his services were needed for The Omen 2006.
I was expecting many changes with this remake that would surprise and scare me all over again. However, such changes were nowhere to be found and in fact, its odd to hear myself say this, but I found The Omen to be a bit bland. In fact, it was fairly non-offensive as well.
The film was watchable with nice cinematography, and acceptable acting from Julia Stiles and Liev Scriber as the parents. Although I have to say I found the child actor playing Damien to be less believable than Harvey Stephens who played the part in the seventies. Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick didn't seem to have quite enough natural ability at looking evil. I could just hear his mom in the background the whole time coaching him "dear, we need the mean face we practiced. Good...Good!" The mean and angry looks by this 2006 kid looked forced and unnatural. A great Damien performance would have gone a long way in this film.
I really hope this cast and crew isn't planning on remaking all of the The Omen sequels as well. It's simply not necessary. I can however, recommend this movie to those who want to watch a horror movie, but not a scary one, and have not seen the original Omen film. So perhaps The Omen 2006 is perfect fodder for a slumber party of 12 year old girls.
Grading
Story: B-
Acting: C+
Visuals: B
Originality/Innovation: D
Enjoyability: B-
Overall: C+
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