IHdb

ON THIS DAY IN HORROR - June 6th

"THE OMEN" released in US in 2006

Intentionally released on a date reflecting the Number of the Beast - June 6th, 2006, or 666 - and to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the original film, the remake of The Omen again tells the story of the Anti-Christ on earth in the form of a small boy named Damien (this time played with intense menace by newcomer Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick).

When Katherine Thorn (Julia Stiles) loses her natural baby in childbirth, her husband Robert (played by Liev Schreiber) adopts an orphaned newborn at the suggestion of the hospital's priest. Katherine believing the child, whom they named Damien, is theirs, the new family moves to England where Robert has become the new US Ambassador (following the pretty suspicious death of the previous Ambassador). That's pretty much when the strangness starts to really begin. A huge Rottweiler starts hanging around the grounds of the house, Damien's nanny hangs herself in full view of a children's party, and her replacement Mrs Baylock (Mia Farrow), the sweet-talking nanny from Hell (literally), arrives. That's when the dying Father Brennan (Pete Postlethwaite) shows up to break the news to Robert that he's raising the Son of the Devil.

Funnily enough, during the filming of The Omen, 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." This was also director John Moore's first venture into horror, having previously only done action films. The death of Mrs. Baylock by having Robert hit her with his car was originally scripted and filmed in The Omen (1976), but scrapped by director Richard Donner for being excessive.

While the original got mainly positive reviews, the remake didn't fair as well with most critics agreeing The Omen didn't quite stand up to the original. But there was plenty of praise for Mia Farrow's performance with the Associated Press declaring "thank heaven for Mia Farrow" and calling her performance "a rare instance of the new Omen improving on the old one." A curiosity here has Mia Farrow playing nanny to devil child Damien, when she'd previously played the "mother" of a devil child in Rosemary's Baby (1968).

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 27%