As a horror fan – and one kinda impressed with some recent remakes, like Texas Chainsaw and the recent House of Wax, and originals, like the Ginger Snaps trilogy – I eagerly await the remake of this movie, set to be released (grab yer crucifix) on 6/6/2006; but while I don’t expect it to be nearly as bad as some fans expect, I still don’t think it could match the impact of the original, which nearly 30 years on continues to stand up as one of the all-time great horror movies.

The great thing about this movie is that it plays (deliberately or not, I don’t know) towards the ridiculousness of its concept. This kid really is the son of the Devil. While The Exorcist jumped through hoops, sending Chris MacNeil to psychiatrists and doctors and finally to a priest, grounding the movie (for a while, at least) in reality, there are no questions here, Damien just is what he is, he’s got the mark of the beast on his head and that’s that. Really the scariest thing around here is Jerry Goldsmith’s freaky score and a handful of grisly deaths. Otherwise, I laugh more during this movie than I cover my eyes; and by the way, I’ve found that’s usually a good thing when it comes to me and horror.

It’s not a great film by any means, but there’s just something about 70s horror movies that makes damn near all of them a little chilling and worth watching; and this one, with the Goldsmith score and the multitude of memorable scenes, is really some kind of classic, and a true staple of the genre.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 21st, 2005 at 11:28 pm in 4 hearts, Movie Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.