Trader47
06-11-2006, 01:51 AM
Remakes, sequels, prequels, they all keep right on pouring into the theaters. Before this one started tonight, we saw a trailer for Michael Bay's new Chainsaw Massacre prequel, and I read last night that a remake of The Wicker Man is coming! LMAO, I'm actually looking forward to seeing that, but am already betting money on them screwing it up completely, LOL. Whatever the case turns out to be with that, though, it's all part of a plan to cut production costs by phasing out new movies altogether. Next year, I've heard they're planning to make only seventeen new ones...all the rest will be remakes, sequels, and prequels. And by 2010, hopes are high that the operation will be complete and there'll be no more need for new ideas of any sort at all.
But while I know everyone is sitting on pins and needles breathlessly waiting for this process to reach fruition and let the brave new era of entertainment value begin, for now, all we can do is to whet our appetites by trying to get by on the retreads we're already being offered..which, coming to think of it, this year alone has already reached a number that would be far too unwieldy to list, even for me.
Oh well, happily, once in a while at least, someone actually comes up with the idea that if you're going to do a remake, you should at least make sure you do it right...and this new version of The Omen does just that imo. The original film has always been a matter of great debate among horror fans...some folks seem to consider it an undisputable classic, while others find it a hokey cheesefest. As is not too unusual, I come down somewhere in the middle on that. I thought the film was literate, intelligent and involving...well above average for thrillers of this sort, and so very enjoyable all in all...but it's always fallen a bit short of real classic stature for me, mainly due to it's odd lack of any scares...there's not a single moment in the film that gives you even a mild jolt, and even though it's very atmospheric and well written, it somehow even fails to ever quite generate any real spookiness.
This new version, though, goes a long way towards fixing that problem. It tells exactly the same story in pretty much the same way, with the main difference being the choice to tell the story in a little more straightforward fashion. A couple of surprises that are revealed as the mystery starts to be unraveled in the original are given to us right from the start of this one, making some of the things that happen later less mysterious than they had been before...a choice often made by script rewriters that usually drives me nuts, and produced some immediate hostility from my corner when I saw this one begin like it did. But as this story progressed, the hostility quickly gave way to complete involvement...and when a newly added dream sequence that occurs early on made me jump right out of my usual slouching position, (the first time a movie has done that in quite awile, LOL), I was completely won over by this one. In the end, with the exception of the restructuring of some plot elements that I mentioned earlier, the differences in the two films are really very slight...much of the time, this could be almost a scene by scene recreation. But the slight enhancements, which basically come down to a couple of dream sequences and a bit better staging of scenes that were meant to be frightening in the original, (a sequence in an old Etruscan cemetary, all of the scenes involving characters untimely demises, LOL, and the climactic scene as well ) just push this one over the edge and for me at least, end up producing one of those really rare cinematic moments where a good film is redone faithfully and the remake actually ends up being superior to the original.
It's all brought to life by an excellent cast as well, which includes Liev Schrieber and Julia Stiles taking over for Gregory Peck and Lee Remick... and David Thewliss, whom I'd really liked as Prof. Lupin in the third Harry Potter film, taking over for David Warner as a free lance photographer. Warner is the one I thought I'd really miss, but Thewliss is perfect in the role, playing it with almost exactly the same feel Warner brought to the original. And in a real cool bit of casting, Mia Farrow, who earlier had of course starred in Rosemary's Baby, the film that basically got the whole antichrist thing going back in the sixties, plays the Satanic nanny, and is perfect in the role...also produced a bunch of guffaws from the audience when she first appeared, at least at the showing we attended, which was a cool thing, too...felt a little like camaraderie or something, LOL.
Finally, as a public service announcement, I SHOULD add that in spite of what I've said about the additions to this film, it remains the type of horror film that will only appeal to folks who enjoy plot and character driven films...for any who consider the slasher-blood orgy-gross-out sort to be the only effective type of horror movie, this one will more than likely be a bloody bore, LOL.
So anyway, while writing all this it occured to me what a large number of really good horror films have concerned Ol' Scratch in some way or another...so, in honor of this film being such a pleasant surprise and because I've been having fun making off the cuff lists lately, LOL, I'm going to end this one with a list of my top ten devil movies, LOL. If anyone happens to have gotten this far, needless to say any additional lists or other responses are more than welcome as always. So here's mine:
1. Angel Heart
2. The Exorcist
3. Seven-(involves my interpretation of the film, not everyone would agree..that's ok,LOL)
4. Rosemary's Baby
5. Mr. Frost
6. The Devil & Daniel Webster
7. Prince Of Darkness
8. The Omen (new version)
9. Five Million Years To Earth
10. Crossroads (not any sort of horror movie, but that's ok too...it fits the category, LOL)
But while I know everyone is sitting on pins and needles breathlessly waiting for this process to reach fruition and let the brave new era of entertainment value begin, for now, all we can do is to whet our appetites by trying to get by on the retreads we're already being offered..which, coming to think of it, this year alone has already reached a number that would be far too unwieldy to list, even for me.
Oh well, happily, once in a while at least, someone actually comes up with the idea that if you're going to do a remake, you should at least make sure you do it right...and this new version of The Omen does just that imo. The original film has always been a matter of great debate among horror fans...some folks seem to consider it an undisputable classic, while others find it a hokey cheesefest. As is not too unusual, I come down somewhere in the middle on that. I thought the film was literate, intelligent and involving...well above average for thrillers of this sort, and so very enjoyable all in all...but it's always fallen a bit short of real classic stature for me, mainly due to it's odd lack of any scares...there's not a single moment in the film that gives you even a mild jolt, and even though it's very atmospheric and well written, it somehow even fails to ever quite generate any real spookiness.
This new version, though, goes a long way towards fixing that problem. It tells exactly the same story in pretty much the same way, with the main difference being the choice to tell the story in a little more straightforward fashion. A couple of surprises that are revealed as the mystery starts to be unraveled in the original are given to us right from the start of this one, making some of the things that happen later less mysterious than they had been before...a choice often made by script rewriters that usually drives me nuts, and produced some immediate hostility from my corner when I saw this one begin like it did. But as this story progressed, the hostility quickly gave way to complete involvement...and when a newly added dream sequence that occurs early on made me jump right out of my usual slouching position, (the first time a movie has done that in quite awile, LOL), I was completely won over by this one. In the end, with the exception of the restructuring of some plot elements that I mentioned earlier, the differences in the two films are really very slight...much of the time, this could be almost a scene by scene recreation. But the slight enhancements, which basically come down to a couple of dream sequences and a bit better staging of scenes that were meant to be frightening in the original, (a sequence in an old Etruscan cemetary, all of the scenes involving characters untimely demises, LOL, and the climactic scene as well ) just push this one over the edge and for me at least, end up producing one of those really rare cinematic moments where a good film is redone faithfully and the remake actually ends up being superior to the original.
It's all brought to life by an excellent cast as well, which includes Liev Schrieber and Julia Stiles taking over for Gregory Peck and Lee Remick... and David Thewliss, whom I'd really liked as Prof. Lupin in the third Harry Potter film, taking over for David Warner as a free lance photographer. Warner is the one I thought I'd really miss, but Thewliss is perfect in the role, playing it with almost exactly the same feel Warner brought to the original. And in a real cool bit of casting, Mia Farrow, who earlier had of course starred in Rosemary's Baby, the film that basically got the whole antichrist thing going back in the sixties, plays the Satanic nanny, and is perfect in the role...also produced a bunch of guffaws from the audience when she first appeared, at least at the showing we attended, which was a cool thing, too...felt a little like camaraderie or something, LOL.
Finally, as a public service announcement, I SHOULD add that in spite of what I've said about the additions to this film, it remains the type of horror film that will only appeal to folks who enjoy plot and character driven films...for any who consider the slasher-blood orgy-gross-out sort to be the only effective type of horror movie, this one will more than likely be a bloody bore, LOL.
So anyway, while writing all this it occured to me what a large number of really good horror films have concerned Ol' Scratch in some way or another...so, in honor of this film being such a pleasant surprise and because I've been having fun making off the cuff lists lately, LOL, I'm going to end this one with a list of my top ten devil movies, LOL. If anyone happens to have gotten this far, needless to say any additional lists or other responses are more than welcome as always. So here's mine:
1. Angel Heart
2. The Exorcist
3. Seven-(involves my interpretation of the film, not everyone would agree..that's ok,LOL)
4. Rosemary's Baby
5. Mr. Frost
6. The Devil & Daniel Webster
7. Prince Of Darkness
8. The Omen (new version)
9. Five Million Years To Earth
10. Crossroads (not any sort of horror movie, but that's ok too...it fits the category, LOL)