The Omen Trilogy Box Set [DVD] [2017]

I regard the original 1976 “Omen” as one of the best horror mysteries ever produced, and far better executed than the 2006 remake. I was genuinely scared watching it in the cinema, something that “The Exorcist” didn’t manage. It is nice to have it on Blu-ray as a keepsake, and although the magic of my initial cinema experience has worn off slightly, it’s still a masterpiece of tension, along with the likes of “Jaws” and “Alien”. Having acquired the trilogy package as an economical gesture, I await the opportunity to catch up with the sequels again, without expecting any great miracles as the follow-up stories were comparatively second rate, though still intriguing.Sadly, the Blu-ray presentation of the initial story is strangely patchy. The visuals are unexpectedly soft and lack-lustre in places, and the audio suffers from poor intelligibility in the 5.1 remix. The dialogue is often low level and muffled, totally out of balance with the music which is bombastic and screechy, making it difficult to find a compromising volume setting. Matters are not helped by haphazard attempts to stereophonize the sound field which only occasionally works satisfactorily, all too often being half-heartedly and crudely applied, or else totally ineffective other than to add ambience which only worsens the clarity issue with the dialogue, creating potential frustrations for the home audience that surely weren’t intended. A shame, because in the cinema I was desperately wishing that the film had been given directional sound treatment, but not to end up like this. Unfortunately, the original mono soundtrack is not included here as an option for comparison.For the concept of the film I would not hesitate to award 5 stars, but I would be dishonest to give its Blu-ray treatment more than 3 on aggregate. I reserve judgement on the sequels until I’ve got round to watching them.

The original Omen film is an utter classic. It's creepy, scary and enthrawling starring the inimitable Gregory Peck. It's a great thriller with some horrific scenes that still manage to shock even today.However if you're here I'm guessing you may have decided you want even more of the son of satan, Damien. So if you're thinking about getting this trilogy here's my roundup of the two sequels to the original classic horror.The Omen 2 (or Damien) see's a pubescent Damien join a military acandemy while being looked after by his adopted parents (owners of the Thorn corporation). It follows a simillar path to the original film with those who know who Damien really is attempting to get near him, and do him away, and Damien's demonic followers protecting him. It features some pretty gruesome death scenes, but all in all the story doesn't take any risks. It also features a few plot holes/confusing plot pieces. However I won't dismiss it for an evenings entertainment. It's no where near the original but it's also quite creepy and horiffic in places, it keeps a nice tension till the end and is never boring. Certainly worth watching.The Omen 3 (Final Conflict) stars Sam Niell as Damien, all grown up and at the head of the Thorn corporation. Moving his way up in the world of politics he assumes a key role at the British embassy. This is the weakest of the two sequels in my opinion, but still good enough. Now we have a group of monks travelling to London with the holy daggers to try and stop Damien. Running along side this plot is the second coming of Jesus. Again the tension is really good, it's very horiffic in parts but unlike the second film does get a little boring in places. However for an evenings entertainment it's fine.Hope this helps. This box set would has a small amount of features (more on the original Omen disk). It's now at a good price so I'd recommend it.

This Bluray of The Omen Trilogy Does play on UK bluray players. It's region Free which means it will play abroad.Audio - same for all 3 films.English 5.1 DTS Master Audio. French and Italian 5.1 DTS, Turkish 5.1 Dolby Digital, Commentary 2.0 Stereo Dolby Digital.Picture Ratio - 2.35.1.Subtitles - English, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, Italian, Norwegian, Swedish,Turkish.I am very pleased with my purchase. M, J, B.

This set for the year these films were originally made is absolutely worth the asking price. In my opinion the original made in 1976 sporting an exceptional cast, particularly Gregory Peck, Lee Remick and Billie Whitelaw is this series finest hour and that alone is worth the asking price.The majority of the special features are on the first disc they include a number of documentaries, interviews, a separate film score track, original theatrical trailer and as one would expect from a set like this, an audio commentary. Jerry Goldsmith's soundtrack for this movie is outstanding and evokes a truly chilling atmosphere. The 5 star rating is essentially given for the original movie."The Omen", for many psychological thriller, horror officianado's (much to Richard Donner's chagrin as he absolutely doesn't consider it to be part of the horror genre ) was when it came out in 1976 and is still today one of the very best films of its type. I couldn't agree more.Damien Omen 2, it's almost as good in a different way. The casting of William Holden and Lee Grant in this certainly ups the ante for this film, the supporting cast again is excellent and of course Jonathan is particularly good as the teenage Damien. It may not be as good as the original, but it is definitely worth a watch.The Final Conflict is perhaps the weakest of the 3. I never really felt Sam Neil's heart was truly in the performance. The ideas within are fine, but sadly it just doesn't seem up to the same standard or atmosphere of its predecessors. To be fair though there are a couple of genuinely chilling moments.All in all if I didn't have this set, or it went missing, I'd absolutely buy it againWorth the 5 stars for the original alone.Recommended