Remembering the Baffling The Omen Remake 20 Years Later

Of all the Hollywood remakes over the years, 2006's The Omen remains one of the most baffling.

One has to wonder why the film exists, beyond the fact that the studio wanted to capitalize on the opportune "Mark of the Beast" release date of 06/06/2006.

Satanically good timing aside, the contemporary update of Richard Donner's 1976 horror classic brought nothing new to the table, merely rehashing the story of American diplomat Robert Thorn (Liev Schreiber), who unwittingly raises the son of the Devil because he didn't have the heart to tell his wife (Julia Stiles) their biological baby was stillborn. By the time he realizes the truth, however, Thorn cannot bring himself to slaughter what he considers to be an innocent child.

"It has a guilty hero, an innocent villain and everybody else is caught between. It was a very dynamic contradiction," original screenwriter David Seltzer told SYFY Wire in 2025 last year. "It held people spellbound and I could see that."

"The fact that you still see 666 tattooed on people's biceps and written on walls," he added. "Somebody even sent me a jock strap with three sixes that was being marketed. It became a part of the culture."

While the remake's director John Moore (Behind Enemy Lines, A Good Day to Die Hard) did have a new script—written by Dan McDermott (Eagle Eye)—to work with, its striking similarities to the '76 version meant Seltzer ended up receiving sole credit from the Writers Guild of America (WGA), even though he had absolutely nothing to do with the project.

The Omen writer on his disappointment with 2006 remake of horror classic

So, what did Seltzer think of the comparisons between the two projects?

"They tried another one using the same script with a different director and different actors—and it was kind of nothing," he remarked to SYFY. "It was the same story, but it was blech! I cannot accept full credit for what [that] movie is, because it was created by people other than me after I put it on the page."

You might call it a credit to Seltzer's writing abilities, in the sense that there was nothing to improve upon.

"That this thing has lived this long, I'm absolutely shocked," confessed the screenwriter. "But I think it’s a testament to the magic of the people who lifted it off the page to the screen. It was an unusual horror picture. It was not in the mode of a slasher movie. It was not told through the eyes of the slasher or the victim or anything. It was very novel-esque."