Legacy prequels and sequels appear to be the order of the day, as studios attempt to milk every possible dollar out of their back catalog IP. So it's not terribly surprising that 2 classic demonic horror films got this legacy treatment recently.
I was interested in seeing Exorcist Believer... Until the near universal bad reviews convinced me I had better things to do with my time. The First Omen, on the other hand, had some decent reviews so, when it popped up on Hulu recently, I decided to give it a shot.
I'm just wondering what those reviewers saw that I missed... Cause frankly, I really disliked this one. For two reasons...
First is the rank cynicism of the film. Without going into spoilerish detail, the ending of the film spins out from the source material in ways that clearly open it up to new franchise possibilities, allowing them to dodge the existence of the original series of Omen films. I should not be surprised by this... The whole legacy prequels notion IS built on the idea of cashing in on your IP. So no surprise, right? I guess I'd just like to see it handled less... obviously.
My other problem rears its head much earlier in the film. This does veer into spoiler territory, so consider yourself warned.
I believe it's the young Father Brennan (the only character pulled from the original Omen) who explains to Margaret what is going on here. Turns out that a number of priests and nuns (traditionalist zealots, we assume) have banded together to bring forth the antichrist. Their reasoning? Because the youth of the day have become rebellious and are leaving the church in droves, and they believe that the rise of the antichrist will beat them back into the fold. They also believe that, once they've fostered the rise of the antichrist, they can control him to help them in their goals. (Yeah, right.) Nowhere is it explained how that's going to be accomplished.
Leaving that loophole aside, what annoys me here (aside from the absolute pettiness of their motivation) is the trivializing of themes from the previous film. This is often a problem when stories try to fill in the backstory of the villain's plans... Explaining why they do the horrible things they do seldom brings depth... More often it makes them feel pathetic and weak. (IMHO, I suppose.)
Here, the devil from the Omen is relegated to back seat driver, harnessed to the wills of a bunch of petty, old-fashioned (and just plain old) church functionaries who need to put things back the way they were. Give. Me. A. Break.
So, not sure what movie these reviewers watched that I did not see, but spare me from the First Omen. Not something I need to experience again.
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