generally rare to finish watching a film that is known to be a bit horrible. OK, after watching it, I still feel that the appetite in the opening section is the best. Reposted
content introduction:
A young American diplomat in Rome is told his baby boy has not survived, but he can have a replacement, whose mother died at the same moment. The priest who arranges the swap says "There is no family". Meanwhile, the pope is given a Powerpoint presentation showing elements of the book of Revelation are coming to pass-a star-like comet, torture in Abu Graib, the South East Asian Tsunami. "And the angel blew the sixth trumpet.." Opera singers screech, lightning flashes. Desperate for a child, Robert Thorn keep's the boy's identity secret from his wife.
A remarkable but grizzly accident quickly dispatches his boss, and he's the US Ambassador to London...living in a gothic mansion, with a son who might be the Anti-Christ.
Very few changes have been made to David Setzler's script thirty years on from the original. Liev Schreiber (the Manchurian Candidate) and Julia Stiles (the daughter in Traffic) are very young to play a couple on their last chance to have a child. It suggests they're pitching at an audience that never saw the first one, or the dire sequels that diluted its impact.
Gus Van Sant remade Psycho shot for shot almost ten years ago, and it bombed. Director John Moore has already done a remake, Flight of the Phoenix, but this one's even more faithful to its source material. Low rumbles warn of danger, fast- cut dream sequences chill the audience, and Damien has the right mix of cuteness and menace. Nasty shocks are interspersed with a detective story as the Ambassador and a papparazzo (David Thewlis) who's taken some uncanny photos try to track down the boy's real mother.
Two things make it worth watching. First is the inspired casting of Mia Farrow as Mrs Baylock, who takes over after the first nanny hangs herself at Damien's fifth birthday party. The star of Rosemary's Baby (still the scariest movie I've seen) relishes the role, her face a mask of murderous devotion.
The second is that even though you know what's coming, it's still freaky.
Farrow feeds Damien a plate of strawberries, he then rides a scooter around
the creaking wooden corridors, while his mother waters the hanging pot plants, teetering on a stool, three stories up. All very unlikely but beautifully shot and edited, and unlike the Exorcist, nothing happens that's obviously supernatural. That's what I liked about the original too, but this one does a good job of drawing you in.
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