...continued (major spoilers follow)

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Jennings takes Robert to Father Brennan's flat.

Jennings and Robert compare notes. Brennan's flat is a shrine to the apocalypse, with every wall papered with pages from the Bible, crosses nailed to his door, newspaper clippings, diaries, etc.

Result: It's pretty much the same, but it is more dramatic in the remake. The flat is in a noisier area, rattlings and rustlings intrude, and the freaky décor is lusher, denser and more detailed.

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Robert goes to visit Kathy again. She's in a private room this time. Robert indicates he's going somewhere (he is actually going to Rome with Jennings, to track down the priest who arranged Damien's adoption). He goes home, only to discover the housekeeper and manager, Mrs. Horton and her husband, have suddenly "quit". Mrs. Baylock says she'll take care of the house. (I don't recall if these scenes are also like this in the remake.)

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Jennings and Robert in Rome.

They find out that the hospital where Damien was born burned down. They learn the priest's identity — Father Spilletto — and that he was burned in the fire, but lived and now resides in a remote monastery.

Result: Pretty much the same.

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Jennings and Robert go to the monastery. They try to decipher scripture and Father Brennan's notes along the way.

Original: They drive to the location, then have to walk the rest of the way. The monastery is modest, and nestled in a hillside. Father Spilletto has burns on half his face, and a white, sightless eye. Another monk, presumably Spilletto's keeper, talks a lot about the three sixes, the trinity, and so on. He's a regular Chatty Cathy.

Remake: They drive, then are ferried across a lake that brings to mind a glassy River Styx; they're rowed in the canoe by a somber, hooded monk in white robes that compliment the falling snow; an aerial shot leads to the remote seminary where the mute, badly-burned priest awaits them. It's more like a dark fantasy, than a real place. Father Spilletto still has an eerily blind orb, but his whole face is burned and scarred — it's not quite up to the damage of Mason Verger in 2001's Hannibal, but it's comparable. There is another "keeper" monk here, but he doesn't say much to Robert and Jennings.

Result: The remake adds more drama and beauty, and putting the monastery on an island makes it seem more isolated and dangerous. Father Spilletto might have been a bit overdone (fire humor!), but it didn't bother me.

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Robert and Jennings journey to Cervet cemetery, where Damien's real mother is buried.

The two men find the derelict cemetery, climb the fence, and discover the graves of Damien's mother and the Thorn's baby. Robert opens the graves (easily) and discovers that Damien's mother was, indeed, a jackal and that indeed, his son was murdered.

Result: Pretty much the same.

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Dog attack in the cemetery.

Result: Both scenes are pretty harrowing, but it is even more vicious in the original.

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Robert calls Kathy.

Robert calls Kathy from the motel, when he and Jennings are nursing minor bite-marks and reeling with the realization that Damien really is the Antichrist and they will have to find the scholar/exorcist/archeologist who knows how to kill him, Carl Bugenhagen who resides in the village of Megiddo (translation: Armageddon).

Result: It's a draw.

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Kathy dies in the hospital.

Original: Kathy, heeding Robert's warning, tries to leave the hospital in spite of her many injuries. She gets up and tries to put her robe on, but the casts and bandages get her all caught up in the fabric, and then, through the gauze, she sees Mrs. Baylock standing there. She freaks out, and the music really sells it. Mrs. Baylock just stands there smiling, as Kathy stumbles and falls out the window. She lands on the roof of an ambulance, breaks through the roof, and her body throws open the doors, showing her lying there dead.

Remake: Mrs. Baylock arrives with Damien to visit mommy, but the hospital personnel won't let her take such a young kids inside. So she leaves him waiting, and walks in with flowers. Kathy, who is in bed with an IV drip and lots of casts, is immobilized, but her eyes tell the story: She is terrified. Mrs. Baylock sweet-talks Kathy as she puts an air-bubble in her IV and kills her.

Result: It's a tie — the original is scarier, and it carries through with a fall that was supposed to be fatal, but the remake is more sinister and creepier.

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Robert finds out Kathy is dead. He wants Damien to die, too.

Result: The same.

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Robert and Jennings travel to Megiddo to find Bugenhagen.

Original: They find him easily. He's in a cave-like structure, and he's got the seven Daggers of Megiddo. He sends Jennings away, saying the info is for Thorn's ears only. Jennings leaves the room, but listens in. Bugenhagen explains how Damien must die. Robert takes the knives, but his resolve is wavering — how can he murder a five-year-old boy?

Remake: Pretty much the same, except the actor playing Bugenhagen is a little too rabid. He's too much like the fanatical Father Brennan, and we've already seen that. But he doesn't send Jennings away. Robert has the same doubts about killing Damien.

Result: The original is more understated and the restraint is a good thing.

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Jennings loses his head.

As they are leaving the lair of Bugenhagen, Robert decides he just can't do it — he throws the knives away, and Jennings goes after them, saying, "If you can't do it, I will!"

Original: As Jennings is bending down to pick up the knives, the parking brake of a truck comes loose and sends in rolling slowly backwards, towards Jennings. He doesn't see till the last moment that a plate of window glass has slid out of the truck bed and is headed straight for his throat. His head flies off, landing between his legs.

Remake: Since the first part of the car gag was already used earlier on in the film with the first Ambassador's death, the set up here is different. It's just as effective, though.

Result: It's a draw — any horror-movie beheading is a good beheading!

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Robert is really sure, now!

Original: He's shown sitting on a plane, with the knives on his lap.

Remake: Not on a commercial flight, you don't! He must have his own private jet to take him home.

Result: Tie.

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Daddy's home!

Original: Damien's dog tries to keep Robert away from the little master. After an intense chase scene, the dog is locked in the cellar. Robert steals into Damien's room and cuts the boy's hair while he's sleeping. (The kid must be a really sound sleeper.) The 666 mark of the devil is on his scalp. Robert picks him up, ready to take him to the church, the only place Damien's evil can be extinguished forever.

Remake: Pretty much the same. A little more suspense (Robert almost drops a glass when he first enters the quiet, dark house), but less white-knuckle action with the dog.

Result: The original is barking up the right tree this time.

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Mrs. Baylock attacks.

Intent on saving Damien, Mrs. Baylock tries to kill Robert before he can skedaddle with the kid.

Original: Mrs. Baylock is like a banshee. Robert knocks her out in Damien's bedroom and goes down the stairs, but in the kitchen she jumps up out of nowhere and wrestles Damien away. Robert fights with her and kills her by stabbing her with a handy screwdriver and fork in her neck and face. He gets in the car and drives away with Damien, who is now yelling, growling, and trying to get away.

Remake: Mrs. Baylock does the same things, but she is much hardier and more demon-like in her fight. She gets as far as the driveway, smashing at the car with a croquet mallet. She is only subdued when Robert runs her over. Damien is in the backseat, struggling and hostile.

Result: The remake is more exciting and the death of Mrs. Baylock, while perhaps a bit over-amped, is still more fun and gives a bigger payoff.

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The police go after Robert.

When his security spies an agitated Robert at the wheel of a speeding, skidding car, they call in the big guns. "We have a possible Diplomatic incident," and off they go in pursuit.

Result: To be honest, I can't remember how the police were alerted in the remake.

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Damien is saved.

Original: Robert skids to halt in front of the church, knowing the cops are in pursuit, and runs inside to the altar, dragging a screaming Damien and clutching the seven daggers. He lays the child down and prepares to stab him. Damien looks him in the eye and says, "Please, Daddy… no. No!" Robert raises the knife high… and bam! He's shot by one of the police officers before he can even bring his hand down. The shooting of Robert is not shown.

Remake: The remake is pretty much the same, except that the policeman who shoots Robert gives "a look", leading us to believe he is one of Damien's demonic protectors. Also we see the bullet leave the gun, and there are more visual embellishments. Still, we do not see Robert get shot.

Result: It's a toss-up. I can't decide if I like the cop being an innocent guy who's just doing his job to stop a murder, or if I prefer the evil-minion angle. Both work, in their own way.

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Damien is adopted by the President.

Original: Robert is given a full-on Government funeral (I think Kathy is being buried next to him, but I can't quite recall), and from the back, we see that Damien is standing between Robert's dearest friends — The President and the First Lady. The camera closes in on Damien, who turns his head and looks at the audience. He gives a Mona Lisa smile. Fade out.

Remake: Same set up, but the President no longer has brown hair. It's gray and the actor's build is similar to our current Commander in Chief. Damien still turns and smiles in a final "Gotcha!"

Result: Exactly the same.

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Final thoughts:

In the original, Robert and Kathy are older and maybe a little less accessible than the new actors, but in the original we did see some romance and playfulness between the two. Also, they spend more time together with Damien (for instance, in that little scene where Damien gets "lost" and we hear that famous call: "…Damien? Damien!" it's Robert and Kathy in the original, but only Kathy in the remake).

The new Damien does have a great look, and he is more traditionally devilish with his pale face and black hair, but I still prefer the cherubic façade and soft ringlets of the first Damien. Also, in the remake he seems more overtly evil because he's in all those scary dream sequences, he seems more purposeful when he knocks Kathy over the railing, and he is shown in one scene ominously holding a knife (he's only making a sandwich, but still…). I think the more ambiguous Damien is, the better.

The remake is very faithful, using almost the exact same sequence of events, and much of the exact same dialogue (David Seltzer is credited with both screenplays). The acting is excellent across the board, and the imagery is prettier and more colorful. The suspense is more drawn out, and the action is more fierce. In a way, it makes the story more "horror" than the original, which is chilling and creepy. Both Omens tell the same story, but in different ways. One is not "better" than the other, though you may have a preference.

I think that The Omen, along with 2006's The Hills Have Eyes, is among the classiest, best horror remakes to come along in quite some time. I would see it again.

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by Staci Layne Wilson