The Omen 666

Remakes are generally a bad idea as audiences are now far more cynical and desensitised to horror movies and unless it can deliver something that works in today's climate, it'll get sniggers and snores rather than screams. So why would the powers that be in Hollywood remake a movie instead of coming up with something fresh? Because it is a lot cheaper to do a remake when you already own the rights to the original and, since the writer is still knocking around and can just cut and paste large chunks of the old film into the new one, it would be financially stupid to fork out a massive amount of money to option a totally original script from an unknown writer. Why would anyone want to see a remake of The Omen? Curiosity, maybe, but curiosity didn't bring audiences to Dawn Of The Dead, When A Stranger Calls, Psycho and The Hills Have Eyes in their droves so what has The Omen to offer that the others didn't? Not a lot as it turns out. We all know the story at this stage: Robert Thorn (Schreiber), an American ambassador, swaps his still born child with an orphan and brings the boy up as his own in a stately home with wife Katherine (Stiles).Soon, strange things start happening around the Thorn household and Robert begins to suspect that his 'son' is not your everyday, scuffed knees type of boy. With the help of photographer Jennings (David Thewlis), he tries to get to the bottom of the mystery. The Omen 666 lacks pace, impetus, scares and, obviously, originality. Where this update betters from the original is in leading man Schreiber's performance who out-acts the wooden Gregory Peck in the emotional stakes but who wouldn't since Gregory Peck was Gregory Peck in every film he was in. Writer David Seltzer changed the death scenes ever so slightly but they now look like Final Destination rip-offs and the sequence in the graveyard at last doesn't look like it was shot on a crappy set. However, that's where modifications end and Seltzer sits back and cashes the easiest pay cheque he's ever been handed. His next project is an update of Hitchcock's classic Strangers On A Train. Can't wait.