Tag Archives: Manic Exorcism

Thoughts Concerning the Upcoming He-Man and Masters of the Universe Movie!

Image February 24, 2025 Manic Exorcism Leave a comment

Grab your sword and shield, find a jungle cat to throw a saddle on, and you bet your ass it’s time to brandish the coveted powers of Grayskull because we’re going back to Eternia, and I couldn’t be happier! Due to my restless obsessing over MOTU and, to my endless glee, foolhardily giving me a platform to express said obsessions on as much as I want, I’ve spent weeks of my life feverishly writing articles (and hardcore essays) on He-Man and his eternal battle against the best villain ever created, Skeletor. Coincidentally I’ve come to be known (for better or worse) as the Master of the Universe guy around here at Nightmare Nostalgia – a title I wear proud as pearls – and as it so happens a brand-new fancy-ass movie is in the works, and I’ve been asked to share my humblest of thoughts concerning it.

Oh, believe me, I have thoughts a plenty concerning this ambitious project so let’s get right to it and talk about He-Man’s most dangerous adventure yet – walking down the red carpet and up to the silver screen …. again. Sigh hopefully, this second time around doesn’t suck for him.

Remember the ‘80s?

The decade is practically mythic at this point. An age fraught with peril and forged under the neon heat of Cold War threats. Us kids had no clue how imminent the end of the world was though because we had toys, sugary cereals, and Saturday morning cartoons to keep us focused on how great life really was. And oh my God the only thing better than playing with our favorite toys and watching them on TV was seeing them turned into big-budget action films and hitting a theater near you to flambee our little brains!

Of course, they made a He-Man movie! Kinda a no-brainer when you think about it. We weren’t all that far away from Return of the Jedi or Conan the Destroyer so there was a definite market for space barbarian fantasy at the time, a thing only He-Man could masterfully fulfill. I remember how excited we all got when they first announced the project. Images of swords and sorcery assailed our imaginations as we imagined how epic this hallowed-be-thy-name project had to be. Then the actual movie was released.

If I sat here talking about how great the actual movie was you all would have every right to beat me over the head with a dead trout. We all know the movie sucked. It did, it sucked hard too, even if I always have kinda liked it. I get the fact the movie isn’t just bad. It’s rotten rat-ass bad!

I’m sure when we all thought of a He-Man movie, we couldn’t wait to watch a film more focused on Courtney Cocks than the mysteries of the Power Sword. And if you’re just now scratching your head wondering what the bull-fucking Hell Courtney Cocks has to do with MOTU you’re not alone. Is she an Eternian? Is she part of the Masters? Is she a secret weapon that alone can save the universe? Oh hell no, she’s just some Southern California teenager. She lost her parents in a plane crash or something like that and since we’re watching a MOTU movie no one gives a shit about it. It’s like a whole other movie, some teenage drama, is fist fucked into what should’ve been the stand-out fantasy epic of our lifetime.

What should’ve been a huge adventure across Eternia instead turned out to be more focused on He-Man and the Masters hiding out on planet Earth where (discount-Orco) Gwildor dresses up like an idiot, the Masters eat a bucket of barbeque ribs and at some point, try to communicate with a cow.

Someone also thought it would be super cool to watch Temu Stormtroopers hovering around Mainstreet Americana with He-Man clumsily flailing his sword around swatting them off like obnoxious flies. Skeletor ends up on Earth too and instead of taking over the White House (you know something cool) he gets his maguffin and goes back to Eternia. Everything to do with Earth is entirely pointless! What the fucking Hell were we watching? What were the filmmakers huffing while making this atrocity?

Did anyone want to see He-Man on Earth? No! Did we need to be on Earth to identify with the characters? Of course not! We wanted nothing more than a hellfire action film featuring our favorite heroes and villains battling it out in a fight to the death over the fate of the universe and preferably in the center of Grayskull itself. We had an opportunity to see Eternia brought to life in a cinematic spectacle that should’ve knocked our teeth out and left us begging for more. Instead, people were just begging for it to be over.

Today the movie’s reached a beloved cult status and is appreciated for what it is – a silly ‘80s fantasy flick that fits alongside Legend or the Dark Crystal. Is it a good He-Man movie though? No, it’s not. It is a very good Skeletor movie with Frank Langella dominating the role with monstrous flair. Watch the movie for Skeletor alone I say. Nevertheless, fans were left disappointed, and it seemed as if any hope to ever see a proper He-Man movie was dashed against the rocks.

The movie was so bad that many blame it for the sad decline of the toy sales thus ending MOTU if only for a brief season. Personally, I feel like it had a heavy hand to play in the decline, but I also think some heroes in a half shell also had a little something to do with it too once their toys hit store shelves.

But Manic, I hear you lament, why are you so hung up on rehashing the failures of a past movie? Shouldn’t you just shut the fuck up and let this new project stand on its own feet, you say. You would otherwise be correct to make such an assessment, but I bring up the failures of the Canon film because it would seem no one learned a whole fat load of anything from history,

That being said, no one wants to see He-Man on Earth ever again. Not only is it rumored He-Man will be on Planet Earth (again), but he’ll be stuck working an office job…. oh God why? Why, why, why? Who thinks that’s a good idea? Who do they think wants to see Prince Adam working a desk job?

Recently leaked photos all but confirm those rumors too.

Maybe the Earth scenes are the result of evil magic. Like maybe it’s in Adam’s head and he needs to break free from the illusion? Maybe once he touches the Power Sword the evil spell is broken? Yeah, that’s really stupid I know but no stupider than having He-Man working an office job on fucking Earth! Why are they doing this? It feels like Kryptonite to this movie’s success, and I really don’t feel like seeing history repeating itself.

Time For Redemption

Today we’ve witnessed redemption stories for dead movie adaptations. Previously failed cinematic adventures can now be retooled with the proper respect and love for both the characters and properties and turned into billion-dollar success stories. Super Mario Bros. is a great example of how a movie’s first cinematic flop can be redeemed. That live-action Mario movie was awful, and I was one of those giddy kids sitting at the theater when it first premiered only to be crushed by what I saw. Before Universal Pictures dared return to the Mushroom Kingdom did anyone think a Mario movie could work? And yet it did and was a massive success. It won our hearts over and made us relive some great NES nostalgia.

Another great example of a property rising from failure to success is Dungeons and Dragons. Honestly, I dare you to go back and watch the 1999 D&D movie. I double-dog dare you! It’s worse, so much worse than I even remembered. And then just like a nat-20 roll Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves was nothing short of a Critical Success! The same could easily be true for MOTU. Do it right and the fans will support the movie. It’s not complicated.

Today filmmakers can bring projects like Avatar or The Lord of the Rings to thrilling life. The special effects of today can absolutely bring Eternia to life in ways Canon could only dream of back in the ‘80s. Langella was stuck performing behind some questionable prosthetics but still mastered the role as the Lord of Destruction. Today they can make Skeletor look like a demonic overlord hellbent on conquering the universe while remaining faithful to the classic look we all love.

Special effects artists have the unique opportunity to bring these larger-than-life characters to the big screen! Think of it – Battlecat, Panthor, and Orko all have a chance to thrive at last whereas before there was no way to add them in any live-action attempt. Bottomline there’s no excuse for this movie to fail.

Casting Choices and Concerns

So far, I’ve been impressed with the casting choices. I mean so far, I’m not all worked up by any of their decisions. Hollywood is notorious for miscasting people all the damn time, but this time around we might be ok. I mean I like seeing the actors hitting the gym to get buffed up for their respected roles. That’s what we need out of them. They need to fill in the armor and loincloths after all.

But what about Jared Leto, I hear some of you ask. I don’t have any issue with Jared Leto’s involvement honestly. Yeah, he was in some shitty movies, but he’s also been in some fan favorites too. He was in Fight Club and American Psycho to name a couple. Not to mention Leto does look like a cool Keldor.

People love pointing to Moebius to rip on the guy, but I argue nobody could save that movie no matter who was cast for the part. The movie was a shit puddle. People also love to criticize his Joker role but then Leto turned around and gave us a chilling portrayal of Joker in the epilogue of Snyder’s Justice League and people sang his praises. Point being give him a chance.

I remember when the internet lost its shit over Heath Ledger being cast as Joker in Nolan’s The Dark Knight. Oh, don’t act like you didn’t bitch about it because we all did. I bitched the loudest…and then I had to eat crow. It’s easy to get wrapped up in internet raging is all I’m saying.

You can tell I’m trying to be hopeful here. I want to like this movie. I want to love this movie! I’ll make a promise right now that if this movie’s good I’ll go see it every single week it plays at the theater. I’m dead serious. Give me a good MOTU movie and I’ll see it as often as possible. Make a great movie and I’ll watch it multiple times in the same day.

That Earth crap though already gives the movie a huge obstacle to overcome.

Having said all that if, and I mean a big if, we get Earth out of the way early on and the rest of the movie is totally on Eternia toting us across both Grayskull and Snake Mountain and with the Masters at war against the evil forces of Skeletor maybe, just maybe, all the action and excitement can wash away Earth’s hideous taint.

We will see. As it stands now the movie already has that working strongly against it. So, if the movie manages to excel despite all of that it’ll prove its merit.

Look, MOTU isn’t hard to make work. It’s brimming with adventure, fantasy, whimsy, magic, romance, and a clear moral tale about good vs evil. It’s everything the human soul thrives on for inspiration. It’s how a simple toy line has stayed alive (off and on granted) for 40 years. It’s gone beyond a nostalgia trip back to the past. The lore continues to reinvent itself and find new fans across every generation. It’s because it speaks to us all. Horror, monsters, dragons, demons – lightness and comedy with bumbling wizards and yet galaxy-binding sorcery. MOTU is brimming with inspiration.

So good luck to everyone involved with this upcoming project. I have faith that it could be awesome.

If nothing else maybe it’ll be reason enough for a MOTU game to finally be released with all the hype now surrounding the movie. Come on, make a video game happen for crying out loud!

Manic out!

Creature Features, Editorials

The Wolf Man’s Unstoppable Legacy of Terror

Image October 28, 2024 Manic Exorcism Leave a comment

It’s that time of year again – arguably the best season of all! A time of longer nights and shorter days. A season fraught with nightmarish landscapes! Skeletons hang silently from banisters like cadavers strung over a hangman’s gallows, neighboring lawns – the same ones we pass day in and out – become overnight graveyards, masked ghouls take to the streets seeking treats, and inhuman voices howl at autumn moons. The season of horror and the hour of monsters is again upon us.

Horror fans don’t have to wait a whole year to indulge in the inner beasts that drive us, but this time of year makes it much more fun to embrace all things macabre. With Halloween approaching, I’ve decided to continue my tradition of focusing on a specific legendary monster. This year, my fangs are bare and I’m going for the jugular with Universal Monster’s Wolf Man.

The film stands as an early example of body horror, showcasing our protagonist’s human form abandoning its natural grace and becoming grotesquely animalistic. Bones break and rearrange, skin tears and fur grows, nails curl blackly into sharpened talons and teeth sprout from a beastly maul hungry for human blood. Human anatomy is mutilated until a man becomes an accursed beast trapped under the gossamer shine of a haunting moon. Such is the horrid fate of the werewolf as we know it today. And nearly all of our knowledge concerning werewolf lore draws from the imaginative concepts introduced in this classic horror spectacle.

The movie takes its viewers on a dangerous journey across haunted moors and a gypsy camp where old magic still rules the night and locks all under a gloom of superstition and existential dread. This distant land of mysticism is shared by resplendent mansions and modern conveniences, which, intentional or not, leaves us a message – the modern day of science and progression is not protected from the old curses of a much more powerful world still lingering on the outskirts of society. The moors hold their secrets and the practitioners of the old ways know more than modern mankind when it comes to safeguarding against primordial haunts and horrors. This lesson our protagonist, Larry Talbot (played by horror royalty Lon Chaney Jr.) all too soon falls prey to.

We’re entering the violent world of the Wolf Man and only a silver bullet can protect you from that haunter of night. Lock yourself behind an iron gate and say your prayers he’s not picked up your scent.

“Even a man who’s pure at heart and says his prayers by night, may become a wolf when the wolf bane blooms and the autumn moon is bright.” – The Wolf Man

The plot is one of pathos. Much like the other demons of Universal Studios’ House of Horrors, this monster is another lamentation of lost innocence. Larry Talbot has reluctantly returned home to his father’s house (here played by acclaimed actor Claude Raines who starred in The Invisible Man and later Phantom of the Opera) and it’s not long before Larry’s struck by otherworldly powers.

In many cases, victims in horror movies often get exactly what they’re looking for. A puzzle box that opens the labyrinths of Hell, an Ouija board, calling out the Candyman’s name five times, or simply exploring a house said to be haunted are all examples of how curiosity can lead to dire consequences and make for some really good scares. However, this is not the case with the Wolf Man. He neither went seeking to become a wolf nor was he even the intended victim of the werewolf’s bloodlust.

Larry brings Hell down upon himself by simply being a good Samaritan. Hearing the distressed cries of a woman being attacked in the woods Larry rushes out to help only to find she’s being attacked by a wolf. With no thought to caution, Larry throws himself between the beast and its prey and quickly becomes the new object of its rage.

Unbeknownst to Larry this isn’t a mere wolf which would’ve been bad enough. No, this was a werewolf. Larry wins the fight and kills the beast but doesn’t walk away as a victor. He’s been bitten and we all know good and well what that means for poor Larry.

His selfless act of valor ends up cursing him to the beast’s possession. A murderous rage soon takes over his mind, eating away at his senses and sending him out into the night to hunt down and kill all whom he holds dear. It’s a story of sublime pathos if ever there was one and that’s the silent genius of the movie’s timeless strength.

This ingenious concept – that still holds up in every werewolf movie to come out after Universal’s feral classic I might add – is all due to the insight of one man – the movie’s screenwriter, Curt Siodmak. Of course, werewolf lore existed before the movie’s release and this wasn’t even the first werewolf movie out at the time. Werewolf of London had already come and gone but ultimately didn’t enjoy the success Wolf Man managed. This is due to the personal touch of sadness Siodmak put into his screenplay.

Siodmak’s youth was ravaged by sudden tragedy as his home was overtaken by men and women who turned hostile and monstrous against him and his own kind as if overnight. Being Jewish Siodmak saw his neighbors and acquaintances transform and give in to bestial instincts. Jewish people were forced to identify with a star, a symbol that later on would mark them for death. It’s no wonder then that in his screenplay the Wolf Man can see a pentagram star appear on the palm of his victim’s hand, a sure mark of death for the innocent and unsuspecting victim.

This harrowing environment stayed with Siodmak well after his family fled Germany and elements of it settled into his imagination and went on to create one of the most enduring movie monsters of all time. So powerful was Siodmak’s vision that Wolf Man DNA can be seen in every werewolf movie to follow. Before Wolf Man people turned into a werewolf by eating a poisonous plant or by magic herbs. But now all of a sudden a man bitten by a werewolf (and lived) would join the demons of the night in a rampage of grotesquely.

Wolf Man also introduced the idea that silver is lethal to werewolves, as well as the concept of transformation during a full moon. These elements contributed to the foundation of many iconic and cult werewolf films, including Silver Bullet, The Howling, An American Werewolf in London, and Ginger Snaps. All of these “wolfy” favorites draw on the concepts established in this classic Universal horror film.

In short, what Bram Stoker did for vampires and George Romero did for zombies Siodmak did for werewolves. Ask anyone: how do you kill a werewolf and they’ll tell you a silver bullet. Same goes for how we all know a werewolf transforms on full moons. These monster facts are rooted securely in our cultural zeitgeist and that’s something very, very hard to pull off. And so we salute Siodmak, a man not very well known among horror fans, but, maybe that can change, because had it not been for his imagination and insight we would’ve been robbed of one of the most enduring movie monsters to ever go tearing across the screen.

Is Universal’s Wolf Man a perfect film? Hell no, of course not and I’m not gonna pretend it is otherwise. But it serves perfectly on my annual Halloween watchlist. It doesn’t have to be perfect to be effective. Its moody atmosphere and eerie imagery are all perfectly Halloweeny and if you’ve never seen it you’re missing out on one of horror’s essential foundations that set the criteria for the genre.

Remakes of the Wolf

Wolf Man (2010)

I honestly don’t hate the 2010 remake. I saw it at the theater back when it came out. I also just ordered the Scream Factory special edition release. I think it’s a good retelling of the familiar classic with some decent (honestly gotta say shocking) gore. I also like how the Wolf Man looks proving once again that Rick Baker (American Werewolf in London) is the monster maker. It’s an updated vision of what Jack Pierce came up with all those years ago and I love it.

The one glaring fault with the movie is its unnecessary use of CGI. Because the studio had the genius of Rick Baker behind the project there’s no excuse for not letting him be in charge of the werewolf transformation scenes. Compare those scenes to what Baker did with AAWIL and you’ll see what I mean.

Overall does the remake deserve the hate it got? No. I mean comparing the look of its werewolf to that stupid shit Blumhouse is trying to push and yeah. Superior!

The story closely follows the original film with a few new twists and surprise elements to keep it fresh. Honestly, I say give it a chance.

Wolf (1994)

This is a weird one and shocking that it even exists. It’s not a bad movie but it’s just a bit odd. It’s a modern retelling of the Wolf Man and was inspired by the striking success of Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The ‘90s wanted to restore the audience’s love for classic horror icons with new erotic romance, updated effects, and blood. Woo hoo!

Well, Wolf might strike some (probably most) viewers as a boring journey seeing as how there is no wild transformation scene. Not on the lever of AAIL or The Howling. You also won’t get a full-body werewolf costume like you do in Silver Bullet. Our lead protagonist slowly does turn more wolf-like and will fully become a beast by the end of the movie but it’s nothing at all like what people expect to see.

This time our lead is played by Jack Nicholson (The Shining, Batman), and is no stranger to horror roles or larger-than-life parts. He’s a perfect casting choice to play the role of Larry Talbot but the filmmaker chose to hold back. There’s no amazing monster makeup and Nicholson’s roles in The Shining and The Joker are way more memorable. That’s not to say there’s no monster effects. There are they’re just, well, have a look. They look fine.

Wolf came out during that weird time in the ‘90s when Hollywood didn’t want to make ‘horror’ films and preferred the term thrillers. Because of this attitude, the movie really feels like a monster movie that’s scared of being associated with being a monster movie. So it misses the point. All that said I do weirdly like it. I mean honestly, I’ve not seen it since I was a teen and I liked it back then. If I rewatched it now all these years later that all could possibly change.

Personally, I’d recommend just watching any other werewolf flick. That or the 2010 remake. If you’ve never seen the original movie I say go give it a watch because I’m a whore for Universal Monsters and have to watch them every year around this time.

Further Recommendations: Sequels

I’d also strongly recommend the Wolf Man’s sequel, Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man. One of the first times horror icons met up in a fatal fight to the death as the man made of cadavers and the man cursed by the moon are locked in battle. It’s also the earliest example of a shared universe way before Marvel ever acted like they started that shit.

And, if you’re like me and have seen all these movies a dozen times over and still need a lycan fix, I just discovered a novel officially released by Universal Monsters that’s a sequel to the Wolf Man. It’s called Return of the Wolf Man and the book opens up right away with our hairy beast promptly fighting Dracula! Not only that but the Frankenstein Monster shows up and already this is proving to be a wild monster mash well worth the price I paid for it.

Yeah, so about that, it’s sad to say this thing can be pricy as all fuck. I paid $40 at Half Price Books for my (used paperback) copy but a copy on Amazon (last I looked) is going for over a hundred big ones. So yeah… If you happen to chance across this book at a used store or the library I say pick it up.

So that’s it, my nasties. Hope you all enjoyed our little journey into the night to discuss werewolves. You all have a Happy Halloween and watch out when you go out after sunset. If you hear something howling in the dark run as fast as you can. You might get away with your life.

Horror Nostalgia, Retro Reviews

The Omen Legacy – A Review Of The Past and Present Horror It Invokes

Image April 10, 2024 Manic Exorcism Leave a comment

Dark Powers Conspire

Religious horror hits a primal cord within us all. Even to unbelievers, there’s an unmistakable lure of curiosity that cannot be squelched by any amount of modern logic. Modernism, sincere as it may be, attempts to protect us from the arcane such as concepts locked away in frightful prophecies securely kept in musty and old esoteric libraries. Prophecies many today would prefer to leave hidden beneath a century of dust.

But can these mystifying forewarnings be sealed away forever and what dreadful truths may they reveal? The theological study of the End Times is known as eschatology and is a branch of research dedicated to deciphering the recorded warnings of cataclysmic events to come that’ll shatter reality and bring a final end to all we now know.

Denial, negligence, and good old tried-and-true blissful ignorance do precious little to expunge these dire foretellings that caused the ancients to quake upon their reading. Many people reduce them to nothing more than superstition and leave it at that. Thankfully for us all though religious horror takes such concepts and creates modern-day masterpieces to shock and sicken generations.

And so came a little movie called The Omen that rekindled the fires of Hell across the globe and audiences basked in its satanic glow. The film is subtle but brimming with evil intent as it focuses on the early beginnings of the scariest person found in New Testament literature – the Antichrist.

Christ’s satanic counterpart seemingly snuck into our world like a serpent beneath our noses and upset the establishment people were so comfortable with. Sure, Satan was no new concept in Hollywood. B-level films littered the Drive-In nearly every weekend and there’s nothing wrong with that. But people didn’t take such movies seriously. They were cheap popcorn thrillers. People watched them, screamed or jeered, and then went back home probably forgetting all about them. Satan slithered back into the shadows once the credits rolled and that was that.

The Omen on the other hand was a very different type of beast altogether. For one thing, as a project portraying the demonic, it was taken very seriously by the studio and placed into the hands of a competent filmmaker, Dick Donner, who decided to remove any overt satanic imagery. Donner’s approach was for the movie to look like a series of terrible tragedies. Imagine having the worst day of your life sort of deal.

As I stated earlier, it’s a subtle film but Darkness swells in every scene. From the moment the film opens and we follow Ambassador Thorn (brilliantly played by Gregory Peck) as he rushes to the hospital for the birth of his son to the final shot of the movie at a solemn graveside at the movie’s conclusion audiences were unexpectedly changed by something primal they had just watched.

One thing that made the movie work was the casting choices. Actors will either make or break a project and casting is vital. Originally, Charlton Heston, renowned for his portrayal of Moses in Ten Commandments and the titular role of Ben-Hur, Heston was a name that brought regality to a project. Donner wanted a serious actor for the lead role because he believed if audiences saw someone like Heston or Gregory Peck being scared on the screen it would unnerve them somehow. He was right.

Unlike many hundreds of movies featuring the Devil, The Omen struck a chord and audiences were fundamentally changed thanks to it. Suddenly people were exiting movie theaters with thoughts of the End of Days possessing their thoughts like black magic. A single movie managed to do what the clergy spend a lifetime hoping to achieve – get people’s asses back in church!

What if the Antichrist was alive today but was just a little kid?

That question ignited a nightmare that became one of the most influential horror movies of the century. To the terror of many, The Omen was more than fiction but acted more as an accurate account of prophecies they saw as being fulfilled daily.

The film was the apex rising out of a perfect storm of bizarre circumstances.

For starters, Satanism became a nationally recognized religion and was accepted for its darker practices of the occult to the shock and horror of many Bible-believing Christians. For many, it was a sign of darker things to come because, for the most part, many didn’t understand the actual belief system installed by its founder Anton Lavey. Following more paranoia than facts, many religious people saw the Church of Satan as a headquarters for an invasion of Satanic entities. A portal to things that could not be sealed once opened by willing mortal hands.

Not only had Satan been given his own institution but the ‘God is dead’ movement had swelled to alarming numbers and wasn’t hard for people to accept considering how few people still attended church on a weekly basis.

Strange cults like the Manson Family were also on the rise. Cults whose members broke into homes and cut the unborn baby from its mother’s womb disgusted the nation, leaving many to wonder how such a thing could happen in a God-fearing country. Murderous cultists were just another piece in the End of Days puzzle and everyday people found it easy to believe that maybe, just maybe, some left hand of Darkness was pulling the strings.

Added to this were political scandals which led people to lose faith in their governments, adding one more fallen establishment to the fro. Not to mention the Vietnam War nearly drove the whole country entirely insane.

The church had failed and the occult was rapidly rising. The government had failed and in need of some new power to take the reigns.

The Omen was released at the perfect time during a period of unsettling turmoil and managed to terrify audiences. The film’s creators expertly merged biblical prophecies with current events, resulting in an unsettlingly perfect connection.

This created a new kind of biblical cinema that shook society to its core.

The golden era of biblical epics such as Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments or Ben-Hur was long gone. The King of Kings was now the whisper of a bygone age and motion pictures like The Exorcist and Rosemary’s Baby started a new wave of supernatural excitement proving Satan’s day was at hand.

The Omen was part of this new wave of spiritual horror. Its infernal genius lies in its boldness to crack open the Holy Scriptures and bring to life the darkest aspects therein revealed. The book of Revelation was a genuine inspiration behind the material.

The result is a remarkable achievement that speaks for itself.

Adding to the dark nature of the movie’s tone is the (sin)sational score composed by Jerry Goldsmith. Goldsmith admits the inspiration came to him while at Mass. The song Ave Maria was being sung and as the words flowed across him a black idea blanketed his thoughts. “What would it sound like if they were worshipping Satan instead?” he wondered. Thus one of the most haunting film scores of all time was brought to life.

Goldsmith took the established concept of Mass, the sacraments, the holiest act of Mass, and offered it to Satan. Sanguis bibimus – ‘The blood we drink,’ Corpus edimus – ‘The body we eat.’ Any good Catholic will associate this with the Holy Act of Communion. But this is where the ritual goes dark, Tolle corpus Satani. Ave! ‘Raise the body of Satan. Hail!’ Brilliant and covert. The song becomes a litany of Satan worship and serves as the movie’s main theme securing Goldsmith the oscar that year.

It’s one of those things where you may not have known what was going on – or why you felt uncomfortable hearing it played – but your brain surely did.

Not to mention the infamous priest’s death (impaled upon a church spike) was based on an actual event that happened nearby where the screenwriter lived. That and many strange accidents happening to the cast and crew both on and off set while the movie was being filmed led many to speculate the production was in fact cursed by the powers of Hell that did not want their wiles and ways to be made public knowledge.

Overall The Omen is a mystery even to this day. I grew up in a very religious home where it was forbidden to watch which only intensified its awe and wonder in my mind. What could be so horrible about this movie that preachers so profusely condemned it from behind sweaty pulpits? The fundamentalists I grew up under acted as if a world of the Satanic would be torn open upon a single viewing.

Naturally, it was on my must-see list of movies along with The Last Temptation of Christ. The movie is respectful to the biblical source material it borrows from though and, well frankly, is just a very damn good movie to watch. It has a regal class seldom spoken of. People love to talk about elevated horror as if it’s a brand new thing but I’d argue it’s a sophisticated branch of the genre that’s been with us for years. Movies like this prove it.

The Omen proved to be a box office success and became one of the most influential horror movies of all time. Its financial success allowed Fox Studios to funnel in a little more money into a little-known science fiction project being made at the time called Star Wars. I love that by the way. Damien might’ve helped save Star Wars!

It also inspired one of the most groundbreaking heavy metal records of all time, Iron Maiden’s Number of the Beast! Bruce Dickenson (lead singer) says he saw the movie and then had one of the most vivid nightmares of his life later that night. That’s pretty fucking metal.

Final Thoughts – The New Prequel

I’ll admit I mocked the idea of a prequel to The Omen. I felt it would be just another nostalgic cash grab that would suck like most others do. Then the rumors started settling in and people were praising this movie, The First Omen. Naturally curious I had to check it out for myself despite saying I’d never give it my attention. I think I said something like I’d rather tickle my dick with a cactus than go see it.

Well, I went to watch it.

You need to understand I’m not a big fan of any of The Omen sequels. So why the fuck would I care to see a prequel? Let alone sing its demonic praise unless it genuinely deserved it? So what did I think?

I unexpectedly enjoyed this movie, despite my initial skepticism.

The First Omen is a welcomed addition to the lore and adds a few new insights into the darker conspiracies behind the original movie. As far as prequels go I have to admit it’s one of the best I’ve seen. I mean I had to come home and immediately watch the original classic right away. The two line up masterfully.

So to all my friends who endured weeks of me bitching about this movie here I am humbly eating a big fat mouthful of crow. I was wrong, y’all.

So is this the start of a new franchise? Like with this movie’s success will they skip ahead and do a new retelling of Damien’s adult life as the Antichrist? I would say ‘Please God just stop!’ but I was proven wrong by a prequel so who knows? If done right and done well I’ll be in line to see it.

So if you like sophisticated horror and religious thrillers The Omen is a great watch. If you’ve not seen it yet there’s no better time than now. Make an event of it and go watch The First Omen before you do.

Manic out!