XPost: rec.arts.tv
On Oct 12, 2024 at 3:20:36 PM PDT, "moviePig" <
nobody@nowhere.com> wrote:
Wonder what led up to 1976's THE OMEN? THE FIRST OMEN reaches into a worn-out bag of Catholic voodoo to resurrect those scares. Though it's
a handsome, atmospheric production, its horror depends more on being
taken seriously than the original's ever did. Minimally recommended.
I didn't like the explanation.
SPOILERS:
In the original OMEN, the turncoat clergy were portrayed as true believers, actual Satanists who worshipped Lucifer and were rejoicing at the birth of their 'savior'.
Here we find out they were just corrupt clergy, upset that young people were turning away from the church and thereby costing the church its power in society, so they 'created' the anti-Christ in some sort of weird quasi-science experiment so he would wreak havoc on the earth and drive people back to the church again.
No, sir. I don't think I like it.
I did think the movie was well done and did a great job of creating an atmosphere of foreboding and evil lurking just around the next corner.
The lead actress was appealing and did a good job and I had the nagging impression I'd seen her somewhere before but her IMDb doesn't show her in anything I've ever seen. (And her name-- Nell Tiger Free-- just screams
"Thanks mom and dad for being hippies when you had me. Wonderful name you picked there.")
I knew the roommate was a baddie from the moment she walked on screen and it didn't take much longer than that before I'd guessed that the troubled girl in the orphanage was just a red herring. (I did momentarily doubt myself when the 666 was revealed in her mouth, but it turns out I was right anyway.)
Loved how the moment it was revealed that the baby was a boy-- and therefore the anti-Christ they'd been waiting for-- Goldsmith's "Ave Satani" boldly took over the score.
All in all, it was a good movie except for the retcon about the church and, I suppose, the way it contradicted Damien's origins from the original movie, which clearly indicated his mother was a jackal, not a pretty novitiate.
The girlfriend actually went with me when I saw it in the theater, even though she absolutely hates any horror movie about possession or the devil.
I was getting ready to leave and she was like, hang on, I want to go. I was dubious. I said she would hate it and that this sort of thing freaks her out and she said she'd deal with it, she just didn't feel like staying in alone
all night. So she went. And of course she was as freaked out as I knew she'd be, digging her nails into my arm every five minutes, and just generally being miserable.
After it was over and we were back in the car, I found out that her misery and any subsequent nightmare she would have were was all my fault. Apparently I should have more forcefully insisted she stay at home and since I didn't, I'm to blame for everything.
<sigh>
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