Director Richard Donner actually intended his movie as something of a reaction against The Exorcist. Where that film dealt with such supernatural occurrences as demonic possession, rotating heads and levitating beds, Donner crafted The Omen as a psychological thriller with down-to-earth death scenes.

As the characters met their shocking demises -- by hanging, impalement, beheading and, my personal favorite, death by tricycle -- the circumstances were all the more terrifying in that they could be explained by natural causes. Was Damien really to blame, or were these the manifestations of two parents who couldn't deal with raising an adopted child?

The remake, a stunt timed to coincide with the date 6-6-06, doesn't much care for the psychology, but amps up the scare sequences (quite scary in the original) to meet the current horror standard.

Director John Moore has one of two strategies for terrorizing the audience. There's the heart-attack method, in which something jumps into frame accompanied by the ear-splitting sound of twisted metal. And there's the mousetrap approach, a style perfected by the Final Destination movies, whereby a series of unrelated coincidences result in the grisliest of executions. Both strategies are quite effective, if not especially subtle.

Donner's version was scary, too, but the performances were really what set it apart. Remember, The Omen starred Gregory Peck, the same actor who had played the most admired father figure in the history of cinema, Atticus Finch, in To Kill a Mockingbird. By contrast, Liev Schreiber's Robert Thorn is one of those "sensitive" guys who's constantly apologizing to his wife and asking annoying questions like, "What can I do, baby?"

As his wife, Julia Stiles seems limited to the contortions of the brow and quivering of the lip you'd expect to find in a high-school theater production (and yet she gets top billing). It wouldn't matter that Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick, with his cold stare and sinister sneer, isn't particularly good as Damien if Harvey Stephens hadn't been so convincing, as both an innocent brat and a holy terror, in the original (watch for him in a cameo as one of the photographers).

The only improvement is the decision to cast Rosemary's Baby star Mia Farrow as Mrs. Baylock, the governess who doubles as "an apostate of hell." Otherwise, Moore seems more focused on reproducing the 1976 version than improving upon it. In a move reminiscent of Gus Van Sant's Psycho, some shots are lifted directly from the original and much of the screenplay is identical.

Come to think of it, The Omen and The Exorcist do share one more thing in common: Both were successful enough that they inspired multiple sequels and spin-offs. Considering how truly horrific some of those derivative versions can be, audiences should be grateful that they went back to the source this time around.

[as featured in The Miami Herald]