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Remakes are usually a bad omen that Hollywood is either
playing on the nostalgia of their audience or simply running
on empty when it comes to ideas. There are some remakes
that try to find something for a modern audience and that
will distinguish it from the original film. “Charlie and
The Chocolate Factory” went for a very different take on
a familiar story. Unfortunately most of them are like “Planet
of the Apes” and the remake of “The Omen”—bad to the bone
in a literal sense. ***
You see remakes are essentially sequels except that
they mess with the sacred recipe. The sequels to the original
“The Omen” ranged from satisfying to pathetic. The first
sequel worked pretty well and the second featuring Sam Neill
(way before his role in “Jurassic Park” made him a household
name) worked because of Neill’s performance as the son of
the Devil despite a poorly thought out script and weak production
values. None of them could hold a candle with Richard Donner’s
original film. Then we got the truly pathetic TV sequel
to the movies. I don’t want to talk about it as it brings
up bad memories of a wasted two hours. ***
Franchise films are the fast food of movies as you
know more or less that the product is going to taste, look
and feel the same but the comfort of familiarity draws you
in. It’s the same reason why kids always want to eat the
same food or watch the same movie (or ride the same ride
for that matter) ad naseum . So in theory remakes and sequels
(which in most cases are really remakes) are great for business
but with a diminishing return on investment for anyone with
an I.Q. higher than an onion. “The Omen” sadly belongs to
that category as well. ***
The plot for those that aren’t aware of the story involves
diplomat Robert Thorn (Live Shreiber). As the film opens
Thorn has rushed to an Italian hospital where his wife (Julia
Stiles) has just given birth. He’s informed that the baby
died and is offered a healthy baby boy with no strings attached
by a priest at the Catholic hospital whose mother died during
child birth. It soon becomes evident to his mother that
Damien (Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick) is somehow different.
After a series of mysterious bizarre deaths including that
of a priest (Pete Postwaithe) that tries to warn Robe rt
that his son is the son of the devil a photographer (David
Thewlis) oddly prefigure the deaths becomes convinced. Robert
is no longer sure what to believe as evidence mounts that
his son may indeed be evil incarnate. ---
Image & Sound:
Yikes! Clearly someone at Fox forgot to wear their glasses
(or needs corrective surgery) when this was transferred
to DVD. Fox’s studio screeners are typically burned to a
single layer DVD which might explain all the issues with
macroblocking and pixilation (where the image breaks up)
either way this is a horrible looking transfer. The video
is a mushy mess. I can only hope that Fox cleans this up
before the final release becomes available. Audio sounds
solid throughout with a nice clean atmospheric presentation.
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