OMEN, THE - DVD review

Movies featuring creepy kids are a dime a dozen; most are forgettable late night cable fodder, sandwiched between showings of "Beastmaster 2" and "Gymkata," while a rare few rise up and demand to be taken seriously. Of all the creepy kid movies, none have been as successful, both financially and critically, as the original "Omen." Released three years after the smash hit "The Exorcist" and created with the intent of riding the wave of success it had created, "The Omen" reached heights untouched by "The Exorcist" and in truth was more akin to the 1968 masterpiece, "Rosemary's Baby." Whereas Friedkin's predictable "Exorcist" gave the audience no choice but to believe that Regan had been possessed by a demon, director Richard Donner actively kept the audience questioning the origin of star Gregory Peck's son Damien, as Polanski had done with his "Baby."

When his son is stillborn in Rome on the sixth day of June at six o'clock (*cough*6/6/6*cough*), Peck does the unthinkable and swaps his dead child for one born at the same time to a mother who died during childbirth, and then he keeps it a secret from everyone, including his wife! As their son Damien grows older, peculiar things begin occurring to him: animals freak out in his presence, churches cause him to freak out, a Jerry Goldsmith score soars every time he enters a room and freaks out everybody in the audience. As Peck dives deeper and deeper into his "son's" background, everyone involved starts dropping like flies, driving him to the madding conclusion that would spawn three mediocre sequels and an unnecessary remake.

While "The Omen" is regarded as a classic and a definitive high point for the horror genre, it's hard to believe that anyone born in the last thirty years since this film's release would regard this movie as anything but corny. Much of the film comes off as severely dated, the visual and sound effects now seem cheesy and amateurish, and the Oscar-winning Goldsmith score that once made the film ten times more frightening mirrors that of most current B-movies. Today's audiences have been force-fed gore-and-spectacle films like "The Grudge," Dawn of the Dead," and other Japanese 70's remakes. This eternal buffet of nonstop terror and action has bred an audience that no longer has a stomach for films that feature high-caliber actors and such forgotten ideas as story progression and character development. A substantial number of people will not understand the impact of "The Omen" and will simply write it off as "a long, slow movie with that guy from the movie about that "Bird" book I had to read in high school."

While the mindless masses waste their time on such forgettable evil child vehicles as "Birth," "Hide and Seek," and "Silent Hill," smart horror fans will be picking up this wonderful two-disc set and placing it on their shelves between "The Bad Seed" and the original "Village of the Damned."

Video:
"The Omen" is presented in anamorphic widescreen with a 2.35:1 ratio, and looks simply amazing. For those of us whose previous viewings were regulated to fullscreen VHS, this movie looks better than ever. Every shot, whether interior or exterior, daylight or nighttime, looks crisp, clear, and amazing. All your favorite scenes, from Lee Remick's famously filmed fall to the infamous suicidal nanny to David Warner's shocking demise, pop off the screen and look as vivid as the day they were shot.

Audio:
The 5.1 Dolby Surround is possibly my only gripe with the presentation of this "Collector's Edition." Its wide dynamic range fluctuates to such a degree that I constantly found myself reaching for the remote to turn down Goldsmith's overpowering score, only to have to turn it up again just to hear the dialogue. During the first scene alone I had to double the volume just to hear Peck's conversation with the doctor and almost had my speakers blown out by the following scene's music.

Extas:
These two discs are overflowing with bonus features, many from the original "Special Edition" DVD release in 2001, and to tell the truth most of the new features feel forced and tacked on. While they don't hurt this two-disc Collector's Edition, they definitely will not necessitate a purchase if you still have the '01 release.

The commentary by director Richard Donner and editor Stuart Baird is from the original release and is just as plodding and boring as the first time, and the inclusion of a new commentary by Donner and Brian Helgeland is just plain weird. Helgeland is unconnected in any way to this film, and why Fox thought anyone would care what the screenwriter of bad melodramatic films like "Blood Work," "Conspiracy Theory," and "Mystic River" had to say is beyond me. This commentary is only worth listening to if you want to hear Donner contradict himself on the prior commentary.

"Curse or Conscience," "Jerry Goldsmith on the Omen Score," and "666: The Omen Revealed" were all included on the 2001 DVD release and simply amount to seventy minutes of self congratulation and reminders that Gregory Peck's pedigree allowed this film to be taken seriously.

The best "new" inclusion to this set is a ninety-minute documentary originally aired on AMC in 2001, "The Omen Legacy," hosted by Jack Palance (father of the "hanging" nanny) that covers all of the films and even the short-lived television series from the mid nineties. While not as strange as the Helgeland commentary, the twenty-minute "An Appreciation: Wes Craven on the Omen" feels tacked onto this already bloated set, and it offers no insight into anything but the fact that Craven likes to hear himself talk. By far the most surreal moment spread out over these discs is the "Screenwriters Notebook" where "Omen" scriptwriter David Seltzer admits to writing it as an "Exorcist" rip-off that he did only because his cars were being repossessed and that before it got to Donner's hands it was full of cloven-hoofed creatures scampering through graveyards. Then Selzer has the gall to go on for fifteen minutes about how great a writer he is, this same guy who wrote "Bird on A Wire" and "My Giant." Just who is he kidding besides himself?

Also new to this release are a meaningless intro by Donner, a ninety-second deleted scene of a dog attack that reminds you why it was cut in the first place, and a still gallery featuring 138 shots of on-set antics, footage, and promos. All in all, there is an amazing amount of bonus features, but outside of "The Omen Legacy" there just isn't anything worth watching or listening to, unless you like hearing for almost seven hours how great Gregory Peck was and how Donner is the man responsible for bringing back Superman.

Film Value
To this day "The Omen" stands as one of horror's crowning achievements, reminding everyone that substance should always come before style and that even the cheesiest script can be improved with good actors and a visionary director. It's just too bad that everyone involved can't stop patting themselves on the back for doing it.