The Omen 666 (2006)
By Mal Simons, Blockbuster.co.uk

“From the eternal sea he rises, creating armies on either shore, turning man against his brother, until man exists no more.”

A remake of the 1976 classic film, this updated version of The Omen is guaranteed to scare the living daylights out of a whole new generation. Scarily realistic – using recent events to ‘prove’ that Armageddon is at hand, those with delicate sensibilities should not watch this film.

Going into this film, I felt safe in my belief that like Jaws and Superman, The Omen, was one film that should not be remade. Perfect in everyway, I remember the first time I saw the original and Gregory Peck and Lee Remick’s performance….the film still haunts me to this day. After watching this remake however, I am pleased to say that this film is very slick, very realistic and in some ways, even more terrifying than the original. Afterall, it’s very timely – Damien in this movie is born on 06 / 06 / 2006 – the day that Nostradamus predicted the anti-christ will be born. And of course, 666 is the mark of the beast.

“The son of the devil will rise from the world of politics.”

Director John Moore introduces us to Robert Thorn ( Liev Schreiber), an ambitious American politician based in Rome who is promoted to the role of Ambassador to Great Britain when the original choice is killed in a bizarre ‘accident’. The Ambassador’s wife Katherine ( Julia Stiles) has recently just given birth to a son after a difficult childbirth. Unbeknownst to his wife, the newborn child they have is not her actual child. Upon arriving at the hospital, the Ambassador is met by an Italian priest who informs him that his son was stillborn and his wife can never have children. The priest gives him another child who, he says has no living family. When his wife awakes from surgery, she is not aware. The couple see moving to London as being a great opportunity for their family.

It takes some time before the happy couple discover that their polite little infant is in fact the Anti-Christ, the devil’s child, sent to earth to destroy humanity. In the opening scenes at the Vatican, the film realistically compares the prophecies from the Book of Revelation to recent events – from the creation of Israel, right through to the Twin Towers and the tsunami. Through the course of the film, the Ambassador discovers what the Pope knew all along – it perhaps would have been easier if the Pope had just picked up the phone or sent the man an email.

Like the original Omen, this film does not fall into the usual formula of horror movies where things look scary but then are revealed not to be so threatening. The full horror of the film is revealed over time – Damien is never sick or frightened of things like other kids, he doesn’t fly into a tantrum for not getting his way but screams, scratches and bites uncontrollably whenever he gets near to a church. It’s all very well done and the actors involved in each scene just reveal just enough to keep you gripped and wanting more.

The Special Features are well worth watching too – with behind the scenes with the cast, trailers and also a compelling documentary on Revelations which, among other things shows that George W Bush’s name in Hebrew means ‘6 6 6’. The Verdict: A gripping and disturbing remake of one of the best horror films that Hollywood has ever produced. Although the original is brilliant on it’s own, this is an updated version of the classic and improves on the original in many ways – the most obvious being the use of the year 2006 and tying in recent tragedies and disasters to convince the audience that this could really happen. Great stuff and an unmissable movie. Add to your list now.


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