By AJ Brookes

Bookvault, out now

An unofficial guide to The Omen universe.

The TL:DR version of this review is simple – if you have an interest in The Omen universe (whether it’s as a fan of the original trilogy, the remake, or the Damien TV series), you need a copy of this book. Even for someone very well steeped in the lore, there’s plenty still to learn.

Having written a number of such volumes, from The Bond Files onwards, I am all too well aware of the pitfalls inherent in pulling together something that tries to cover everything about a subject – unofficially. Brookes navigates these obstacles very well – there’s no way the text can ever be described as dry (although American fans may need to Google a few of the Britishisms used at times), and there are various highly subjective lists of bests and worsts nicely scattered throughout.

The core areas are the sections on the six movies – The Omen gets a double entry – with the less well-known TV movie Omen IV: The Awakening getting a good amount of space. We learn of their genesis, looking at the various different parts of the filming, and then Brookes goes through them pretty much scene by scene, with useful commentaries on each. The huge benefit of not being official is that when it’s… less than optimal, Brookes can say it’s crap; issues across the franchise, such as the constantly changing timeframe, are analysed as we go.

The other additions to the mythos aren’t ignored: there’s a very good section on the fourth and fifth novels (and I echo his opinion that these are well worth seeking out). There’s also a portion on the Omen TV pilot. Which has nothing to do with Damien, the Thorns or indeed pretty much anything. There’s a much bigger section on Glen Mazzara’s sadly curtailed Damien TV series (about which you can find out quite a bit more here on SFB) as well as an episode guide as an appendix.

Want to know about the purported curse? Or how it felt to be a gorilla in the 2006 movie? Brookes has you covered for these too, and there’s an extended section of interviews on The First Omen – and a nice theory that covers some, but by no means all, of the discrepancies between that and… pretty much everything else in the canon.

There are some terrific new illustrations by Pete Wallbank (which is how I heard of the book in the first place) and I regret not getting the full colour version now – a black and white edition is a few quid cheaper via Amazon but I’d recommend going for the full size!

Verdict: It’s All For Us! Highly recommended. 10/10

Paul Simpson