STUDIO: Fox
RELEASE DATE: October 7, 2008
STARRING: Various
WRITTEN BY: Various
DIRECTED BY: Various
FEATURES: Commentaries on All Four Films
Deleted Scenes
Featurettes
More!

The first Omen movies rules. It's a subtle, modern horror movie about one of the scariest things imaginable - looking at your kid and not knowing who the hell he is. But it's not your typical horror movie. Unlike any of the sequels or the remake, The Omen leaves just exactly what is happening up to the audience. You can easily view it as a movie about a man dealing with the spawn of Satan, but it's not hard to read it as a film about a father going insane. The deaths in The Omen could all be coincidental and when proud papa goes to kill his son in the end, the question audiences should be asking themselves is "What if he's wrong?" All subtlety flies out the window in the sequels and the remake, none of which are really worth seeing, but The Omen Collection does include that original masterpiece in stunning high definition, almost making it worth a pick-up. Almost.

That's right. For the first time in the three months that we've been covering Blu-Ray, I'm going to say something I honestly was never sure that I would - hardcore fans will want to stick with the standard definition Omen Collection that Fox released two years ago. That box set includes all four of the original series films along with the remake. It also includes an excellent Collector's Edition version of the first movie. The video and audio on the standard Omen are very good. Of course, the Blu-Ray transfers are better but there are shocking flaws in the Blu-Ray set as a whole. Most disturbing is the fact that Fox decided to leave a film out of the collection. So, let me get this straight. I'm a hardcore Omen fan. I have the Collection on standard and am considering upgrading. I'm going to have to keep my standard version of Omen IV: The Awakening? Yes, it's a horrible movie, but perhaps more than any other genre, horror fans are completists. The idea that they will now have to live with only 4/5ths of their favorite series on Blu-Ray is ridiculous. It's insulting. There's also a cut-rate, cheap quality to the Blu-Ray set for The Omen Collection that is unacceptable. The packaging is one of the worst I've ever seen, standard or Blu-Ray. It's a cheap paper case that feels like it's going to fall apart in a year or two. Finally, there are no new special features in the Blu-Ray set. So, if the first Omen is the only truly great film in the collection and all of the special features are the same, you have to decide what's more important, 1080p or having all of the films in a better packaged set? It's a tough call.

If you do go with The Omen Collection on Blu-Ray, you'll find The Omen, Damien: The Omen II, and The Omen III: The Final Conflict in widescreen 2.35:1 and the 2006 remake (sometimes called The Omen 666) in the ratio it was filmed, 1.85:1. All four films are given excellent 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio tracks that are great, but, then again, they weren't half-bad in standard either. The standard 5.1 track for The Omen and the DTS HD track on the Blu-Ray version will be distinguishable only to the most hardcore audiophiles. The 1976 film comes with the most special features including three commentary tracks, documentaries, deleted scenes, and more. It's clearly the gem of the set. The other two original series movies feature a lone audio commentary track and the new version has a pretty typical amount of special features for a modern horror flick. What's important to you? Having the entire series or having the best of it looking and sounding as good as possible? If it's the former, stick with the standard set you surely already own. If it's the latter, upgrade.