THE FIRST OMEN is Creepy & Audacious

THE FIRST OMEN (Digital)

2024 / 119 min

FROM 20TH CENTURY STUDIOS

Review by Josey, the Sudden Cat🙀

Going in, I didn’t expect much…another cynical product assembled with about as much imagination as its title.

However, The First Omen begins with the spectacular death of a priest (Charles Dance), paying obvious homage to the original film’s lightning rod impalement scene while one-upping it with a nasty twist. Dance’s delirious expression right afterwards is disturbing…and priceless.

I perked up a little. Even if this prequel was simply a histrionic cavalcade of the same type of creative kills the Omen franchise is renowned for, perhaps I was in for a gory good time. At the very least, it would be more fun than that drab dumpster fire, The Exorcist: Believer, another recent attempt to breathe new life into a dead horror property. 

Rest assured, there’s some gonzo gruesomeness to be had here, including a couple of sick birthing scenes that might even have jaded horror fans wincing (while another poor rube cut in half by a truck might have them chuckling). But surprisingly, there’s more to The First Omen than cheap thrills. It actually has a good (and crazy) story, fairly interesting characters and generally solid performances. 

Taking place in Rome in 1971, Nell Tiger Free plays Margaret, a young American would-be nun arriving to serve at a Catholic orphanage run by her mentor, Cardinal Lawrence (Bill Nighy), and abbess Sister Silva (Sônia Braga). She’s immediately warned to stay clear of one girl, Carlita (Nicole Sorace), because of her evil, antisocial behavior. Meanwhile, she rooms with Luz (Maria Caballero), another novitiate bent on sewing a few wild oats before giving her life to the church. She even coerces Margaret into going out for one wild night (which has dark ramifications revealed later).

"My precious..."

Then Margaret is approached by Father Brennan (Ralph Ineson), who warns her of the Antichrist’s arrival. But before one assumes this revelation is just rehashing the original plot of The Omen, the narrative throws a curveball: Attempts to bring the Antchrist into the world are being carried out by Catholic extremists. For years, they’ve been trying to birth a male with the belief that his presence will coerce people to return to the church, which has seen its influence and authority diminish over the years. The film later throws in more surprises and twists, especially regarding most of the major characters, drawing just as much narrative inspiration from Rosemary's Baby as the franchise it belongs to. 

Speaking of which…for most of its running time, the film works well enough as a stand-alone story that one might temporarily forget it’s even part of a series, let alone a prequel. But we’re reminded at the end with what feels like an obligatory scene bridging this film to The Omen, as well as a coda that suggests aspirations of kickstarting a new franchise. Those who grew up on the original might get a nostalgic kick out of these scenes, but neither are really necessary.

Perhaps because my expectations weren’t all that lofty to begin with, The First Omen was a pleasant surprise. Creepy, violent and narratively audacious (maybe even a bit blasphemous), this is a good horror film that manages to avoid being just another superfluous prequel. If nothing else, it’s the best Omen film since the original. 

EXTRA KIBBLES

FEATURETTES - The Director’s Vision features director Arkasham Stevenson and interviews with the producers & cast; Signs of the First Omen focuses on production design, costuming and (of course) the gruesome make-up effects; In The Mystery of Margaret, actress Nell Tiger Free discusses her character.

THE GOOD DIE YOUNG: A Story of Bad Decisions

THE GOOD DIE YOUNG (Blu-ray)

1954 / 100 min

FROM MGM

Available at www.MovieZyng.com

Review by Mr. Paws😺

Though I wouldn’t quite classify it as film noir, the 1954 British crime drama, The Good Die Young, bears some similarities. Most notably, its four main characters are largely driven by desperation, either due to circumstances beyond their control or their own questionable actions. 

Those circumstances comprise most of the first two acts. Joe Halsey (Richard Basehart) can’t afford to return to America with his pregnant wife to escape her manipulative mother. Retired boxer Mike Morgan (Stanley Baker) can’t find work after losing a hand. American soldier Eddie Blane (John Ireland) deserts the military and his cheating wife. Finally, there’s ‘Rave’ (Laurence Harvey), a shiftless cad whose wealthy wife will no longer pay off his debts.

The four eventually bond during frequent nights bemoaning their fates in a local pub. It’s there that Rave suggests robbing the post office across the street could solve all their financial problems. In fact, he’d already been planning the heist by cozying up to one of the female postal workers for information. Despite having no criminal history or experience, the other three eventually agree to participate in the robbery, which of course doesn’t quite go as planned.

Joe conveniently forgets his wallet.

The film does an excellent job painting Mike, Joe and Eddie as sympathetic. Despite often displaying poor judgment, the viewer is truly invested in them. Conversely, Rave is not only arrogant, selfish and unfeeling, he’s fiendishly manipulative. The four leads are compelling in their roles, especially Basehart and Harvey (though I suppose the latter ain’t stretching himself much).

Because the film takes such time with its characters, the climactic robbery carries a lot more dramatic weight (concluding in true film noir fashion). Though necessary to establish motivation for these men’s descent into crime, the wives are mostly peripheral characters…thankless roles for the likes of Joan Collins, Margaret Leighton and (forever my favorite femme fatale) Gloria Grahame.

Guided by solid direction from Lewis Gilbert, the film gets off to a slow start, but has a great story that culminates in a thrilling and suspenseful final act. Though not textbook film noir, The Good Die Young boasts enough darkness and bad decisions to put it in the same ballpark. This relative British obscurity is worth seeking out for fans of the genre.

THE POOP SCOOP: Summer Kibbles!

😺CIVIL WAR arrives 7/9 on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital on July 7 from Lionsgate.

From filmmaker Alex Garland comes a journey across a dystopian future America, following a team of military-embedded journalists as they race against time to reach DC before rebel factions descend upon the White House. Prepare for a harrowing adventure on July 7th as Civil War arrives on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital from Lionsgate. The nonstop action focuses on a team of military-embedded war correspondents racing against time to reach the White House before it’s too late. Featuring an all-star cast including Academy Award nominee Kirsten Dunst (2021, Best Supporting Actress, The Power of the Dog), Cailee Spaeny (Priscilla), Primetime Emmy Award winner Nick Offerman (2023, Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series, The Last of Us), Jesse Plemons (Killers of the Flower Moon), Stephen McKinley Henderson (Dune), and Wagner Moura (“Narcos”). Bonus features include a six-part documentary, trailer, and as an Amazon exclusive, a Q&A with the director and cast.

☁The Original TWISTER on 4K Ultra HD + Digital on July 9 from Warner Bros. Discovery.

Academy Award winner Helen Hunt stars as Dr. Jo Thornton-Harding, who as a small girl watched her father sucked to his death from her family’s storm cellar by a massive tornado. Now a storm chaser, a scientist who risks her life to study the dark side of nature by taking her data-transmitting instruments directly into the path of a deadly storm, Jo chases the largest tornado ever to strike Oklahoma as her marriage implodes and rival scientists will stop at nothing to steal her breakthrough. Twister, the action-packed iconic disaster film directed by Jan de Bont (Speed) will be available for purchase on 4K Ultra HD Disc and Digital for the first time on July 9.  The film also stars Cary Elwes, Jami Gertz, Lois Smith, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Alan Ruck, Todd Field, and Jeremy Davies. Twister was directed by Jan de Bont (Speed) from a screenplay by Michael Crichton and Anne-Marie Martin.  The film was produced by Crichton, Kathleen Kennedy, and Ian Bryce.  Steven Spielberg, Walter Parkes, Laurie MacDonald and Gerald R. Molen served as executive producers. 

🥊ROCKY I-VI 4K Ultra HD Collection Coming July 16 from Warner Bros Discovery.

Relive every punch from one of the most iconic and beloved sports drama franchises with the ROCKY I-VI 4K Collection, newly remastered in stunning 4K Ultra HD. Sylvester Stallone stars in the greatest boxing saga of all time and triumphs as one of the most inspirational characters in cinematic history. Witness every epic, action packed fight and unforgettable moment as Rocky punches his way to the top against impossible odds when the ROCKY I-VI 4K Collection is released on July 16, 2024. The ROCKY I-VI 4K Collection includes the MGM feature films ROCKY, ROCKY II, ROCKY III, ROCKY IV, ROCKY V and ROCKY BALBOA, along with the ROCKY IV Ultimate Director’s Cut, ROCKY VS. DRAGO and the ROCKY BALBOA Director’s Cut.  The collection contains a Blu-ray disc featuring the hour-long behind the scenes documentary on the making of the extended director’s cut of ROCKY IV, Sylvester Stallone’s commentary on ROCKY BALBOA along with an alternate ending, deleted scenes and four behind the scenes featurettes from the film. The disc also includes a selection of previously released special features. In addition, ROCKY V and ROCKY BALBOA will be available individually in steelbook packaging. 

😺THE LAST STOP IN YUMA COUNTY on Blu-ray July 16 from Well Go USA.

This is the impressive debut feature film by writer/director Francis Galluppi, who has been tapped to write and direct the next Evil Dead movie, and makes its Blu-ray debut July 16 from Well Go USA Entertainment. While stranded at a rural Arizona rest stop, a traveling salesman is thrust into a dire hostage situation by the arrival of two bank robbers with no qualms about using cruelty—or cold, hard steel—to protect their bloodstained fortune. THE LAST STOP IN YUMA COUNTY stars Jim Cummings (Halloween Kills), Jocelin Donahue (Insidious: Chapter 2), Sierra McCormick (The Nana Project), Nicholas Logan (“Dopesick”), Michael Abbott Jr. (Killers of the Flower Moon), Connor Paolo (A Creature was Stirring), Alexandra Essoe (The Pope’s Exorcist), Robin Bartlett (“Playing For Time”), Jon Proudstar (Young Guns II), and Sam Huntington (Seven Stages to Achieve Eternal Bliss). Bonus materials include a Making-of featurette and three commentary tracks.

THE GODFATHER, PART II and the Big Mistake

THE GODFATHER, PART II (1974)

Starring Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Robert De Niro, Diane Kearon, John Cazale, Lee Strasberg, Michael V. Gazzo, Talia Shire, G.D. Spradlin, Bruno Kirby, Richard Bright, Morgana King, James Caan. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola. (202 min).

A Suggestion by D.M. ANDERSON💀

Geroge Lucas has historically gotten a lot of flack for revisiting his movies and tinkering with them, the original Star Wars trilogy in particular. He’s reedited them, restored deleted scenes, added new ones, updated special effects and even replaced old actors’ faces with new ones. 

Word has it that he’s even planning to create a ‘Special Edition’ of his wedding videos, de-aging himself, removing Hayden Christensen from the reception footage (he was pretty drunk) and replacing his wife with images of Dana Delany from Exit to Eden. But try as he might, the retooled wedding night footage probably won’t stop inevitable “George Shot First” comments.

However, ol’ George has nothing on his mentor, Francis Ford Coppola. Over the years, the legendary director has gone back and recut most of his movies…even if they didn’t necessarily need to be. He did it twice with Apocalypse Now, first by adding almost an hour of new footage and releasing it as Apocalypse Now Redux. 20 years later, he re-edited the damn thing yet again, now rechristened Apocalypse Now Final Cut.

He also retooled The Godfather Part III as The Godfather CODA: The Death of Michael Corleone, attempted to make The Cotton Club more interesting with The Cotton Club Encore and expanded The Outsiders as The Outsiders: The Complete Novel. More recently, Coppola tried to rescue his most notorious flop, One from the Heart, with One from the Heart: Reprise and even took a shot at making the experimental dumpster fire, Twixt, at-least watchable with B’Twixt Now and Sunrise (whatever the fuck that means).

Francis Ford Coppola...directing another rough draft.

Whether or not Coppola succeeded in improving these films is an argument best saved for another day. But considering he’s not exactly the most prolific director on Earth - and not getting any younger - maybe all that time in the editing room could have been better spent making new movies (or at least completely removing Keanu Reeves from Dracula).

Coppola has (so far) left The Godfather and The Godfather Part II more-or-less alone. I don’t count the times the entire saga was re-edited (more than once) into a single massive marathon (The Godfather 1901-1980) because it was never intended as anything more than an interesting way to watch events unfold chronologically. The original versions are still widely considered definitive…even by him.

Though the first two films are among the greatest ever made, there’s still a little room for improvement, The Godfather Part II, in particular. Not that it isn't already a masterpiece, expanding on The Godfather’s story and themes while elevating the entire saga to a Shakespearean tragedy. But to elaborate...

Without recapping the entire story of the world’s most famous mafia family (which most are probably familiar with anyway), a large part of the original Godfather focuses on young Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) avenging the attempted assassination of his father, Don Vito (Marlon Brando). He kills the man who gave the order, Sollozzo (Al Lettieri), and corrupt police captain McCluskey (Sterling Hayden), which triggers an all-out mob war. Michael goes into exile in Sicily, where he meets and marries young local girl Apollonia (Simonetta Stefanelli). Later, when enemies discover where he’s hiding, one of his bodyguards, Fabrizio (Angelo Infanti), betrays him by planting a bomb in his car. Instead, it kills Apollonia.

Fabrizio escapes, never to be seen again…though that wasn’t always the case…

Fabrizio...destined to be a bonus feature.

In The Godfather Part II, Michael has since become the Don, far more ambitious and powerful than his father ever was. Like Dad, he’s calculating, ruthless and coldly vindictive, with no qualms over ordering the deaths of enemies or those who’ve betrayed him, no matter how close or how long it takes (as when he kills his own brother, which lays the groundwork for themes of guilt and redemption explored in The Godfather Part III). 

However, the greatest example of Michael’s quest for total vengeance was actually left on the cutting room floor…

There’s a deleted scene that features Fabrizio, now much older and operating a pizza joint in America. Running a little over a minute, there’s no dialogue...just Fabrizio closing the restaurant and getting into his car, which explodes when he starts it. It’s an isolated scene that has no impact on Part II’s story, which simply continues afterward. If you hadn’t seen the first film, you wouldn’t even know who the hell this guy is. 

Fabrizio burns another pizza.

This scene was restored in some of the re-edited versions which presented the entire saga chronologically, but has never been included in the original cut. For the most part, the scene just exists as a DVD bonus feature, which is a damn shame. Presumably, it was originally removed because it fails to advance the story and disrupts the overall narrative flow. But I think cutting the scene was a mistake because it masterfully reminds us of just how deep Michael’s vindictiveness really goes…he doesn’t forgive and sure as hell doesn’t forget. Fabrizio was no longer even a threat, yet Michael’s meticulous nature simply won’t let him live. 

Additionally, it nicely parallels a flashback sequence where young Vito Corleone (Robert De Niro) returns to Sicily, decades after immigrating to America as a boy, just to murder the sickly old Don who shot his mother. Retaining Fabrizio’s death in the film would certainly reflect Michael’s similar belief that there’s no statute of limitations on payback.

As Michael himself transforms into the film’s true antagonist, this scene also provides one of the last times we can actually relate to him. “Way to go, Michael! You finally got that two-faced, wife-killing son of a bitch! Who cares if the only remaining threat he posed was putting pineapple on your pizza!” Keeping that scene would have been a genuinely audience-rousing moment. 

As is, The Godfather and The Godfather Part II remain one of the greatest one-two punches in American movie history. Maybe Coppola himself agrees because he has yet to mess around with either of them. But I would implore him to at-least restore Fabrizio’s fiery demise back into Part II, which makes a hell of a lot more narrative sense than extending Apocalypse Now to an unbearable length by adding 40 minutes of Captain Willard visiting a French plantation…a decision I still don’t understand.

PRISON WALLS: ABASHIRI PRISON I-III: The Biggest Franchise You Probably Never Heard Of

PRISON WALLS: ABASHIRI PRISON I-III (Blu-ray)

1965 / 270 min (3 movies)

FROM EUREKA ENTERTAINMENT

Review by Mr. Paws😺

The next time someone gripes about the number of Fast & Furious movies Hollywood cranks out, lay this little tidbit on them: There are 18 movies in Japan’s Abashi Prison franchise. Not only that, they were all produced within a seven year timespan. This new Blu-ray set collects the first three, all released in 1965.

For the record, Abashiri prison is real, built in the 1800s. While this franchise may have indeed been inspired by it, only one of these three films actually takes place there. In Abashiri Prison, Shinichi Tachibana (the great Ken Takakura) is a yakuza serving a three year sentence. He’s a model prisoner, which prompts the sympathetic warden (Tersurô Tanba) to support his parole. However, during a prison break instigated by a group of tough gangsters, Tachibana is shackled to one of the escapees and is forced to flee along with them. After a slow start - and numerous flashbacks of Tachibana’s troubled youth - the narrative turns into an exciting chase, culminating in an emotionally affecting climax and resolution.

In Abashiri Prison Continues, Tachibana has been recently released from prison with plans to go straight, which proves difficult when a cache of stolen diamonds comes into his possession. Teaming up with flirty pickpocket (Michiko Saga), he’s pursued by the gang who committed the robbery in the first place, led by the yakuza boss he did time with (Tôru Abe). This one lacks the emotional intensity of the first film. It’s much lighter in tone, with comedic elements that feel kind of intrusive, but the story is pretty good and Tachibana’s growing empathy for others is engaging.

Never bring a chair to a swordfight.

The last film, Abashiri Prison: Saga of Homesickness, has Tachibana returning to his hometown, where he once worked for the Asahi yakuza gang. Times have changed, though. His former boss has turned the Asahi into a legitimate family business. But after a rival yakuza gang comes in and tries to take over, Tachibana feels obligated to step in and set things right. An overall better film than the last sequel, this one depicts Tachibana as a true defender of the downtrodden, - not just his old boss - becoming increasingly likable in the process. 

Ken Takakura would go on to do four more sequels after this. I don’t know if any of them ever actually return to the prison of their namesake, or if the law of diminishing returns resulted in significant drops in quality. But for the most part, the three films in this collection are pretty entertaining and Takakura is excellent in all of them. 

EXTRA KIBBLES

NOTE: Free Kittens Movie Guide was provided with a promo disc for review purposes. Physical supplemental material included with the final product (booklets, artwork, inserts, etc) were not available for review.

TONY RAYNS ON ABASHIRI PRISON - Interview with critic Tony Rayns, who talks extensively about the franchise.

VIDEO APPRECIATION - By Jasper Sharp & Mark Schilling.

AUDIO COMMENTARIES FOR EACH FILM - By Tom Mes, Chris Poggliali, Mike Leeder & Arne Venema.

TRAILERS

SUPPLEMENTAL BOOKLET (not reviewed)