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From: moviePig <nobody@nowhere.com>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.tv
Subject: Re: THE FIRST OMEN (spoilers)
Date: Sun, 13 Oct 2024 12:48:49 -0400
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On 10/12/2024 6:32 PM, BTR1701 wrote:
> On Oct 12, 2024 at 3:20:36 PM PDT, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote:
> 
>>
>> Wonder what led up to 1976's THE OMEN?  THE FIRST OMEN reaches into a
>> worn-out bag of Catholic voodoo to resurrect those scares.  Though it's
>> a handsome, atmospheric production, its horror depends more on being
>> taken seriously than the original's ever did.  Minimally recommended.
> 
> I didn't like the explanation.
>   
> SPOILERS:
>   
> In the original OMEN, the turncoat clergy were portrayed as true believers,
> actual Satanists who worshipped Lucifer and were rejoicing at the birth of
> their 'savior'.
>   
> Here we find out they were just corrupt clergy, upset that young people were
> turning away from the church and thereby costing the church its power in
> society, so they 'created' the anti-Christ in some sort of weird quasi-science
> experiment so he would wreak havoc on the earth and drive people back to the
> church again.
> 
> No, sir. I don't think I like it.
>   
> I did think the movie was well done and did a great job of creating an
> atmosphere of foreboding and evil lurking just around the next corner.
>   
> The lead actress was appealing and did a good job and I had the nagging
> impression I'd seen her somewhere before but her IMDb doesn't show her in
> anything I've ever seen. (And her name-- Nell Tiger Free-- just screams
> "Thanks mom and dad for being hippies when you had me. Wonderful name you
> picked there.")
>   
> I knew the roommate was a baddie from the moment she walked on screen and it
> didn't take much longer than that before I'd guessed that the troubled girl in
> the orphanage was just a red herring. (I did momentarily doubt myself when the
> 666 was revealed in her mouth, but it turns out I was right anyway.)
> 
> Loved how the moment it was revealed that the baby was a boy-- and therefore
> the anti-Christ they'd been waiting for-- Goldsmith's "Ave Satani" boldly took
> over the score.
> 
> All in all, it was a good movie except for the retcon about the church and, I
> suppose, the way it contradicted Damien's origins from the original movie,
> which clearly indicated his mother was a jackal, not a pretty novitiate.
> 
> The girlfriend actually went with me when I saw it in the theater, even though
> she absolutely hates any horror movie about possession or the devil.
> 
> I was getting ready to leave and she was like, hang on, I want to go. I was
> dubious. I said she would hate it and that this sort of thing freaks her out
> and she said she'd deal with it, she just didn't feel like staying in alone
> all night. So she went. And of course she was as freaked out as I knew she'd
> be, digging her nails into my arm every five minutes, and just generally being
> miserable.
> 
> After it was over and we were back in the car, I found out that her misery and
> any subsequent nightmare she would have were was all my fault. Apparently I
> should have more forcefully insisted she stay at home and since I didn't, I'm
> to blame for everything.
> 
> <sigh>

I agree about the retcon, which felt like a sop for the bad press 
priests usually get.  Also, Charles Dance and Bill Nighy should be 
allowed to deliver priests more interesting than cameo gore-fodder.