The devil made them redo it

Even normal kids turn into the Antichrist when you tear them away from video games, so what would you expect from the actual Antichrist?

Thirty years after the original "Omen" became a pop-culture sensation that spawned three sequels, the satanic kid has been resurrected for a new generation steeped in the Biblical lore of "The Da Vinci Code" and the "Left Behind" franchise. Same movie, different world.

It's the latest in a string of remakes of '70s horror classics that includes "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "The Hills Have Eyes," most of which have budgets and stars that eclipse the originals but aren't nearly as effective. The 1976 "Omen" was different, though: A classy major-studio release with a first-rate star, Gregory Peck, and director, Richard Donner.

This time, Liev Schreiber plays American diplomat Robert Thorn, who substitutes an orphaned baby for his wife's (Julia Stiles) stillborn one without telling her. A young man with his career on the rise, Thorn thinks he's done two good deeds by sparing her knowledge of the tragedy and by taking in the foundling. But it's not long before alarming events suggest there's something seriously wrong with the boy, played by Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick.

For starters, nothing's ever wrong with young Damien — he's never sick. He hates churches worse than Dennis the Menace hates barbers. Animals hate him (a tense zoo sequence is a nice tweaking of the original's terrifying scene of baboons attacking a car). And nasty freak accidents befall anyone who threatens to interfere with Junior's ascendance.

After such an accident befalls a creepy priest (Pete Postlethwaite) who tries to give Thorn the 411 on 666, a seedy tabloid photographer (David Thewlis) who's developed some alarming clues travels with the disturbed dad to unravel the mystery.

It would have been fascinating to see a new "Omen" that reflected contemporary times, taking into account the noticeable upswing in religious fervor since the 9/11 attacks and America's increasing dismissal of science. But this is more or less the same movie as the old one, a little nicer looking and with younger actors (Peck was 60 when he played the new father).

There are just a few minor differences: One is the inclusion of some unnecessary, cheap-scare dream imagery. The other is that it's clear from the outset — because of a comet and other briefly-referenced signs of the times — that the Antichrist is here and Armageddon is coming. No mystery for the audience.

Likewise, 30 years ago, you didn't hear a lot of mainstream references to the Antichrist, but now it's a routine epithet. It's the curse of the original, which became a huge part of the pop-culture lexicon. Not accounting for that is a fatal error.

There's no fault to find in the performances, and casting Mia Farrow as the evil nanny is a nice "Rosemary's Baby" shout-out. Look instead to screenwriter David Seltzer, who also wrote the original, and, apparently making a career out of so-so remakes, director John Moore, who made 2004's "Flight of the Phoenix."

Mark Rahner: 206-464-8259 or mrahner@seattletimes.com