“From the eternal sea he rises, creating armies on either shore, turning man against his brother, ‘til man exists no more.”
The original trilogy of Omen films and the remake finally make their high definition debut. However, the packaging they’re housed in was designed by the devil himself and is completely atrocious.
You’ll be wishing that whomever greenlit that design at Fox were destined to go to hell.
Ambassador Robert Thorn (Gregory Peck) arrives at the hospital for the birth of his son. When he arrives a priest informs him that his son has died and his wife Katherine (Lee Remick). The priest at the hospital informs Thorn that there was a child that was orphaned when his mother died in childbirth; if the Thorn’s adopted him then they’d not have to go through the pain of losing a child.
At Damien’s (Harvey Stephens) fifth birthday party his nanny hangs herself after witnessing a mysterious black dog. Ambassador Thorn is approached by Father Brennan (Patrick Troughton) who informs him that is son is the antichrist; he also comes to a sticky end. A new nanny, Mrs. Baylock (Billie Whitelaw), seems to have a strange connection to Damien.
Photographer Keith Jennings (David Warner) begins to suspect that Brennan may not be the psychotic that Thorn suspected and he and Thorn try and unravel the mystery.
Seven years after the events of the first film, Damien (Jonathan Scott-Taylor) is living with his uncle Richard Thorn (William Holden), aunt Ann (Lee Grant), and Richard’s son Mark (Lucas Donat).
Aunt Marion (Sylvia Sydney) thinks the worst of Damien. Damien discovers his destiny and those that will help him rise to his full potential.
That potential is realized when Damien (Sam Neill) is appointed Ambassador to the Court of St. James and the signs appear that signal the second coming of Christ.
In 2006 (so that the film could open on 6/6/06), there was a remake that basically followed exactly the first film. It cast Liev Schreiber as Thorn, Julia Stiles as his wife, Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick as Damien, Pete Postlethwaite as Father Brennan, David Thewlis as Keith Jennings, and Mia Farrow as Mrs. Baylock.
The special effects were much improved, but since it followed the first film so closely those familiar with it might be bored.
I usually don’t put much thought into the packaging of the titles I review, but when they’re this bad I have to say something. The Omen Collection came to the editorial offices in a bubble mailer that looked like Ole’ Scratch himself had stepped on it with his cloven hoof. The Blu-rays are held to the flimsy paper fold out by some round plastic hubs that seem like they’re ready to fall off of the paper.
Since this box set has a large asking price, I’m very disappointed in the extremely cheap packaging.
The first film is certainly a horror classic. Not only that, but it begat Star Wars and Superman. If director Richard Donner weren’t the “flavor of the month,” as he puts it, because of the success of the Omen then the Salkinds wouldn’t have called him to direct Superman.
The success of the film also meant that Fox had enough change in its coffers to greenlight Star Wars. The problem was that the sequels got gradually worse, never reaching the high points that the first film got to.
The remake was a strange one to judge since it sticks so close to the original. Since I knew were everything was going, I think it hurt it. The original benefited from the fact that it could all be coincidence and maybe the devil wasn’t afoot and it was all in Thorn’s mind.
The remake just didn’t seem to pull those punches but that might’ve been because I’d seen it all before. The sequels didn’t have that subtlety and went fully into supernatural territory.
The Omen collection is presented in a 1080p high definition transfer (2.35:1 for the original trilogy and 1.85:1 for the remake). Special features come mostly from the previous DVD releases.
The Omen and the remake are available separately but the two Omen sequels are only available on Blu-ray in this set. The new special features on the original Omen include a BonusView trivia track, commentary with film historians Lem Dobbs, Nick Redman, and Jeff Bond, an isolated score, and a new 14-minute interview with director Richard Donner (high definition).
The rest of the special features come from the previous DVD releases and are in standard definition. They include a commentary by Richard Donner and editor Stuart Baird as well as a commentary by Donner and screenwriter Brian Helgeland.
There’s also a 2 minute introduction to the film by Donner, a deleted 85 second “Dog Attack” scene with option commentary by Donner and Helgeland, the 46 minute “666: The Omen Revealed” about the making of the film, the 101 minute “The Omen Legacy” looks at all three films, the 6 minute “Curse or Coincidence” is about the scary things that happened on set, director Wes Craven offers a 20 minute appreciation of the film, Jerry Goldsmith talks about the score for 17 minutes, the 15 minute “Screenwriter’s Notebook” is an interview with David Seltzer, a still gallery, and the 2 minute theatrical trailer.
The Omen II has a commentary with producer Harvey Bernhard and the 3-minute theatrical trailer. The Omen III has a commentary with director Graham Baker and the 2-minute theatrical trailer.
The Omen remake has a trivia track that’s exclusive to the Blu-ray. It also includes a commentary with director John Moore, producer Glen Williamson, and editor Dan Zimmerman. It also has the high definition 22 minute “Revelations 666” about the wicked numeral, a 10-minute featurette on the score, and 4 minutes of extended scenes.
The Omen is the best film in the set and since the remake follows it almost shot for shot I suppose it’s good as well. The sequels are a mixed bag. Omen completists might be disappointed that the fourth sequel made for television wasn’t included. What you will be disappointed by is the horrible, cheap packaging.
As much as this set costs you would’ve expected them to give that more effort, I’d give them 1 star for that but the fine transfers of the films make up for it. Caveat emptor.
The Omen Collection [Blu-ray] is now available at Amazon . Visit the DVD database for more information.
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