The Do-Over (The Omen 666, 2006)

Well…someone decided they needed to get a remake out by June 6th, 2006. In a weird twist, screenwriter of the original film returned to write this remake. I call it a weird twist because in a documentary about the original four films, Seltzer did not write the sequels because he does not do sequels.

The result is an almost shot for shot remake of the original. Not like Gus Van Zandt’s Psycho remake. There are slight differences here and there.

Mia Farrow’s performance as the nanny seems sweeter throughout the film, which make the sequence where she enters the hospital where Julie Style’s Katherine Thorn is being cared for really ominous.

The original film had a child in the role that was cherubic…adorable. You knew he was bad, but you could not help but sympathize. Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick is made to look creepy in every shot. He is a scary kid.

The film is full of stylistic flourish, but it just feels like an imitation, trying to up the horrors of the original, but oddly falling short.

October 23, 2018 0

What the Hell (The Omen IV: The Awakening, 1991)

So…the Fox Network was in it’s infancy…and they were mining their properties for TV movies. And someone thought a brilliant idea was to remake the Omen…but eventually, we got a a sequel.

Now, mind you, the last film ended with Christ having returned to reign. So, apparently the world never noticed and the world is still a crappy place. Attorneys Gene and Karen York happily adopt a young baby girl named Delia. After they leave, a young nun is racked with guilt and leaves her calling. Delia grow to come a wicked child. Then Karen starts to think her baby girl is psycho and hires a detective to find out where Delia really came from.

A bunch of people die in crazy events, then Karen realizes she is pregnant and the baby is the real antichrist…Delia was just it’s protector.

This film is pretty terrible. In an attempt to invert the original, the nanny is a new age girl who uses crystals and reads auras and stuff. She brings Delia to a New Age fair and things go nuts. It is such a goofier approach than the original film. The entire film is full of hammy acting and has a serious lack of drama or consequence. And it undoes the original trilogy entirely.

Okay, Michael Lerner’s detective’s death is crazy hilarious.

October 22, 2018 0

Growing Pains (Damien: The Omen II, 1978)

Because there was a law that they had to have a leading actress named Lee in the Omen franchise, we got a sequel.

Okay…none of that is true. We did, of course, get a sequel. But to be honest, if there is a story that kind of demands it continue? The Omen was it.

Set about eight years after the first film, Damien is being raised by his aunt and uncle. Along with his cousin Mark, he is in a military academy.

Damien starts to become aware of his calling, no longer an innocent child, he starts to take steps towards embracing his future.

There are those that aid him, such as Lance Henriksen’s Sgt. Neff. But there are those who oppose him (part of the religious groups that are out to stop the rise of the Anti-Christ). And then there are those that start to put together a grave connection between Damien and prophecy.

The film ups the ante with some of the deaths, witch a major set-piece including an elevator. Instead of dogs, the main scary animal are ravens. This works out well, as the ravens add their own eerie atmosphere.

As sequels go, Damien: The Omen II is a decent enough follow-up. It sticks to it’s formula, but not in a way that lazily repeats itself. This is a coming of age story that comes together pretty well.

Now, for the longest time, my memory had it set as historical fact that Henry Thomas of E.T. was Damien. Now, had I sat down and done the math, Henry would have been about five at the time of filming. So, my apologies to Jonathan Scott-Taylor, the actual young man who played Damien. But come on…surely you can see how my memory made this egregious error!

Jonathan Scott-Taylor

Henry Thomas

October 20, 2018 0

What Are Little Boys Made Of? (the Omen, 1976)

The book of 1st John 4:3 states “but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.” A couple centuries back, the concept of pre-tribulation raptures and a singular big “A” Antichrist took hold. There was an obsession with this brand of dispensationalism in the 70’s. There was the book the Late Great Planet Earth (which spun off a “documentary”) and a series of low budget Christian films starting with a Thief in the Night.

But Hollywood wanted in on this too. The end result is the Omen, directed by Richard Donner and starring Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, David Warner and one of the Doctors.

Robert and Katherine Thorne are grieving over their stillborn child when a priest offers the opportunity to bring home an infant whose mother died giving birth. And so they raise the young boy named Damien as their own. As time passes, strange events seem to surround the boy. He also behaves strangely, for instance freaking out as if in great pain as they approach a church. On his fifth birthday, everyone is shocked as his nanny publicly hangs herself.

The new nanny, who brings a large and imposing dog with her, is seemingly a bit odd. Robert is approached by individuals who claim his son is part of ancient prophecy. They hope to stop the rise of the Antichrist and are convinced it is young Damien. I mean, he is, because that is what the movie is about.

Peck brings an air of serious authority, which helps ground the film. There are some really effective bits, such as a photographer who notices a patter in certain anomalies of photos he has taken.

The film embraces the subject matter without any embarrassment. They are not worried about viewers thinking it is silly, and the performances give the story weight. The music by Jerry Goldsmith is quite iconic with it’s ominous church choir.

The Omen is one of the best Antichrist films, and holds up pretty well over forty years later.

October 19, 2018 0

Panic Inducement

Hello and welcome to October at Tripping Through Gateways!!! As with Every October, this month is going to be filled with the scary movies. This year’s theme is Satanic Panic. This means all the movies I am looking over will have religious connections. Of course, God and the Devil, angels and demons…light versus dark…all at war with each other. The Exorcist Films and the endless series of films they spawned. The Prophecy movies, the Omen films…countless knockoffs…and also, I am throwing in Hellraiser for good measure.

Hellraiser really doesn’t get all that religious, to be honest, certainly not in the fashion of, say the Omen or the Exorcist. But I have not gone through the series on the blog yet. To be quite frank here, the Hellraiser franchise has one of the worst bad to good ratios of any iconic franchise…often, even when there is a good idea…it gets buried under crap.

So, everybody…let’s panic!

October 1, 2018 0

How to Be a Dad (Little Evil, 2017)

Gary’s life seems to be going pretty good. He just married his dream girl Samantha and he is working to get to know his new stepson Lucas. Lucas is a special child. As in, he is the spawn of Satan.

Gary does not, of course, accept this right away. But mysterious events and death seem to give signs that Lucas is not all right. Little Evil is a comedy brought to us by the same guy who made Tucker & Dale vs Evil. That film was a funny send-up of slasher films ranging from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre to the Wrong Turn franchise.

One might question where the humor is in the religious horror of satanic kids…but writer and director Eli Craig finds the spot where they can intersect. Ans as with his previous film, does so with some sweetness and heart.

After an Omen-like incident at school, Lucas and Gary are sent to counseling. For Gary, this means a support group for fathers (which is attended by his friend Al…a lesbian struggling with her stepson’s lack of athletic ability). There, he is initially assured that these types of things are normal. But as deeper research finds, there is a lot of tragedy that seems to follow Lucas. And so Gary struggles to find a way to stop the son of Satan.

The cast is a strong comedic group. Led by Adam Scott (Parks and Rec) the character of Gary remains largely sympathetic throughout the film, which is important for those moments when he “veers off the path of good parenting”. Bridget Everett’s Al could have stayed in it’s “Butch Lesbian” stereotype lane…but she brings such an exuberance to the character that Al stands out and of course, brings plenty of humor. Evangeline Lilly (Ant Man and Lost) has a role that could get overshadowed, but she brings the appropriate heart to the role.

Little Evil is a lot of fun, though it does not quite reach the levels of insanity of Tucker & Dale Vs Evil. This is partly due to the narrow nature. They are really parodying the Omen here. Unlike Tucker and Dale, where there was an homage a minute to some slasher film, Little Evil is more restrained.

If you liked Tucker and Dale, you will more than likely enjoy Little Evil. And I would dare say that as long as the subject matter does not make one too uncomfortable? Non-horror fans may enjoy it as well. The film has not gory, and the visuals are not terribly frightening. Afterall, the goal here is not scares. It is laughs and maybe a bit of sentimentality.

September 3, 2017 0