342: The Omen (1976 vs 2006)

SPEAKER_03 0:04

Why does Julia Stiles continue to find herself in these situations?

SPEAKER_02 0:13

Greetings and salutations, and welcome to Hack or Slash. If you're joining us again, welcome back. Have no fear, little one. I'm here to protect thee. If this is your first time listening, welcome to the party. We are a horror movie review podcast dedicated to telling you whether a movie is a hack.

SPEAKER_00 0:29

Total joke, a waste of time.

SPEAKER_02 0:31

Or slash. Totally killer, pun intended. We believe horror is for everyone, and at such we're rating these movies with the perspective we've gained from our varying walks of life and the flavors of fear we fancy most. My name is Chris, I'm your friendly neighborhood slash enthusiast. This week I'm joined by the classic horror connoisseur Sean.

SPEAKER_00 0:48

Warm it up, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 0:49

And the paranormal paramour.

SPEAKER_03 0:50

Thanks. No, nothing's too much for the wife of the future President of the United States.

SPEAKER_02 0:56

Two episodes ago, we checked out a 2024 film that serves as a prequel to an iconic supernatural horror film and shows us exactly how an American ambassador ended up with a son who seems to be evil incarnate. This week we're continuing our exploration of this franchise by checking out the 1976 classic and pitting it against its 2006 remake. Before we unpack nearly 50 years of lore, though, we have some follow-up.

SPEAKER_00 1:21

Let's follow up on a season. The season of the witch. Last spooky season was definitely something special, and I gotta tell you, we have even more exciting things lined up for you in September and October this year. But seriously, why wait until October? Because the spooky preseason starts right now. Bump bump bump. Yeah, because from August 1st to the 31st, we're challenging our listeners to join in the fun early. You can help us pre-game for spooky season by joining our free Discord server and mingling around with the Hackerslash family.

SPEAKER_02 2:01

Yeah, and if you're not familiar with Discord, no worries. It's a free app or website where you can connect with us and other fans of our show. It's actually really exciting because just this past month in July, we hit 300 members of our Discord, which is something that it really has become like a special place and another like home away from home. Obviously, we say this every episode. We believe horror is for everyone. And what you might not know is that our ultimate goal is to foster an environment where conversations about horror movies help build enriching connections between people. And Discord is the place for that. That's where we achieve it, that's where it really comes to life. Our Discord is a safe, inclusive space for fans to connect over a shared love of horror movies.

SPEAKER_03 2:43

Absolutely. So throughout August, each Discord member will earn points just for participating in our community. You can talk about horror, connect with others on other topics that you enjoy, and join our live stream chats to rack up those points. And then on September 1st, we'll announce the community member with the most points. Our top three winners will receive a special package containing merch design specifically for our 2024 spooky season. And we haven't forgotten about our runner-ups, don't worry, they'll get a little something special too.

SPEAKER_00 3:12

Alright, so just to recap this, join our Discord, have fun with the Hackerslash family, earn points, and win some cool shit. That's awesome. And if you want to learn more, you can follow the link in our show notes or go directly to go.hackerslash.live slash preseason.

SPEAKER_02 3:30

Man, all this pregaming with a spooky preseason, we're gonna be so hungover in November.

SPEAKER_00 3:36

We are. It's gonna be quite the season.

SPEAKER_03 3:39

Need to hydrate.

SPEAKER_00 3:40

But we also want to highlight a couple of new patrons. So we want to give a shout out to Drea, Parker, and River. Thanks for joining.

SPEAKER_02 3:50

Those are such cool names. I was just thinking about that. Wow. Yeah, River sign up as River Goddess. How fucking badass is that?

SPEAKER_00 3:59

That is badass. A hundred percent. Welcome to the family, and that's our follow-up.

SPEAKER_02 4:03

Well, this week we're discussing two films that follow the same tale. An American ambassador surrounded by a series of mysterious deaths begins to suspect that the child he's raising might be the Antichrist. The idea for the film originated from a conversation about the Bible between producer Harvey Bernard and Bob Munger. And when Munger proposed the idea of an Antichrist film, Bernard promptly engaged screenwriter David Seltzer, who spent a year developing the script. His efforts ultimately resulted in a 1976 film that quickly became a cornerstone of horror cinema and has spawned a franchise of five additional films. The narrative was revisited 30 years later, and while Dan McDermott wrote the screenplay, the Writers Guild of America ultimately awarded writing credit back to Seltzer, citing the remake's close resemblance to the original. The film was released on June 6, 2006, exactly 30 years after the original, aiming to reignite the same sense of fear and fascination. How does it fare in comparison to its predecessor? Well, we're about to find out. This week we're talking about both versions of the Omen. Who's seen either of these before?

SPEAKER_00 5:05

The Omen 1976 is a classic through and through. So of course, this is one that I have watched a good number of times over the years. The remake in 2006, however, that's a different story because at first I didn't remember watching that one, and I was really just going into it saying to myself, Really? You've never watched this one before? That's impossible. Soon after starting it, I did realize that I have indeed seen it before, but probably just suppress that memory away.

SPEAKER_03 5:35

Very similar. I have seen the original not many times, but a few for sure. I actually had recently rewatched it after having seen the first omen and obviously then rewatched it again. But friends, I gotta tell you, I watched the 2006 version the day it premiered, June 6, 2006, at our local AMC. It was the summer before I started high school, freshman year. I could tell you what I was wearing, I could tell you who I was with. I was so excited, and I felt like I was the biggest rebel on earth because I had gone to private school my entire life up until then. So it was almost like the summer before going to public school, and I'm gonna go see the omen. I'm wildin' out.

SPEAKER_02 6:21

I've seen both of these films. They're certainly not ones I've seen often. I saw the 2006 version when it came out in theaters, but I don't particularly remember it very well. These are films and if really a franchise that I haven't really given a lot of care consideration to. I love Gregory Peck. I was crazy about to kill a mockingbird when I was younger, and many more of his films. Going back into this one, it was gonna be such a different experience because we just talked about in the first omen. That movie was so good, it changed my outlook on this franchise. So I watched this so many different times. First, we watched the first omen in theaters, then I watched it again ahead of the episode. Then after that, I rolled straight in to the original 1976 The Omen, and then I watched the 2006 version. I did that weeks early for this episode, but then this episode was rescheduled. So I re-watched both of them yesterday, and the 2006 one I watched on a plane on my way to visit Mac, and that was a miserable experience. I could not concentrate on the movie. So then I snuggled with Mac's dog on the couch today and re-watched both of them yet again. And let me tell you, such different feelings for two movies that are very similar, yeah, such different feelings watching them, not only as themselves and individual properties, but watching them now in my mind is a continuation of the first omen, which is not fair to either of them. Right. But it's amazing what a really good prequel can do for you.

SPEAKER_03 7:54

Yeah, having the context of the first omen does do these films a little bit of a disservice because you start to think, well, they said XYZ, they said this, and that doesn't match up, right? And that has more to do, obviously, with the first omen than it does these films. However, I approached it a little bit of the vibe, right? And so when we look at the original, I'm watching it and I just always feel like I have this eeriness, this unsettlement with something that seems very simple. It's not a very fluff film. It's great with building up that tension and that terror in the little things that most 70s horror does. If it's not like out of the box camp, it's just simple and subtle. But with the 2006 version, I kind of felt, oh yeah, you can tell it's the time. And I was very nostalgic about it initially because I was thinking to myself, damn, I haven't watched this film since I saw it. It's been that fucking long. I have not re-watched this film, and I know it has its reputation.

SPEAKER_00 8:56

That sounds about right.

SPEAKER_03 8:57

So I was like, damn, but let me give it a shot and see how I feel about it. But as I'm watching it, I'm like, well, this is obviously very similar to the original, but I'm not as impressed. I'm really not as impressed. I'm not feeling that same kind of tension or eeriness. I'm just feeling more of like, oh yeah, this is 2000s, but not the kind that I'm about. More like the real dramatic and real bad acting version.

SPEAKER_02 9:24

You are a different woman today than the teenager you were when you first saw that. You probably hadn't even seen possession for the first time yet. No. Think about what a visceral connection you had to the first omen and think about the life experience you had not had, or maybe we're still living through and experiencing very fresh and early when this time when this movie came out in your life. It is insane to think about how differently we can receive them.

SPEAKER_03 9:45

Well, and also just going back to what I was saying earlier, imagine a 13-year-old little girl who's grown up extremely Catholic, went to private school, goes to see this movie, you know, and it's very different than at that time. I had probably seen the original on the TV screen because it was just on, and my dad would have not never allowed it. My grandfather's usually the one that I would watch movies with, and he would skim by it. So the original I didn't really see in totality until after high school, until I was much older. Because if Veda was here, she would also say, We don't fuck with that shit in the house, especially in a Catholic home. Really, the omen to me when I was young was the 2006 version. So I think I just held it to such a high standard. But as I'm older, I've seen the original, I've seen the original a few times now, etc. etc. I'm like, uh, I don't know if it was ever that really good. And then I re-watch it now and I'm like, it just doesn't hit.

SPEAKER_00 10:43

Yeah. There is something, despite how similar the two films are and how much they stick to very much the same script, they definitely have that feeling that's a little bit off. The original Omen 1976 just has this certain feel to it. There's at times there's this really classic feel to it, from the performances that we get from the actors to just the way that it's shot. But more importantly to me, the way the score makes you feel, because almost right away, with those first few notes and the vocals from the choir, just sends chills down your spine. It's just a big part of why the film is so good. But the remake, yeah, despite from being almost a play-by-play from the original, felt a little bit off. It's like one of the things that sets the remake apart from its predecessor, is how they experiment with some of these surreal nightmarish moments and things. We'll leave it at that. But overall, from the way the film is shot and this quick edit thing that they tried to do, it all felt like I was really just watching some TV drama special and it kind of really departed from the omen for some reason.

SPEAKER_02 11:51

Yeah, there's something about it that's almost Uncanny Valley.

SPEAKER_00 11:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:54

It's looking at a specific Skywalker cameo in the Mandalorian series. It looks pretty good, but also it's a little bit off. It's a little bit different. But here's the thing: I don't have such a visceral emotional tie or investment in this franchise. Watching the original, I can respect and appreciate it for what it is, but I don't have the same affinity for it that I think would preclude me from really appreciating us, even honestly, and probably a mediocre remake. The biggest thing that I was feeling with the original was that eeriness, that unsettling energy. Being such you said it really well earlier, the movie's just simple, it's straightforward. But even then, some moments of the story are convoluted, and that is a detriment of watching this and getting into this with the first omen pipeline. That's really all it is. That's not a discredit to this movie, it's not a disservice to this movie. I need to check that on myself because it's not fair to the original property. But that remake, it's really interesting because it's complicated. I felt more interested in the story because of what it does and changes to the scope, but less interested in the people.

SPEAKER_01 13:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:06

And at some points I was intrigued, but during other points I was really bored. And there's something about this movie that just feels hollow. And it's one of those things where you can compare it almost like the remake of Psycho. You have the original Hitchcock masterpiece, but then you have this bullshit that the only thing they do differently is have Vince Vaughn jack off while looking at a peephole, right? It's disgusting.

SPEAKER_00 13:30

It's a tragedy.

SPEAKER_02 13:31

You just reminded me I have to see that movie.

SPEAKER_00 13:33

Oh, you're not really.

SPEAKER_02 13:35

Whoops. Sorry I ruined that for you. But here's the thing: this movie is not that offensive. That movie, that remake was shot for shot and did almost nothing different, didn't almost nothing original. And this isn't quite that. This is just, you tried. I have some sentiments on it. I mean, there's some things I can pick apart, but the biggest feeling I had when I was watching the remake was how flabbergasted I was when one thought came to mind, and that was, what in the final destination am I watching?

SPEAKER_03 14:06

Oh, we'll come back to that. We'll for sure come back to that. I have that written down, so that's a direct quote off of my notes. Has to be. Nice.

SPEAKER_02 14:14

And it's wild because obviously those elements are present in the original. Right. Obviously, but the way that it's done here in the remake, it's just a little excessive.

SPEAKER_03 14:29

It's a bit of a reach. My surprise for the remake, actually, was why does Julia Styles continue to find herself in these situations?

SPEAKER_02 14:38

These movies she doesn't belong in?

SPEAKER_03 14:40

The movies that she not only does she not belong in, it's more like these adoptive situations. Oh. Because I was also thinking of the Orphan First Kill. I don't know if you guys have seen that, but she's in that one. Yes. It's just my girl, my girl is just not good when it comes to adoption. Yeah. She's not set for it.

SPEAKER_02 14:58

Give it up, girl.

SPEAKER_00 14:59

Bad times.

SPEAKER_02 15:00

Hero was thinking you're talking about her actual acting chops because I was like, what is she doing in this? I mean, you know.

SPEAKER_03 15:07

I'm always talking about her acting chops. Oh god. I'm so sorry, Julia. Love you, girly, but jeez.

SPEAKER_00 15:14

It's rough. Yeah, not much really surprises me about the original omen these days, but as a potential first-time viewer, if there's anyone out there that hasn't seen it, I think if you like a good story that is told by talented performances, you're probably gonna be surprised by how good this cast is from like the leading roles to the supporting roles, because it is all really, really well done. And for the remake, we kind of just talked about it right there. I was just a little disappointed in the casting choices for this movie because it just didn't feel like it worked very well. And maybe on paper it looks or seems like it's gonna be great, but in actuality it was just a little bit disappointing. I was surprised to see half of the Harry Potter crew in the remake. We got Michael Gambin who plays Dumbledore, David Thuhlis who plays Remus Lupin. I mean, together. That's great. We love that.

SPEAKER_02 16:11

I knew that fucker looked familiar, the Lupin guy.

SPEAKER_03 16:14

There we go. I was gonna say, I also know what they were doing there when they casted all those people because they were talking to me. They were catering to this audience, audience being me. Because by putting the Harry Potter cast in there and Julia Stiles and all these other people, I'm like, damn. Yeah, all these people were like they were it in the early 2000s, and of course, Harry Potter, obviously. So it doesn't surprise me who was in the movie. I guess it's more of a surprise that they just don't mesh well in action. It's kind of like how you said on paper it looks great, but at execution, it's like, ooh, it's all fumbling the bag.

SPEAKER_02 16:55

Listen, you can take, for example, you go to the store, you buy a box of cakes mix, cake mix, you get a good set of eggs, you get some flour, you get some milk, whatever the fuck goes in that water. It seems so basic. You can still fuck it up when assembling it.

SPEAKER_00 17:10

Somehow.

SPEAKER_02 17:11

I've done it. I've burned a blender in the oven when making a cake. It happens. Sometimes shit does not go according to plan, and that's okay. There's a lot that was surprising about this experience of re-watching both of these several times now at this point, more than I've ever seen it in my entire lifetime leading up to this episode. But not as many disappointments, and that isn't a surprise for me. Something that actually really stuck out to me in both of these movies is how much simpler the beginning of the story could have been in retrospect. I mean, we're gonna get into it in the spoiler zone, but I'm just like, we could have done something different here, guys. It could have been so much simpler, it could have been easier. There are assumptions that are made, there are questions that are asked of characters, there are decisions that are made. I'm like, we could have just skipped all of this and just said, here's your baby. But that's neither here nor there. I think one of the things that really stood out to me was also forgetting how quickly this 1976 version moves, even though it feels like it moves a little slowly at first. We get years of a child's life in the beginning of this mo of this movie, but it still feels like it's paced really well. And that was something that really stood out to me because even though it was almost shot for shot, they still feel like they're paced differently. There's something about the 2006 version that feels, I would not say by any means more exciting, but it feels a little bit more thriller. It feels a little bit more quick. And I enjoyed actually the difference in scale that the remake sets up because both of these films revolve around the placement of the Antichrist in a family, but the remake makes a really specific point of laying out just how high those stakes are for the uninitiated. I didn't go to a Catholic school, I don't fully understand what that means. It's like, all right, shitty kid. Guess it's gonna be bad. But the remake specifically takes a scale beyond one family, and while they both follow the same plot and they do the same things, there's a specific component that's added that I feel like it translates well.

SPEAKER_00 19:13

Yeah, I think the pacing thing you brought up is really good because it definitely I think what the remake did with the specifically the way they edited the film is how it feels a little bit different and maybe even quicker, you would say. And I think the original, you bring up a good point. The story is so good that you feel like the the pacing is good, even though it is kind of a slow burn the first half of the movie. You know, it technically it is kind of a slow burn, but because the story is interesting enough, maybe, and maybe everything else is so good that you just get lost in that, and it doesn't feel as much of a slower-paced film as it might be if it was just like really boring dialogue the entire time. You know what I mean? So I think that is a really good point. But I will say, speaking of the story being good, the story for both of these films, which are the same exact screenplay, is a pretty horrifying story to behold when you really think about it. It is truly a horrific tale. However, you won't be really getting much of any of those heart-racing scenes in the original. It's more of it's more of that kind of slow burn of religious dread with a couple of moments sprinkled in there for you. The remake, however, did implement some different twists on scenes and tried to give you some quick jump scares with the score spiking and whatnot, which that's like a little bit different as far as like how you're gonna feel and react throughout the film. But overall, I think it's less about the heart-racing jump scary stuff and more about how actually terrifying this story is when you peel back the layers.

SPEAKER_03 20:50

I definitely agree with you there. I think that the 2006 version versus the original in this particular case almost wins when it comes to the fear factor of it all, because they're just more dramatic with the parts that require it, you know, that require the fear, that require the heart racing, the eeriness of the fact that we're talking about a little boy being exactly Satan, essentially, the second coming of Satan. So it's these kinds of things that I think in the early 2000s you expect, because that's when all of horror films were just really trying to get you to be scared shitless with the jump scares and stuff like that. So in a way, I think it benefited this film. I don't think it's entirely scary still, but it'll be scarier for you than the first one for sure.

SPEAKER_02 21:43

Yeah, there's nothing about either of these films that stands out to me as frightening. What I could see this doing, and I'm remembering this end of days m marketing and then thinking about how many times in history we think the fucking mine calendars are running out and Y2K. The world's gonna come to an end. This movie, in particular the remake, I think would scratch the itch for people who are constantly looking for signs that things are over and that Armageddon's coming. Because of again, the scale it takes, because of the angle that it takes, there's nothing I think you're gonna find frightening in the 1976 version, except for if you're able to really be an empath and put yourself in this situation and think, wow, what would I do in this scenario? But I think for a film to rely and prey on either your spirituality or your empathy, it's just not scratching the itch for me in terms of a horror movie. It's just a good film, either way, which I think really digs at the ending because both of them do the same thing, but there's something about the way the original executes it where it just feels like a harrowing end to a suspenseful film, and it's emotional. I think it's devastating, but it's incredible how even though they both do the same thing, again, I talked about earlier how the remake feels so hollow in some points, it's almost like it lacks a soul. The original ending just hits different.

SPEAKER_00 23:13

Yeah, I can definitely see that. I think when you're talking about the ending, I think harrowing is definitely the right word for that because let's face it, the ending for both films, pretty much the same events that happen, right? But I think it just impacts. I just love it when an ending can really build the intensity of a situation and show you the light at the end of the tunnel and then turn that light off and really rob you of that resolution. You know what I mean? And that's what I feel like maybe the original over the remake hits a little bit better, but they both still kind of land that plane. And I think either way you look at it, whether you're watching the original or the remake here, the ending is just something that I truly enjoy.

SPEAKER_03 23:55

Absolutely. And it all comes down to that last final scene that I think is the most impactful, last still, that some may say has heavy meme potential, whether it be the original or the remake, truthfully. I still feel like it regardless is something that will can get under your skin for sure. Because if you were ever in that situation and you can just imagine that final moment, hell no, you would be rethinking a lot of life decisions. I'll tell you that much. I sure would.

SPEAKER_02 24:25

Well, as harrowing as these endings are, let's see how that starts to translate into our ratings. Now, before we actually score these films, Sean, how would you rate the gore score for the original film?

SPEAKER_00 24:37

You know, you're gonna get some small amounts of blood and things like that, but you're not really getting a whole lot of any graphic, really truly graphic scenes in the original. So it's definitely giving a low gore score.

SPEAKER_02 24:51

And what about its 2006 remake?

SPEAKER_00 24:53

You know what? You are going to see a couple of moments between, I guess you could even say the original and this remake, but there's a couple of scenes that may be hard to watch. I don't think that it will be from the gore, no matter how you look at it. I think you do see some blood, but in the remake, it delivers a couple of shocking kills in their own way that delivers a little bit more of the goods visually, but overall it's still not bringing it out of low gore score territory.

SPEAKER_02 25:23

And what about the animal report for both films?

SPEAKER_03 25:26

In both films, honestly, dogs are very present and it feels like they take a beating one way or another. They may or may not be agents of the devil, so I guess there's that part, but it's not cool. Okay, it's not cool, so I'm not feeling good about it.

SPEAKER_02 25:40

Well, let's go ahead and get into our ratings then. We will start with the original, the omen 1976. Was it a hack or a slash?

SPEAKER_00 25:47

What I love about the omen 1976 is truly just how good the storytelling is. The writing by David Seltzer is fantastic, and then the casting choices and the performances to me were phenomenal. I think just the way even the smaller supporting roles like Mrs. Baylock looks was just such a perfect choice. And then we have this absolutely mesmerizing and haunting score by Jerry Goldsmith that really builds and adds so much feeling to each scene. And now this movie does feel like a slow burn. And if you're not into older movies, you're probably not gonna like this film, but it gives you that old-time classic movie feel. But if you can get into that or past the slow burn aspect of the film, to me, really devote yourself to the story and enjoy religious horror for what it is, then this is probably gonna be your film for sure. I think overall this film is a classic that has undoubtedly influenced the genre and made its mark in horror history. So for me, it's ride or die, Mrs. Bailock kind of slash for me.

SPEAKER_03 26:53

Yeah, I think to not slash this would be a little concerning, in truth. This is one of the most iconic pieces of film and especially of the religious horror subgenre. You know, someone named Damien, you're thinking of the Omen or Vampire Diaries, okay? This film has an incredible score, incredible eeriness, and for a baby to be so creepy, props to you, sir. I think it's a prime example of what a simple and effective film can look like. So of course it's a slash for me.

SPEAKER_02 27:20

You know, it's incredible to think about how simple this movie is and how effective it is with that simplicity. Even though when you really sit and think about it, this story is fucking wild, it's absurd, it's over the top, it's not something that you can really relate to, but it does beg the question of what would you do in this circumstance? And I mentioned earlier that a movie that relies less on the horror of it and more on the suspense of it or the thriller aspects of it, something that preys on your emotions or maybe looks to your spirituality to dig into that figure. Oftentimes that can be completely lost on me. But what's great about this film is how solid it is technically. And we talked about the score. It is something that were it absent from this film, it would be almost a completely different experience. It would be as if you made a whole dinner without using any of the seasoning. But the score is that good and that effective. There's something about Gregory Peck as Robert Thorne that even in his most stoic moments creates a compelling story in a family that you care about and they're dynamic together. This movie is absolutely worth watching, and it's a slash. Now for its 2006 remake, though. This movie's greatest accomplishment is playing on the June 6, 2006 release date, and it wields contemporary events to set the stage for an Armageddon or End of Day's paranoia. Honestly, one of its biggest success points is casting Mia Faro, famed Rosemary, Rosemary's baby, as a sinister character. This movie has so much potential, and there is a great deal of it that's polished, but unfortunately, there's a layer of evil and a level of soul that's just missing from it. And there are aspects of this film I prefer to the original. But in all honesty, Liv Sharper is no Gregory Peck. Julia Styles is certainly no Lee Remick. And while its music is good, the score that's missing from the original film is this remake's greatest sin. It ends up being a notch above mediocre, so this is where I struggle. I'm a little on the fence. I think it's a 50.1 and a 49.9% rating for me, but today it's leaning just over the fence of hack territory.

SPEAKER_00 29:36

Man. Yeah. Here's the thing with the Omen remake 2006. Did this movie need to be remade? Just think about that. There is nothing that a modern approach to this movie or modern cinema and effects has brought to this movie when you watch it to make it any better, really. You just didn't need it. There is no rule that films or remakes have to be bad, but so many remakes often are. And I don't understand why we can't just learn from these mistakes. You know what I mean? And maybe, I don't know, maybe one day we will, maybe we'll start making some better choices. I love when we do original prequels and things like that. We saw what happened with the first omen. Fantastic film. But I will give this film credit for trying to stand on its own. Unfortunately, the choices they made didn't all work. And this really this remake really proves to you that it's not all about good writing, right? You have to have a solid cast that can deliver solid performances. And I think that the casting in this it looks good on paper, like I said before, but for whatever reason, they don't give great performances, and it just kind of falls flat. Boring, I dare say, with some of these performances. The effects and the kills, sure, they look better, but is that really it? The Omen 2006 remake kind of feels like a reheated in the microwave version of the original, but directed by a lesser filmmaker. So it's unfortunately a hack, and I will not repent.

SPEAKER_03 31:06

Well, we've just basically had a lot of feelings about this remake, that's for sure. And all I can think about is how excited I was to see it. I really was, y'all. I can think of every single detail. And I remember the marketing campaign. I know that we've talked a bit about marketing campaigns nowadays for these new releases and how they can really impact hype. And I want to take it back to 2006. The marketing campaign that happened for this film was incredible. Some OG stuff, all right? Because the date was perfect and 30 years to the day in terms of the Omen 1976, uh to some extent, right? So I think it was so great, everything was set up so beautifully. I can remember every single detail. Okay. But you know what I can't remember? This fucking film. And saying that is nuts considering it's basically the original. So having re-watched it, I can somewhat see why. I think a lot of it is forgettable and doesn't really stand out aside from its obviously heightened fear or the dramaticism of its kills. Everything else, like we've talked about, Agnazium is vanilla and soulless. It's just a vanilla version of the original that doesn't really seem fair in terms of its retelling. I think that the acting isn't great, the story is exact, almost to the T and yet not memorable, like I've just said. It just feels like where the original can execute a simple story without all the bells and whistles. This one tried to with just a few more garnishes and it just came out like a 2006 joke. And we've had a bit of conversation about something similar to this with The Strangers and The Strangers Chapter One. If you haven't listened to that episode, please do, because I think that there's a similar comparison here, a more modern day comparison in terms of the omen and the strangers. It's just so unfortunate when we see a remake when it's so, you know, cloth for cloth, like still for still, and yet somehow feels uncanny valley. I think that was a great analogy that you used, Chris. So yeah, I can be certain that the 1976 is a slash, but I am so, so, so certain that the 2006 is a hack.

SPEAKER_02 33:17

Well, this is a shocking turn of events because for the first time in hackerslash history, we are divided and actually united within that division. The Omen from 1976 has earned a universal slash, while its 2006 remake has earned a universal hack. Now, if you've already seen these movies, what would you rate them? Are you aligned with that school of thought? Let us know. You can join that conversation for free in our Discord server, and you can find the link to both join and our specific discussion forums for these movies in the show notes. If you haven't seen them yet, you can follow the link in our show notes to see where you can stream them both right now. And when we return from our break, we'll dive deeper into the spoiler zone territory and compare the merits of each film against each other. We'll see you in a bit.

SPEAKER_03 34:12

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SPEAKER_02 35:35

Welcome back folks. You are now entering the spoiler zone for both versions of the Omen. And it took us 342 episodes to finally find a pair of movies where the original is a universal slash and its remake is a universal hack. Now we have a lot to unpack here, but before we get into the specifics of our ratings, let's go through those kills from both films.

SPEAKER_00 35:56

Yeah, well, we are doing an old versus new episode, so I guess we should match these two films up against each other. So let's see how these two films did, right? The Omen, 1976, has a total of eight kills, which is not bad, especially for religious horror, right? You're not really looking to expect to get a ton of kills like you would get in a slasher. And then the Omen remake in 2006 actually has a total of 10 kills, stepping it up just a notch, enough to take the lead here, but realistically only like fourth place when matched up against the entire franchise of films. But overall, we have a grand total of 18 kills that we can talk about. So which ones are you all compelled to talk about?

SPEAKER_02 36:42

I'm just gonna knock it out here for the original film because this was something that had been lost on me. I mentioned how in the first Omen episode, I feel like they didn't really have to kill that baby. I feel like in this movie, they could have just swapped the babies. I feel like they could have just sent that kid off to an orphanage. I don't think they really had to kill anybody, right? They also didn't have to tell this guy, oh your kid's dead, but got this one on replacement. I feel like they would have just gotten away with it if they presented it as his baby. However, comma, when we finally get the reveal of what happened, it was so heartbreaking. And then to also see the reaction and to know this little baby was taken from his mother and just killed.

SPEAKER_01 37:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:25

It's devastating. And I don't say this for any glory or excitement or anything like that. And that we joke about like, oh okay, favorite kill is killing the baby. But we know from the first film what was gonna happen. This film is gonna endure a specific tragedy, but holy shit, to see the execution of it and to see it in the remnants of that skeleton, that's so heartbreaking.

SPEAKER_00 37:48

It is. You're right. We're not out here saying our favorite kill is babies because we want to see babies die. It's generally, at least speaking for myself, ends up being a favorite kill because it's just so impactful when you see the audacity to have a baby, in this case, like a newborn baby, murdered and having their skull crushed in. But as you bring that up, I would just like to say that the baby looked a little fucking weird, man. Almost kind of like an alien, maybe like the infant baby Sam from Trick or Treat. Oh no.

SPEAKER_02 38:24

That is so specific, but also terribly accurate.

SPEAKER_00 38:28

Right? Come on.

SPEAKER_03 38:30

Oh no. Wait, oh no, but but but like obviously post-smashed, right?

SPEAKER_00 38:36

Well, I mean, I'm just looking at the look of the skeleton, yeah, like the smash, but just the the way that the skeleton face looks just doesn't remind me of like a normal human face. Not that I've seen a lot of infant baby skeletal remains in my day. God, I hope not.

SPEAKER_02 38:52

It's terrible. Watching the first omen, looking at how close she gets to killing Damien just to spare the life, but then to see how merciless and ruthless this now what we know to be like this underground church is. Oh man, it's just so much.

SPEAKER_03 39:08

Well, for the original, I'm gonna be basic and say it's the nanny. It's gonna be Holly, obviously. But here's why specifically. So I think that for the original and that particular kill, it is one of the most iconic scenes in history. Obviously, we get the famous line, it's all for you, Damien. I think it's just very harrowing to see the smile on her face, like how happy she is, and she just jumps and crashes through a window, the whole setup, right? And then in the remake, she doesn't even go through a window, she just hits that cement.

SPEAKER_00 39:42

Yeah, she hits the cement.

SPEAKER_03 39:43

Get the details right, get the details right.

SPEAKER_00 39:46

They knocked over something that broke, right? Is that what happened? Yeah, that was their glass breaking moment.

SPEAKER_02 39:53

For sure. If we were to put them both side by side, Holly in the original absolutely takes it.

SPEAKER_03 40:00

Oh, I can say it with all the confidence in the world because I did see it side by side. I watched both movies literally side by side. And I can tell you, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:12

It looked better. It hits better in the original.

SPEAKER_02 40:15

Incredible. It's almost as offensive as the fucking soapbox that I get on about when a movie has an iconic line of dialogue in its original, and then they fuck up the delivery of it in the remake.

SPEAKER_03 40:28

This reminds me of Spider-Man and the amazing Spider-Man. You've got one job. Say the line right, and they just don't, anyways. That's not horror. It was it was horrific to me, but not the point. Another kill though, very similar, that I would say maybe in reverse. So for the remake, Keith Jennings. Right, that's the final destination moment in the remake that isn't quite the same in the original. I've recently re-watched all of Final Destination, okay? When I saw that beheading, I was like, oh shit, that was quite literally the final kill in Final Destination. Good for y'all.

SPEAKER_02 41:05

Okay. Yes, that is the Final Destination moment, but we can't act as though I don't know we're gonna get to the 2006 remake. The 2006 remake, when it gets one of its early kills, holy shit, the amount of Final Destination death work that was going into that, Death was fucking putting in overtime. Death said, I'm getting time and a half today, it's holiday pay. Let's fucking light it up.

SPEAKER_03 41:28

It's definitely because they were seeing the success of Final Destination and they were like, Alright, we can do this. It is because Final Destination 3 came out this year.

SPEAKER_00 41:37

Nice. They had to compete. That's true. I agree. I think the remake version of Keith Jennings being decapitated, I think, just hit a little bit different. I think it just the way that like rusty metal sign or whatever like fell down and just whoop swooped the head right off. I even think the way that the practical effects and things that they did to make the scene were looking pretty good. So I think it was a good one. I also want to talk about Father Brennan's kill in both old and new, because I think this is another one where I think the new one is pretty good. Like I did overall like the way that they made this kill look. Getting impaled in both in the original versus the remake, and you do get to see that shot of just being impaled and staked into the ground from that falling lightning rod or whatever. But in the remake, you do have just that really cool shot of not only being like impaled and staked into the ground, but you have those giant shards of glass that are just sticking throughout his entire face, which I thought was just a great shot to see.

SPEAKER_02 42:49

It was an upgrade, definite upgrade. And it's really hilarious to me that I did not remember this kill and Father Brennan's death when we watched the first omen because the first omen recreates this death that Father Brennan sees.

SPEAKER_00 43:03

I know. I love that the first omen, now that we've watched all of these relatively recently, I just want to say that I love even more now that the first omen has so many references to the kills that you get throughout. Like I know we mentioned some in that episode, so you can go back and listen to that if you haven't, but it does a really good job at paying like homage to all the things that happened from its predecessors.

SPEAKER_02 43:25

It takes the best part.

SPEAKER_00 43:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:27

I also want to give a shout out to another kill that I think was upgraded. But with camp, we gotta talk about Mrs. Baylog getting absolutely fucking flipped.

SPEAKER_00 43:36

Just fucking destroyed by that fucking car. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 43:41

Mia Pharaoh, bless your heart. You really took one for the fucking team.

SPEAKER_00 43:45

If that doesn't scream literal stiff fucking dummy flying into the air, I don't know, man. That was just a great shot, though.

SPEAKER_03 43:53

That was a full on laugh. It really was. I was not expecting it at the time, and I was like, wait a minute, what? And she just Just flew into the sky.

SPEAKER_00 44:02

Yeah. I do like the charm of getting stabbed in the neck with that little carving fork in the first one, but no, the overall impact and campiness of getting hit by the car and doing like 18 flips in the air before landing on the ground definitely takes the cake.

SPEAKER_02 44:19

You know what else takes a cake? Julia Styles' singular good moment of performance in this movie. Because Kate's death felt way more intense and dramatic in the 2006 remake than it did in the original. And why is her screaming with her fucking mouth hand covering her mouth the only time I believed anything that she did in this movie?

SPEAKER_00 44:38

Because then you can't see that her facial expression hasn't changed.

SPEAKER_02 44:42

I can't see her upside-down frown.

SPEAKER_00 44:44

Exactly. It's permanent. And that's what I think is my favorite part of the remake. It's just the special effects team in the remake for giving us a little something extra with a couple of the main kills in the story. It just giving those giving us those upgrades with a little more visuals that we didn't know we needed or didn't know we wanted to see. And so I gotta give it up for that team for bringing that to life. As it is for the original, let me tell you right now, it's a hundred percent the score from the original. It has to be because it's so perfect, it's so iconic, it's probably one of the most instantly recognizable scores in horror cinema. Like, as soon as you hear those notes, you can probably tell this is the omen, right? Jerry Goldsmith is like one, the Leonardo DiCaprio of winning Oscars for music, because I think he was nominated like 17 fucking times before he was able to actually win one, which is insane. And he won one for this score, which is fantastic. Naturally, it should have happened. Everything is right in the world. He did actually go on and write more like classic scores. You know, he did work with Alien 1979, he did work with Poltergeist 1982. So give it up for Jerry Goldsmith here because without the score in this movie, it would not be the same.

SPEAKER_02 46:09

1000%. We are absolutely aligned. I cannot say it any better than that. There's the best part of this movie for me in terms of what came together. I'm gonna give an honorable mention: a runner-up, Gregory Peck's eyebrows.

SPEAKER_03 46:23

Yeah. That's all I got. That's fair. I, in truth, don't really have much of a runner-up because it is a thousand percent the score. I recently had bought the score on vinyl. I love this score. Jerry Goldsmith is an absolute genius. You named a few, obviously alien gremlins, Mulan, the mummy. Nice.

SPEAKER_00 46:45

The mummy.

unknown 46:46

What?

SPEAKER_03 46:46

He's done so many films. I was also reading up a little bit on him, and I read, which is a shame that Mac's not on here, but he's collaborated with his son on one of the Star Trek films, it seems, and a couple other Star Trek maybe it's not even films, maybe it's the show. I just wish that Mac was here to listen, but he's all up on the Star Trek business, very treky. So I just think that he's such a talent, and this score is what makes the movie. It's what makes the movie amongst everything else, but like it really is just the fondant on the most beautiful cake you've ever seen.

SPEAKER_02 47:19

Which is why it's such a crime that that's missing from the fucking remake.

SPEAKER_03 47:23

I know.

SPEAKER_02 47:24

It's absolutely ridiculous.

SPEAKER_03 47:25

It's interesting because they try to say, or the composer for the remake says that he has some nodes of the original score, like a nod to Jerry Goldsmith, and sure, you can hear it every now and then, but it's just not it.

SPEAKER_02 47:37

Yeah, it's like walking into a fucking perfume shop and it's like, hey, I want to get this specific scent, and all they give you is the fucking testered strip with a little bit of the spray on it. That's not what I wanted. That's not enough for my body. I I want to actually purchase it, I want to take it home with me.

SPEAKER_01 47:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 47:55

And that's such a fucking crime. What they did do well in the remake was its cinematography. That I can respect a thousand percent. Specifically, and I think that one of maybe one of the most jarring differences between the two during Kate's fall, the camera following her as she crashes down to the floor. This is where the movie benefits from being remade in the 2000s versus I think the way that it was limited and held back in 1976.

SPEAKER_00 48:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 48:23

Too bad it was Julia Styles, but eh.

SPEAKER_00 48:25

At least she did her own stunt for that one.

SPEAKER_03 48:27

God bless her.

SPEAKER_00 48:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 48:29

Great that you bring that up though. Poor Julia Styles, but I I will honestly say that's actually my favorite scene in the 2006 remake is her falling. Because the agony. The fall also hits a little harder than the original, let's be real, but also because it feels like she's descending into the pits of hell and hitting that ground, most likely. And one thing I do appreciate also is the vibrancy of 2006, right? The color grading of 2006 is really apparent in the early 2000s. The reds are really fucking red and the blues are bluing. And something about when she fucking falls, the flowers, the red on Damien's mouth when he's just staring, it just really makes the scene feel like, damn, all right. That was pretty good. I'll give it to him.

SPEAKER_02 49:15

Okay. Listen, I recently got to go see The Lion King in theaters. And I loved being able to revisit this film after re-watching that because I have my notes. My favorite scene is Kate being mufased by Damien. Absolutely. It's just it's so great.

SPEAKER_00 49:34

So true.

SPEAKER_02 49:34

That's exactly it. It's her asking for him to help her as if he could do anything. Right. All we need were his grubby little fingers to be like, long live the king, and then just fucking like go of her. You couldn't shout for Mrs. Baylock, you couldn't shout for another adult in this house to help you, ma'am. Okay. But absolutely the best scene in the whole movie.

SPEAKER_03 49:56

And speaking of children, I want to say that the best scene for me in the 1976 is that final moment with Damien looking back and smiling and breaking that fourth wall. I appreciate it in both films, let me be clear. But that OG one, that's the meme gold right there. That's the stuff. Not only for the laughs, but also for the simple fact that, like, imagine, imagine everything that has just unfolded, and a little kid just turns around and gives you that one old, you know, like it's that girl in front of the house fire meme. Absolutely. Absolutely. It's that.

SPEAKER_02 50:33

I am so glad that that was your favorite scene in the original because it was certainly far from my list of favorites. Really, anything Damien did in the original, I don't know that I was super crazy about it. I think I prefer the remakes Damien overall, but the best scene in the original for me, the zoo scene, the baboon scene. Drive-thru zoos are such a fucking wild concept.

SPEAKER_00 50:58

It is.

SPEAKER_02 50:58

And I don't understand now how how not a single baboon got clipped by a car.

SPEAKER_00 51:02

None of them got ran over.

SPEAKER_02 51:04

None of them. Okay, we have planes getting fucking struck by lightning multiple times in the course of this film, and not a single baboon was harmed.

SPEAKER_00 51:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 51:12

Okay. Good on them.

SPEAKER_00 51:14

Apparently, that was Lee's actual reaction in that scene. The actual reaction, not like acting like she knew all this stuff. There were baboons, and that was her natural reaction as they were jumping all over the car.

SPEAKER_03 51:26

I love that because same girl.

SPEAKER_02 51:28

Yeah, I'd fucking react that way too.

SPEAKER_00 51:31

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 51:32

Julia Stiles could never.

SPEAKER_00 51:34

Definitely not. But I will tell you, here's one area where I know that I said one of my favorite kills was Father Brennan in the remake because of the visuals that we get. But the scene that leads to his death was not my favorite scene in the remake. It was one of my favorite scenes in the original. Because the impact that that scene had for me that I didn't feel in the remake was this sense of like being in an otherwise seemingly nice day at a park, if you will, or wherever the hell they were. And all of a sudden the wind starts to pick up, but it's just hits him in this spot, right? Because somebody just walked away, and we don't know, maybe they get caught up in the storm, maybe not. And then it turns into a thunderstorm, and it feels like this storm is stalking or chasing Father Brennan through the trees, and the lightning is hitting right where they want him to end up, you know, and they, I don't know, Satan, the forces that be, whatever. But I just think what they were able to do in that scene in the original gave you that feeling, that menacing feeling of something unknown beyond is guiding you and chasing you and stalking you to your ultimate demise. So that scene was my favorite in the original, not the remake, but the end result of the kill. Different story.

SPEAKER_02 52:58

It's the final destination of it all. Absolutely. Again, death was putting in overtime.

SPEAKER_00 53:04

Yeah, for sure. Honorable mention the stare down between Damien and the giraffe was pretty top-notch. I mean, going back and forth, oh, amazing, absolutely fantastic.

SPEAKER_02 53:16

I longed to find chemistry with someone as intense as Damien in that giraffe.

SPEAKER_00 53:20

Yeah, I mean, arguably the best runner up there. Binx, you said your favorite scene in the remake is Kathy or Kate falling. And I think the scene right before that was just so weird that it stands out to me. It's just you get to see Mrs. Baylock shoving strawberries into Damien's mouth and getting the strawberry juice all over his mouth. It just felt so off-putting and so weird. And why? What is happening here? This is such a weird dynamic. It was a strange scene. It didn't make me feel good. You know what I mean? And I guess if a scene can do that, I gotta give it some credit because I get the meaning. I get that there's communication between them of what's gonna happen or whatever, but it just felt so strange.

SPEAKER_02 54:06

Yeah, it really was strange, but I also think that that's the credit to Mia for elevating that role to feel that way. Because yes, that character was sinister in the original. Yes, there was some presence there, but I didn't really care about her. What you just described, Sean, of feeding a child fruit, that shouldn't be scary. That shouldn't be weird, that shouldn't be off-putting. And yet, it is the way that she is staring at him. Yeah, the way that she's trying to plump up state Satan. It's just the most bizarre thing. And what was actually bizarre for me in the original, and I'm thinking about just like the character's overall, and Mrs. Bailick really comes to mind. She immediately wants alone time with Damien, and I found that to be so fucking weird. I was even more shocked that they seem okay with it. Yeah. There's a lot of things that are a reach in this fucking movie. Again, you did not have to say, hey dude, your kid's dead. You want to pretend this one's your kid? You could have just told him that's his fucking kid. We could have really just made this much more simple. But for them to be okay with this stranger they weren't expecting, say, can I have some alone time? What the fuck?

SPEAKER_00 55:17

It is so weird. And the fact that they also realized that neither of them found this nanny. This nanny just found them. That's even more suspect.

SPEAKER_03 55:29

That's like the biggest red flag of them all. How is that not so apparent to you?

SPEAKER_02 55:34

Mm-hmm. Yeah, it's completely fucked. What else is completely fucked? Is how ineffective of a communicator Father Brennan is. And this feels even more ineffective. I say it again because of the first omen. It feels like two completely different fucking people. Obviously, we have two humans playing that role. Obviously, we have two different directors, three different directors at this point, with different visions of how this character comes to life. But he still, in the original, is such a negative point for me. And I will say, at least in the remake, I'm reminded of famed Leonardo DiCaprio film Romeo and Juliet.

SPEAKER_00 56:07

Yeah, it's just it's so weird with this film when it comes to the characters, or with both of these films when it comes to the characters, it's just so poorly executed in the remake. It's just the leading characters with Julia Styles, right, and Leave. Something just doesn't connect. There's no chemistry, they fall flat, their expressions are boring, right? You don't get a lot from them, but then you've got the supporting characters that I feel like shine a little bit more in the remake, which is just so odd to see, and it's just a big miss. Whereas I feel like in the original, all of the characters really added a lot.

SPEAKER_02 56:46

Yeah, it was a really consistent effort and concerted effort from everyone on set. And with this one, Leaf Shriver feels at times like he's trying to channel Gregory Peck's stoic approach to Robert Thorne.

SPEAKER_01 56:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 56:59

But instead, he ends up feeling one-dimensional. And that's again another sin of the remake. It feels like he was cast for his voice and not what he can actually bring in terms of dimension. I've liked him in other things.

SPEAKER_00 57:12

Yeah, he's good in other things, mostly as a bad guy, though.

SPEAKER_02 57:15

Mm-hmm. But I also struggle with Robert because he seems in so moment in so many moments to want to be honest, but instead his gaslighting feels all the more vile because of the choices he makes at every turn. And obviously, we have that character in the original, but the choices that they made for age gap here.

SPEAKER_00 57:36

Right?

SPEAKER_02 57:37

It felt like he had an opportunity to be closer to his wife. They've been in their marriage a lot less time than in the original.

SPEAKER_01 57:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 57:45

So this these are two adult young adults who are still growing up together, really. Granted, he's in he's 34. He's my age. What the fuck am I doing hosting a podcast when I could be a fucking ambassador in Great Britain? What the fuck am I doing? I don't know. But I am also not raising a Satan baby, so I guess I got that going for me. But that specific choice to change the ages of them, it felt like, okay, with this generation in this time, could you handle your approach and your communication with your wife differently? But he's a horror movie dad, so no.

SPEAKER_03 58:19

Not only that, it's that when you have an actor who has famously played villains, it kind of seeps through in the performance where Robert, at least in this remake, right? Robert is just such a piece of shit, you know, like most horror movie dads.

SPEAKER_00 58:37

Yeah, they flipped it.

SPEAKER_03 58:38

They flipped it because in the original, at the very least, Robert is our main character, he's our main guy. You're rooting for him. I at least saw it that way. You buy into the love that he had for his wife, you buy into all this. He didn't nowhere near as much gaslighting and all that. Like it's just nowhere near apparent, but God, are we in the early 2000s? America. Like, ugh. The horror movie dads just really suck in this last couple decades because he's so shitty. I can't get over it. Julia Stiles, as bad of an actress that as she is in this movie, does not deserve such bad partnership. We'll call it that.

SPEAKER_00 59:19

I think it is interesting that Jim Carrey was considered for Robert Thorne in the remake.

SPEAKER_02 59:25

Oh, get the fuck out of here. What?

SPEAKER_00 59:27

That could have been an even worse choice. I think also Pierce Brosnan.

SPEAKER_03 59:32

Worse choice, but you know that your wife would be so about it.

SPEAKER_00 59:36

Yeah, she probably would have, but I just don't think it would have been the right movie for him. But Pierce Brosnan was also considered, and I think that could have been an interesting choice.

SPEAKER_02 59:43

Oh my god, Pierce Brosnan would have been fucking perfect. He would have been the second coming of Gregory Peck.

SPEAKER_00 59:48

Yeah, I feel like it would have been really good now that I think about that.

SPEAKER_02 59:52

Damn, Pierce Brosnan was a hottie. He's a baddie.

SPEAKER_00 59:56

Damn. I respect what both movies did with the character of Mrs. Baylock, but I will give it up to the original because Mrs. Baylock in the original just looks fucking creepy. Genuinely not right. Like sinister for sure. Just the way she looked normally. When you just see her very first scene, her teeth, her smile, the way she looks. I don't know. I didn't like it. And it was more impactful just from that standpoint in the original than the remake, even though in the remake, Mrs. Baylock still does a great job with some of the stuff that she does. But I loved the original Mrs. Baylock.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:41

She's much more intimidating, I think.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:43

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:43

And I think maybe in the remake, I'm intimidated, but I'm still seeing the Rosemary's baby of it all, perhaps.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:50

I don't know. She just was not it for me. I could have completely done without her. I think if I were to do a fantasy draft of these two movies to make the perfect movie, it would be the remakes Father Brennan, the remakes Mrs. Baylock, everything else about the original, except for also the remakes Damien. Give me those ingredients, and I think I have the perfect omen. And I say that, but honestly, if the fucking remake never existed, I would have been perfectly content with the 1976 version.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:23

You know, Chris, you talked a lot about how the remakes Damien is far superior than the original Damien's, and I gotta tell you, you're right. I think that the best part of the remake is Damien. Because I feel like when I think of Damien initially and I think of the omen, I think of Seamus Fitzpatrick, the Damien from the remake. I think of the black hair, the pale face. I'm not currently wearing my omen shirt that Vero gave me because I'm sick and I need comfort, and I feel like Damien is not the thing to wear when I'm sick and need comfort personally. But I almost wish in a way that it was him and not the original one. Although the original one wears a cute little beret that's quite sweet and cutie, but he's just not as intimidating, obviously, as the remake one. Now, as far as the worst part though, for the original, although I love that it's very balanced and simple, it's not really a worst part. It's more of a curiosity. I almost wish it had been 70s camp. I wonder a little bit, right? Or if it had been like Extreme Art House. What kind of film would we have gotten? These are the things that keep me up at night.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:39

Okay, I'm so glad you mentioned that because I want you to follow me on a journey. Let me just say objectively, you are correct. Damien is the best part of the remake of the Omen. I want to give a shout out to three silly things about these movies. Bugenhagen, first off, what a fucking name. It's giving bagul. It's giving bedazzled. It's too much. Then there's Freddie Krueger and Voldemort's Love Child, who looks worse in the remake. Even worse. It looks more horrific. But yeah, absolutely. It's almost as if the eyeball in the first film was like a sending stone, and it was reminding me of Baldur's Gate 3, and I'm like just looking at Will and his fake eye. But when you talk about Camp Banks, the third silly thing, and this actually comes from the remake, we get sequences of images, and we get quick flashing cuts. But after Robert finds out that Kate's dead, we see a priest giggling maniacally and dropping a dead baby.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:40

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:41

What the fuck was that?

SPEAKER_00 1:03:42

Well, that was the kill of their baby.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:45

Was it not?

SPEAKER_02 1:03:46

Dropping it? It looked like they m probably fucking took a little hammer and smashed the skull in.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:51

Yeah, for sure. LOL.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:53

Yeah, I feel like if that's how they killed a baby, the skull would have looked a little bit different. It looked like very specifically they like stabbed it. Probably took one of the daggers they should have stabbed Damian with and plugged it right in. However, that moment was almost so bad it's good.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:07

And it was again one of the sillier things that really lift me up. I think the worst part for me of the original really comes down to Father Brennan. I think if you look at this movie and examine it as its own thing, he's probably not actually the worst part of it. However, this movie's really fucking good. And now having this movie and the complete context of its remake and its new prequel, I'm sorry, he's just the weakest link for me. That's high praise though, because again, the movie's fucking great.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:38

Yeah. You know, it's so true. The movie is so good, it's hard to pick a worse part for the original Omen 1976. But for me, if I had to pick one, it's probably the slow burn feel to the first half of the film. Because if you're not in the mood for it, the first half of the film can be maybe a little bit rough to get through. So if I'm being nitpicky, that's probably it. I think the best part of the Omen remake in 2006 was the choice to deliver just a little bit of extra pizzazz on some of the visuals that we get with the kills because I think it definitely added some nice flavor to that. I do like some of the little editing things that they did. You're talking about some of those campier, sillier scenes. Those were pretty good too, especially in that bathroom when Julia Stiles is brushing her teeth, but like seemingly forgets how to brush her teeth at the same time. Like it was just such a strange moment.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:37

The fucking music video that she was in, yeah. Not the music video. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:42

I thought I was about to see the music video to fucking Dirty Pop.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:45

Yeah, yeah. It was all a little bit silly and hilarious, but but overall, I think it was just I'll give it the choice for that. Or the best part is also that I don't ever have to watch that one again.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:59

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:00

You know what I mean? And that could be a little bit rough, I know, but I do think I will re-watch the original because it's just great in all its cinematic glory. I've seen it a bunch of times already. I think it's a classic. It's something that I will always come back to. I just don't think I can bring myself to really suffer through watching the remake again, despite the couple of things that it does really well. I think that there's a reason that I suppressed any recollection of watching that movie from my memory.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:28

Here's the thing though, I think both of them are pretty rewatchable. I think I've proven that with how many times I've fucking rewatched it in the last few weeks and I'm not insane by now. Again, the remake is it's giving me mediocre, so it's certainly not something that I'm gonna absolutely be clamoring to re-watch. But I dare say, if I'm in the mood for the Omen, I don't know that it's a movie that I even really want to revisit. Again, spiritual horror, antichrist horror, anything like that is not something that I'm gonna be reaching out for first. What I would probably reach out for is some polished, dumb bullshit to put on the TV in the background, and I might actually reach for the 2006 remake. How fucked up is that?

SPEAKER_03 1:07:09

No, but I can get what you're saying because sometimes you just want to have something in the background when you're cleaning your kitchen, when you're doing your laundry. Look, I'm sick as hell, and last night I put on some Netflix movie that just came out, a family affair. It was terrible, but I just needed something in the background to fall asleep to, you know what I mean? So I get it. Now, for me personally, I don't know if I will fully do that. I think I've got my own list of movies that I can turn to to do that whole situation, but I respect it. When it comes to the original though, hear me out, in two years' time, it'll be the 50-year anniversary of this film. So you best believe that I will be re-watching it on the 50th anniversary. Probably before then, let's be real. But most definitely on that anniversary.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:55

Well, I can't wait to see how our feelings evolve and where we'll stand with this movie when it comes time for its 50th anniversary. But for now, there you have it, folks. The omen from 1976 is earned a universal slash, while its 2006 remake is earned a universal hack. Now we certainly had a robust discussion here, but the conversation doesn't end here by any means.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:16

Yeah, hey, if you want to hear some off-the-wall conversation that is semi-unhinged, consider becoming one of our patrons to check out the B side of this episode where we discuss all kinds of wild bullshit, including some eerie facts about the omen that may or may not consider it to be a cursed film. You can check it out, visit patreon.com/slash hackerslash to enjoy more of the show with early access, extended episodes, bonus content, and live shows.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:45

And if you enjoyed listening to this episode and hearing us unpack not one but two omens, leave us a five star review wherever you get your podcasts. This helps us continue to deliver more of the content you'd love.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:57

We'll see you next time, folks, and remember, it must be done on hallowed ground.