Damien, Denied: THE OMEN Remake
Is it wrong to hate a child?
That's how I felt about the child actor (Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick) cast as the new Damien in the remake of THE OMEN. So distractingly smirky is this little anti-Christ, his infant version seems cry and wail in six-six-six part harmony. Draw a little El-Marko moustache on his movie poster image (and I'm sure some of you all ready have already done so), slick down his black bowl haircut, and he looks like a kindergarten Hitler.
If only this kid had been given a chance to be scary rather than annoying.
Young Harvey Stephens, the cherub-faced boy who portrayed the Devil's son in the 1976 movie, said but a few lines in the original thriller. The first indication of his evil nature was an his naughty, secret wave "hello" to a slobbering demon-dog at his fifth birthday party. The second sign was Richard Donner's priceless shot of the boy's face when he realizes he's being carted off to a wedding--in an Anglican church. (The psycho-pout of Damien denied - and the tantrum that follows--is all too familar to babysitters and parents everywhere.)
Though director John Moore has displayed a commanding visual style in TK, this horror remake essentially follows the original script - but hits every harder and louder. At Damien's fifth birthday party, when the boy's first nanny takes a long, cursed leap off a short window ledge to make way for an evil new guardian, not only do we get several shots of her lifeless body crashing through a window below (same as in the 1976 movie), but we get a gratuitiously suggestive shot of her stockinged foot going slack, THEN losing a shoe, THEN the shoe falling another story or two till it goes SMASH into a crystal punchbowl filled with blood-red punch. Then the crystal cracks and the punch spills all over the white tablecloth. Subtle!
At which point I thought: Frickin' awesome! I haven't seen a buffet table so abused since that guy jumped into to the wedding cake in the Guns N Roses "November Rain" video. And why did that guy do that, by the way? Was he so frightened of the rain that he was taking cover, and he misjudged his leap? Or did he think, "The whole wedding's shot to hell because of the rain, this marriage between Axl and Stephanie Seymour is clearly doomed, I've never before had a chance to jump into a wedding cake: Therefore I shall jump."
If you have a theory, please write.
When an apocalyptic thriller lets a horror fan's mind enough to think not just of the superior original, but of a Guns N Roses video from 14 years ago, that's not a good sign.
Of all the talented actors in the cast, I didn't sense a deep engagement, except in the performance of Mia Farrow, who seemed to enjoy dishing out some payback for the crap she took while making Rosemary's Baby.
I counted exactly one moment when I was truly startled: during a dream sequence that looks like a a Satanic ad for Calvin Klein's Obsession.
Nice one.
I screamed. And then laughed my head off because 1) that cheap thing-in-the-mirror-scare gets me every time (even in the awful Amityville Horror remake) 2) I love and hate to be scared 3) I heard several male critics scream like girls, too. Don't deny it.
By the way, Harvey Stephens, now in his late 30s and rather handsome, makes a brief, jokey appearance in the remake as a tabloid newspaper reporter on the steps of the U.S. Embassy in London. (I think his line is something like, "Mr. Thorne, what do you say to reports that the nanny was on drugs?" He's the last of the three nuisance-journalists to bother Liev Shrieber, who plays the hero.
If you have a theory, please write.
What I'm saying is: when an apocalyptic thriller lets a horror fan's mind enough to think not just of the superior original, but of a Guns N Roses video from 14 years ago, that's not a good sign.
Of all the talented actors in the cast, I didn't sense a deep engagement, except in the performance of Mia Farrow, who seemed to enjoy dishing out some payback for the crap she took while making Rosemary's Baby.
I counted exactly one moment when I was truly startled: during a dream sequence that looks like a a Satanic for Calvin Klein's Obsession.
Fox Movie Channel and other basic cable nets are working THE OMEN trilogy week. John Patterson gets all hot and bothered the third entry, THE FINAL CONFLICT. In case you've forgotten, the demon-spawn movies go like this:
The Omen (1976) Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, adorable little Damien.
The Omen 2 (1978) Adolescent Damien--who bears no resemblance to his younger self-- is adopted by U.S. President, gets jealous of his better looking, smarter cousin, goes to military school where the headmaster is a v. strict but not strict enough Lance Henriksen.
The Omen III: The Final Conflict (1981) Sam Neill is Damien and he's ridiculously hot. Is it me or is the Apocalypse seeming kind of sexy?
Omen IV: The Awakening (1991) I believe the explains-it-all subtitle for this TV movie was "This Time Damien's a Little Girl." Basically a Lifetime telefilm with black candles and sharper knives.
Comments
Loved your explication of the buffet abuse in November Rain! It shoots down my previous theory, that Axl's wedding signifies the end of childhood, and the jumper was desperately trying to recapture the innocent joy of Disney buffet smashing classics like the Shaggy DA. And yeah, the kid was not good.
Posted by: Carolyn Townsend | June 9, 2006 03:41 PM