The Omen

The Omen *

Has it come to this? Has Hollywood finally copped out to the point where they greenlight and produce a movie solely because it could come out on a date that is relevant to their storyline? That's how I feel about the remake of "The Omen," which revolves it's story about the son of the devil, Damien, and the horror that he inflicts on his parents. As everyone knows, it was released on June the sixth of two thousand and six. . . or 6/6/06. . . ha ha ha.

I really believe that about two years ago a few Hollywood executives were sitting around, having coffee, when one of them had an idea, and pitched it to the other one.

"How about a remake of The Omen?"
"The Omen? You mean that thirty year old horror movie about the son of the devil?"
"Yeah, that one. People love horror movies, and the public will pretty much gobble whatever horror flick we give them. . ."
"Very true."
"And here's another idea. How about we have it come out on June sixth, in the year 2006. It'll be a marketing scam. . . six six six. . ."
"Genius! And people will all want to see it on that date, because it's a movie about the devil, on a day where people will think the devil is doing his dirty work."

Thus the birth of yet another remake. Yes, indeed, The Omen has a creepy idea. . . a mother gives birth, and the father conceals that fact that her real baby died during childbirth, so instead they adopted Damien, who turns out to be the son of the devil. And priests and various other religious figures try and prevent Damien from killing again, but the parents don't seem to want to believe anyone until the last minute, when it's too late. But, my dear friends at Hollywood, it takes more than a creepy date to base your movie around. In order to be good, a movie needs a script, and some actors that are worth a damn. A release date could only go so far. After all, what about those people that want to see the movie on 6/9/06. . . it's not as creepy for them. . .

It had one interesting part. . . or a part that was clever. The Church goes through all the various "Revalations" before this "end of the world" is supposed to come, and they all translated to the many disasters American has seen of late(September 11th, and Hurricane Katrina come to mind.) But the problem is that was in the first five minutes. . . and it was all downhill from there.