Although it inevitably suffers in comparison to
Jerry Goldsmith's Academy Award-winning score for the original 1976 version of the film,
Marco Beltrami's score for 2006's remake of The Omen is nevertheless an intriguingly dark and sinister effort in the best tradition of the horror genre. While the concluding "Omen 76/06" resurrects
Goldsmith's now-classic themes,
Beltrami otherwise makes few overt nods to his predecessor -- instead his work rests firmly in the tradition of previous efforts like the Scream trilogy and The Faculty, emphasizing complex thematic structures and taut, suspenseful pacing. What undermines this incarnation of The Omen is its over-reliance on contemporary elements and effects -- its woodwind motifs, rumbling bass, and choral passages are interchangeable with any number of latter-day horror scores. ~ Jason Ankeny