May 22, 2006
9/11: A Bad Omen
Milking Terror
It may be a sign of the times that the upcoming remake of The Omen is the latest film to suckle at the teats of history's most infamous acts of terrorism. Apparently, a shot of the a plane hitting the Twin Towers is featured in the opening of the movie. I would speculate that this is part of a scene evidencing the proximity of the end times. But what will people think about 9/11 being used as one of the omens foretelling the coming of Damien Thorn: the fictional antichrist.
Much attention and controversy has been generated by the fact that 2006 is the year Hollywood decided it was time to put 9/11 on the silver screen. Ben talked a bit about this here. United 93 (in theaters now) and World Trade Center(August) have both sparked debate over whether it is too soon to commit the 2001 terror attacks to celluloid. One of the key arguments in favor of these films has been that they are not meant to be exploitive thrillers which play with the emotions generated by their topics, but respectful depictions of some of the brave Americans who suffered that day. As this sounds like a thin enough argument for 93 and WTC, I can't imagine it's going to work all that well for The Omen.
If it's ok to use 9/11 in a common horror flick, it probably signals that it's going to show up in other places as well. Also, this isn't quite clear, but it sounds like they used actual footage. If this is the case it would further differentiate The Omen from the 9/11 reenactments, and probably raise a few more questions.
In the end, it doesn't really bother me. But it is sure to bother some. At a May 16th press screening in New York one man got a bit heated about it with director John Moore. You can read the full Q&A transcript at Horror.com.
