Stay for the animation. Leave for the Hungarian pop music.

The Omen is essentially what happens when you take much of the same theological anxieties as The Exorcist and turn it into a popcorn muncher. Not a terrible thing on its face as the film manages to execute its unsettling moments as well as one can imagine while embedded inside the flaccid drama of the surrounding film. Peck is stodgy and immobile as granite and Remmick seems to have been beamed in from a half decent television movie. The film does nothing but paint by numbers when it comes to their relationship and it never creates the bedrock one needs for the fantastical elements to properly sit on to not simply unsettle, but seep in. There is an unforgivable shallowness to these characters. Thankfully, Warners turn as the doomed photographer and Troughton glaring and all eyebrows as a morphine addicted priest full of doomsday prophecies give the film a nervy energy. I might go as far to say it would have been a failure without them.

I had a simliar experience watching Salem's Lot recently where I was more than happy to find the scenes that frightened me as a child still hold up remarkably well, and both films have a number of such scenes. But both of them seem similarly not lived in. Artificial, but never in any good heightened way. They never commit to either realism or camp, even though they seem to flirt with both at different time . And as a result they both ultimately suffer from some kind of cinematic purgatory where in their silent moments I mostly just hear the sound of candy wrappers opening and straws squeaking in fountain pop lids. Even when I'm all alone.
 

Rock wrote:

I haven’t seen either The Exorcist or The Omen since I think high school, so I’m long overdue for rewatches of both. I just need to get in the mood for a double feature.

It's almost unfair to compare the two, because they have completely different goals. But The Omen just begs for this to be done. And it can't possibly look good under the shadow of Friedkins movie.

Great British stuff.

I forget the title.

Also haven't finished it.

So I'm already growing increasingly annoyed at X lazily living on the frame work of Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Yes, yes, yes, I see what you're doing. And its so overt we are clearly supposed to know. But do I also have to hate every line of dialogue written here as well. This fucking stupid dialogue.
Admittedly, I'm only twelve minutes in. But I'm getting the feeling the anger is only going to grow.
 

Dogshit movie. I like it less the more I think about it. My 2.5/5 was pretty generous. Honestly, the TCM sequel/reboot was more tolerable.

Still wanna watch Pearl and his next one though, although I suspect there's a good chance they'll annoy me greatly as well.

Jinnistan wrote:

crumbsroom wrote:

So I'm already growing increasingly annoyed at X lazily living on the frame work of Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Yes, yes, yes, I see what you're doing. And its so overt we are clearly supposed to know. But do I also have to hate every line of dialogue written here as well. This fucking stupid dialogue.
Admittedly, I'm only twelve minutes in. But I'm getting the feeling the anger is only going to grow.
 

I hope my hate hasn't negatively colored yours and Rock's opinion.  I felt that sensation where I was the only person who saw trash where all of the other critics (96% on RT) saw jewelry.  I honestly don't get it.

Nah, this is just the kind of thing tailor made to aggravate me. Especially when critics eagerly splooge over it. Which, until now, I had no idea about. And now I'm even angrier

Who knows. Maybe it has some treats later on the will make me forgive this unbelievable laziness. I doubt it but it's always possible

Currently I'm just distracted by why they went through the bother to use crappy make up to make actors look older, instead of just  hiring older actors.

Or is this just a set up for some dumb twist revelation I won't possibly give a shit about later on

Don't answer. I want to be horribly annoyed in real time

I mentioned this is my earlier review, but aside from the already annoying plagiarism of TCM's style, I really am pretty much done with this recycled 'scary old woman' meme, which I suppose is now like the tired J-horror 'wet faceless girl', but in X it still feels plagiaristic as well to the examples below, which I believe are, like, 8 and 12 years old by now respectively.