The Omen (2006)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

John Moore

Writer (WGA):

David Seltzer (written by)

Release Date:

6 June 2006 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

His Day Will Come

Plot:

A remake of the 1976 horror classic The Omen (1976), an American official realizes that his young son may literally be the devil incarnate.

Plot Keywords:

Priest | Antichrist | Omen | Remake | Photographer

Awards:

5 nominations

Cast

Predrag Bjelac	...	Vatican Observatory Priest (as Pedja Bjelac)
Carlo Sabatini	...	Cardinal Fabretti
Bohumil Svarc	...	Pope
Liev Schreiber	...	Robert Thorn
Giovanni Lombardo Radice	...	Father Spiletto
Baby Zikova	...	Damien - Newborn
Baby Morvas	...	Damien - Newborn
Baby Muller	...	Damien - Newborn
Baby Litera	...	Damien - Newborn
Julia Stiles	...	Katherine Thorn
Tomas Wooler	...	Damien - 2 Years Old (as Tomas Wooller)
Rafael Sallas	...	Rome Embassy Marine
Marshall Cupp	...	Ambassador Steven Haines
Martin Hindy	...	Haines' Limo Driver (as Martin 'Mako' Hindy)
Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick	...	Damien

Also Known As:

The Omen 666 (USA) (working title)
La profecía (Argentina) (Ecuador) (Spain) (Venezuela) [es]
A Profecia (Brazil) [pt]
Das Omen (Germany) [de]
I profiteia (Greece) [el]
La malédiction (France) [fr]
Omen 666 (Sweden) [sv]
Omen 666 (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Oomen (Estonia) [et]

MPAA:

Rated R for disturbing violent content, graphic images and some language.

Runtime:

110 min | Philippines:105 min (cut)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

UK:15 | Finland:K-15 | Ireland:15A | Germany:16 | Malaysia:18PL | Philippines:R-13 | Norway:15 | Australia:MA | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | Argentina:16 | Hungary:18 | Italy:VM14 | Denmark:15 | South Korea:18 | Hong Kong:IIB | Singapore:PG (cut version) | USA:R (certificate #42658) | France:-12 | Sweden:15 | Netherlands:16 | Singapore:M18 | Portugal:M/16 | Iceland:16 | New Zealand:R16 | Brazil:16 | Japan:R-15 | South Korea:15 (cable rating)

Filming Locations:

Congress Center, Prague 4, Prague, Czech Republic

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

During filming, Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick was never told that his character was supposed to be the son of the Devil; co-star Julia Stiles has commented that it was because the filmmakers thought "he was too young to understand it, but he was really obedient when John asked him for the Damien face."

Goofs:

Errors in geography: During the final chase when Thorn is taking Damien to a church with British police officers in pursuit, Czech script ('Prague 2 Municipal District') is clearly visible on the shop fronts.

Quotes:

Damien: Please Daddy, don't!

Movie Connections:

References Don't Look Now (1973)

Soundtrack:

A DOCTOR, PLEASE

If it ain't broken, don't fix it!

I can't understand this remake binge Hollywood has gone on. Has everyone just gotten too lazy to come up with any original ideas? Some remakes that improve on the original might be worth the time, money, and effort to produce (not to mention our hard-earned money to go see), but not this one! The original The Omen is a horror classic and one of the scariest movies of all time. There was no way they could have topped it. So why did they do it? Like in almost every horror movie, some characters die. The deaths in the original are, to say the least, imaginative. In the remake, the deaths are either watered down copies of the original or changed in such a way that they take away from the story or just aren't as effective, and one death near the beginning of the movie doesn't even make any sense. Who is this person and what does he have to do with anything? Absolutely no explanation, just a disembodied scene that has no connection whatsoever to the plot that I could see.

The atmosphere in the original builds and builds, and is very creepy. In the remake, the atmosphere is kind of blah. And what about Damien? The kid says like three words in the entire movie. And he just doesn't have the presence of the little boy who played Damien in the original.

There's a lot to gripe about and almost nothing good to say about this one. There's probably only one scene in the entire movie that I enjoyed, only because it looked a bit more realistic than in the original. But why pay 4 or 5 dollars to rent a movie out for only one scene? It's just not worth it.

I can only hope that they don't remake Damien: Omen 2, my personal favorite of the Omen trilogy (I don't count the fourth one they made with the little girl in the starring role of the AntiChrist, which is a joke). It would be adding insult to injury!