The Omen: Films (1976-06)

The Omen: Films (1976-06)

Dirs. Various

01. The film that single-handedly caused kids named Damien to get targeted by bullies at school throughout the 80s (and beyond?), The Omen (1976 / Dir. Richard Donner) is a 1970s suspense / horror film that relies on mood and pace to elicit a progressive sense of dread in the viewer.

Gregory Peck is utterly believable as the American Senator with an evil little shit for a son (Harvey Stephens). Throw in some horror convention, a creepy nanny, a house that lacks life, and a biblical poem and you have a classic that looks dated but still manages to shock and entertain.

In lesser roles are David Warner, Billie Whitelaw, and Patrick Troughton, all of whom are equally great. Prolific composer Jerry Goldsmith's musical score adds an extra layer of palpable eeriness.

02. In Damien: Omen II (1978 / Dir. Don Taylor + Mike Hodges [uncredited]) the titular character is aged thirteen, on the precipice of maturity. It's time for him to put away childish things and look menacing in uniform.

The film exists solely because the first one made a profit. The plot is stretched to fit 107 minutes when in reality it could be told in just one paragraph. Damien's (Jonathan Scott-Taylor) awakening lacks drama. The diabolical intervention is predictable and boring. The deaths are comical. It fails to capture the uneasy feelings that the original had. Although, it makes a kind of sense that the Antichrist would be educated at an American military school.

03. In Omen III: The Final Conflict (1981 / Dir. Dir. Graham Baker) the Antichrist has grown up and turned into Sam Neill. He prepares to initiate the end of days, but before he can do that he must stop a pesky biblical prophecy from being fulfilled.

I like Sam Neill. He can be cruelly methodical and remain charismatic. He kept me watching despite a huge series continuity error making me want to dismiss the entire film as lazy and disrespectful. It falls down a pit of religious bullshit at the end, but the journey to get there is interesting and not reliant on the cheap shots that plagued the previous film.

04. Omen IV: The Awakening (1991 /  Dirs. Jorge Montesi + Dominique Othenin-Girard). If you adopt a baby from nuns the last thing you expect is for it to be the Antichrist, but that's what an unsuspecting couple gets in the fourth entry, planned as a new beginning for the franchise. The majority of it is a rehash of the original film, albeit one with some gender roles reversed - but not, I feel, for the horribly cynical reasons that it's done in current times.

It's a TV Movie. Any power the original aspects could've had is nullified by comedy music. It's not an exaggeration to say that at times it felt like I was watching a parody. The planned sequels didn't happen, which was probably for the best. Instead, they remade the first film again...

Remake: The Omen (2006 / Dir. John Moore). Did they use the same script? There are some minor differences, but most of it is identical to the original 1976 film, which begs the question of why they even fucking bothered. It's not like the original was a turd that would benefit from 'modernisation'. I don't blame the director, though. He got offered a job and he took it. I blame the producers. Exploitation isn't just a genre in Hollywood; it's a way of life.

On the casting, Liev Schreiber is fine, but he's no Gregory Peck. Mia Farrow and Pete Postlethwaite put everyone else to shame, except the wonderful Michael Gambon, who unfortunately only got about two minutes of screen time.