6-6-6: The Night of the Omen

June 6. A day that had zero meaning until 1976 when I first read the book, The Omen. It was terrifying to my 15-year old imagination and completely awesome. The movie was equally good and makes a yearly appearance during the Halloween moviefest.

With the Halloween pre-season still a few months away, June 6 feels like an excellent excuse to indulge in my favorite guilty pleasure - a glass of wine and a horror film.  Not just any horror film, but the film that had people checking their birth certificates and searching their bodies for any sign of a birthmark that resembled the mark of the beast. I'm actually betting that is a popular tattoo in certain circles.

I hadn't seen the remake of The Omen, it just never made it on the Halloween schedule with all of the other movies in the queue and my general bias against remakes. But since we're breaking a few rules and grabbing an early season horror film - and being as how I dropped $8 on a car wash, I figured what the hell. I'll pop for the $3.99 rental on Apple TV and screen the 2006 version. I hope the invoice from Apple shows that the rental was purchased on June 6 at exactly 6:00 pm. 

I don't know whether it was luxuriously basking in an excuse to do nothing constructive for an evening, or if the movie was really as good as it seemed. But despite the 5.5 stars this movie ranked on iMDB, I surprised myself and thoroughly enjoyed it. I'd give it way more stars, but I use skulls. 

Pros: References to modern day "signs" of the Apocalypse like the Challenger and Hurricane Katrina, and honoring the original plot and screenplay. Nothing from the original story is missing.  And Mia Farrow? Hello, gorgeous!

Cons: Some obvious early CGI vs. HD reconciliation and the absence of the choir singing "Damien! Damien!" at key points in the film. I'm a musicians wife, I know something about the impact of music. 

I give this a solid 3½ skulls, bordering on 4.. And if you missed the opportunity to use June 6 as an excuse, I promise not to tell. Grab this or any horror film this week and your rationale is safe with me.  I will even write you a note.