A remake of the 1976 thriller about a little boy who sidelines as the Antichrist, this features an alarming number of classy actors getting whacked in the most classless of ways. Among the victims of various impalings and beheadings are Pete Postlethwaite (In the Name of the Father), David Thewlis (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) and Mia Farrow. Farrow plays the boy’s sweetly sinister nanny – it’s an ironic bit of stunt casting, considering the actress unwillingly spawned Satan in Rosemary’s Baby – and she’s the only one in the cast who hits the proper notes of horror hysteria. The Omen had no real chance of being scary, but at least Farrow realizes it could have been a hoot.
