Give somebody in the Twentieth Century Fox marketing department a raise: They must’ve noticed a while back that June 6, 2006 was looming on the calendar.
Hmmm … 6-6-06. That number should ring bells for fans of a certain apocalyptic book of the Bible as well as a 1976 horror classic, “The Omen.” Supposedly a sign of evil and the Antichrist, 666 was popularized by the movie’s entertaining blend of Grand Guignol and religious lore.
Rated: R rating is for violence, language Now showing: Alderwood, Everett 9, Galaxy Monroe, Marysville, Mountlake, Meridian, Metro, Cascade Mall.
Not awful: An extremely close remake of the 1976 horror hit about a U.S. diplomat who suspects his son might have devilish intentions. Not awful, but the tingly sense of discovery is gone, and the kid isn’t as spooky as the first time around. With Liev Schreiber, Julia Stiles.
And so June 6, 2006 became D-Day for a remake of “The Omen.” This marketing ploy is by far the cleverest thing about the new movie, which otherwise sticks so closely to the original it doesn’t even credit a new screenwriter.
David Seltzer’s script introduces us to a U.S. diplomat in Rome, Robert Thorn (Liev Schreiber) and his pregnant wife Katherine (Julia Stiles). The baby dies at birth, and Thorn impulsively agrees to accept in its place a child born the same day. He doesn’t tell his wife about the switch.
Within a few years, the kid is creeping everybody out. And you don’t need me to tell you the rest: how a priest (Pete Postlethwaite) approaches Thorn with a wild tale about a jackal, how a photographer (David Thewlis) keeps getting weird photographs of people about to die, and how a nanny (Mia Farrow) moves in with a nasty Rottweiler to take care of little Damien.
Ah yes, Damien – a name that will live in infamy, thanks to the original “Omen.” That film had Gregory Peck and Lee Remick as the couple, thus skewing older than this version. Liev Schreiber (late of “The Manchurian Candidate,” another remake) is an intense actor, but you miss the star power of Peck.
Casting Schreiber indicates a level of seriousness on the part of the filmmakers, which is borne out by the movie itself: Thankfully, there’s no MTV approach. This film takes its time and lodges a few decent scares (especially, I guess, for people who never saw the original, and can’t guess what’s going to happen when Schreiber and Thewlis go to a graveyard in the middle of the night).
But seriousness itself isn’t enough. Director John Moore, who helmed the clunky remake of “The Flight of the Phoenix” (yes, everything now is officially a remake), has a stylish eye, and he gets something out of the Prague locations. But the sense of discovery is gone, and the tingle of supernatural deviltry from the 1976 film seems – pardon the expression – by the numbers.
A few updates are here: recent world events interpreted as signs of the apocalypse, for instance. Which just confirms that each generation can make its history fit the predictions of the Book of Revelation.
The actors give it their all. Julia Stiles looks too young and insubstantial for the mother, but Mia Farrow is inspired casting, considering her history with devil children – “Rosemary’s Baby” made her a movie star. But let’s face it, there’s a litmus test here: Does the boy playing Damien have the unearthly spookiness the role demands?
And here the movie fails. Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick looks like a nice kid, but he won’t send shivers up anybody’s spine. That bodes well for him, but not for the movie’s ability to stick in your mind.
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