:: NEWS COCKTAIL aka BlahBlahBlog ::
"Everything is being compressed into tiny tablets. You take a little pill of news every day - 23 minutes - and that's supposed to be enough." -Walter Cronkite, RE TV news. The Web has changed that for many, however, and here is an extra dose for your daily news cocktail. This prescription tends to include surveillance and now war-related links, along with the occasional pop culture junk and whatever else seizes my attention as I scan online news sites.:: 6.06.2006 ::
:: "Heed the Signs" ::
The Omen (remake)
A review from horror.com
Directors of remakes have pretty thankless jobs. If they make to-the-letter reproductions of beloved fright films (ala Gus Van Sant's Psycho), they are blasted for having no imagination. If they veer totally off the page and do their own thing (like Jaume Collet-Serra's House of Wax), they're taken to task for being irreverent hacks.
I've said it before and I'm saying it again: The Omen (1976) didn't need to be remade. It's a solid movie with nothing missing. It's not dated. The story is still relevant. Damien is an indelible character. But the reality is these "old" movies, according to the studios that own the rights, all need dollars-and-cents resuscitation. You can give a little mouth-to-mouth with an anniversary re-release like they did with The Exorcist, but that barely registers a pulse. The thing that really gets studio suits' hearts racing are remakes. Better yet, reimaginings!
So if it's inevitable, then at least director John Moore should get a pat on the back for walking the fine line between faithfulness to the source material and a nod to the new guard of horror fans who demand a little extra in their Rated-R entertainment.
The Omen, which follows the original screenplay by David Seltzer (and indeed credits him), takes us through the early childhood of Damien Thorn (Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick), who was switched at birth in Rome with the murdered infant of an esteemed American diplomat. Robert Thorn (Liev Schreiber), believing his baby died of natural causes, decides to conceal the truth from his wife, Kathy (Julia Stiles), letting her believe that Damien is her own flesh and blood. They move to England, and look forward to a life of privilege.
The tide turns when, during Damien's ostentatious fifth birthday, his nanny (Amy Huck), commits suicide in plain view of all the party guests. This opens the floodgates for evil, and the revelation that Damien, who was born on June 6, at 6 a.m., is the Antichrist.
Read more here.
ALSO
The Omen Vs. The Omen
A side-by-side comparison of the two movies, the original and the remake, released 30 years apart.
posted by me
:: 1:18:00 AM [+] ::
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