114 - The Omen

    The antichrist is born, and unknowingly adopted by an ambassador.  As the child gets older, a variety of odd and evil occurrences surround him.  The parents get suspicious, and a reporter helps them dig up the truth.
    I saw the remake of this, which came out in 2006.  While that version didn't stick with me, I was amazed at how close it was to the original version.  Some of the same shots, and it seems to follow the exact same structure.
    It's interesting that there doesn't seem to be any critical aversion to covering a song as faithfully as possible, but that when it's done to a film, it's very annoying.

    The music is a strange point for me.  I feel like it's become a very cliche, and almost silly way of selling the idea of Damien being the antichrist.  But the more I think of it, I wonder if my perception has been colored by the references I've seen to it.  The music also seems to spell things out too clearly.  How would a more traditional score have made the movie play out?  What if the music weren't out there, telling the audience that Damien is evil?  What if the audience had to figure out what was happening as the characters figured it out?
    I also read that the original script called for a different ending - in which Damien was stopped.  It's hard to imagine how that would play out.
    This is an interesting piece of horror, but it's hard to say that it's an especially great one.