The rash of recent horror remakes has failed to produce anything of quality. Though it may be the best of the recent remakes, THE OMEN redux still begs the question — why do it in the first place if there isn’t anything new to say with the story?
The plot, which is nearly identical to the original, finds U.S. deputy ambassador to Italy Robert Thorn (Liev Schreiber, SCREAM) accepting a proposition from a mysterious priest to replace his dead newborn with an orphaned boy without telling his wife Katherine (Julia Stiles, MONA LISA SMILE). Soon after the ambassador is made the new ambassador to England, he dies in a tragic accident, making Robert the youngest ambassador ever. As their son Damien (Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick) grows up, Katherine begins to notice that he isn’t like other children. Then following their nanny committing suicide at Damien’s birthday party, Mrs. Baylock (Mia Farrow, ROSEMARY’S BABY) comes to work for the Thorns, seeming to be able to connect with the boy more so than his mother, who begins to slip into a deep depression. In the meantime, Father Brennan (Pete Postlethwaite, IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER) comes to visit Robert and warns him that his son is the anti-Christ. Later, a photographer Keith Jennings (David Thewlis, HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN) shows Robert some photographic proof that something strange is really going on.
The new version of this tale brings very little new to the screen. The only nice new touch is how the film links contemporary events to the Revelations story of the end of the world. But that’s about it. The cast all does a good job, but the original still gets in the way. Schreiber is fine, but he doesn’t have the distinguish grace that Gregory Peck brought to the original. The casting of Farrow is a nice homage to ROSEMARY’S, but then again, it also reminds us how great ROSEMARY’S was and makes us wonder why we’re not watching that film instead. Only Stiles comes off better than the original performer. Stiles’ performance is more natural and less hysterical than Lee Remick.
John Moore’s direction, the cinematography and production design are all well done, but none of it distinguishes it any better than the Richard Donner version. In the end, by being too faithful to the original, the remake makes the reviewer only remember the original while the new version quickly slips from their memory. Horror fans might find it interesting, but all others should just stick with the classic.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
