The Omen (2006)

Picture: www.rottentomatoes.com.

A remake of the 1976 horror classic, The Omen. An American diplomat realised that his son may be the son of the devil.

It isn't a bad film, but it nearly pales in comparison to the original. I remember feeling disturbed after watching the original many years back. Liev Schreiber is a fine actor, but he's no Gregory Peck. The musical score in the remake doesn't sound as bone–chilling as the original. The dreams that the lead characters had carry creepy images without any sound effects. Still, the remake isn't 'evil' enough unlike the original.

Some interesting facts about the making of The Omen as published on wikipedia.org/The_Omen and wikipedia.org/The Omen (2006).

Curse (1976)

In 2005 a documentary entitled "The Curse of The Omen" was shown on British television. The production of The Omen was plagued with a series of incidents which some members of the crew attributed to the operation of a curse. They wondered if these events were due to supernatural forces trying to prevent the filming of the movie. Instances include the following:

• Scriptwriter David Seltzer's plane was struck by lightning.
• Star Gregory Peck, in a separate incident, had his plane struck by lightning.
• Richard Donner's hotel was bombed by the Provisional IRA.
• Gregory Peck cancelled his reservation on a flight. The plane he had originally chartered crashed, killing all on board (a group of Japanese businessmen).
• A warden at the safari park used in the "crazy baboon" scene was attacked and killed by a lion the day after the crew left.
• Rottweilers hired for the film attacked their trainers.
• On the first day of shooting, the principal members of the crew got in a head-on car crash.

Curse (2006)

• In a strange event, Pete Postlethwaite (Father Brennan) not only lost his brother while he was filming the movie, but before he passed, his brother was in a card game in which he drew three sixes. Postlethwaite is reluctant to put together a connection, but adds "I think things like that do happen and it's just sometimes we're not sensitised enough to see the problem."

Other facts

• Liev Schreiber and Julia Stiles had earlier starred together in a contemporary update of Shakespeare's Hamlet. They play brother and sister in Hamlet, and husband and wife in The Omen, ironically, their characters in both films die and die in the same fashion. Both of Schreiber's characters are shot dead, and both of Stiles' characters die from a form of suffocation.
• David Thawlis who plays the photojournalist, Keith Jennings, also plays Professor Remus Lupin in the Harry Potter series, along with Sir Michael Gambon, who plays Bugenhagen in this film, and Professor Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter.

Rating: 2.5/5.