HDTV Movie Premieres: October 30-November 5

The Omen: TV3, 8.30pm Saturday.

This cut-and-paste re-make of the 1976 demonic blockbuster looks as if it was assembled with pinking shears. Made in haste to meets its worldwide 666 release date — the sixth day of the sixth month of 2006 – it ploddingly follows the original but with none of the finesse or frights that made director Richard Donner’s reputation, possibly because the production was cursed (albeit less by the devil it seems than studio politics). John Moore (Flight of the Phoenix) directs Julia Stiles, Liev Schreiber and Mia Farrow. (2006)

Scary Movie 3: Sky Movies Greats, 8.30pm Saturday.

This gag-cum-gaspfest franchise graduates from skewering teenage slasher drivel to higher-concept creepshows like The Sixth Sense, Signs and The Matrix. There’s also a change in director, with David Zucker taking over from Keenan Ivory Wayans. Zucker pioneered the spoof genre that Scary Movie emulates and, as the New York Times observed, “still has the eye, ear and metabolism of a hyperactive child weaned entirely on candy bars and educated by Mad Magazine.” (2003)

Surrogates: Sky Movies, 8.30pm Sunday.

This big-budget sci-fi thriller from the director of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Jonathan Mostow, shows there’s no substitute for good writing. The idea behind Surrogates, which is set in a future where avatar-like robots do the work of the humans who control them from the safety of their homes, is inspired but the bland execution never capitalises on its possibilities while the special effects are surprisingly underwhelming. Bruce Willis, Radha Mitchell and Rosamund Pike star. (2009)

Eagle Eye: TV3, 8.30pm Monday.

You don’t have to be eagle-eyed to spot the improbabilities of this ludicrous but entertaining hi-tech Hitchcockian thriller about Big Brother gone beserk. After the Rear Window-ish suspense of Disturbia, Shia LaBeouf reunites with director DJ Caruso to go the North by Northwest route as the patsy in an ingeniously engineered surveillance conspiracy that relentlessly stalks him cross-country. To reveal more would spoil a plot that is so well executed its silliness is tolerated for the tension and excitement it generates. (2008)

Hellboy: Sky Movies Greats, 8.30pm Tuesday.

Sons of Anarchy’s Ron Perlman is a beauty of a beast in the monster role he had to wait seven years to play. That’s how long it took director Guillermo Del Toro to mount this extravagant adaptation of the paranormal comic books by Mike Mignola. Del Toro was drawn to Hellboy because it mixed so many genres, from superhero to Gothic, from action-adventure to drama, from humour to heartache. The result combines Nazis, the feds, demonic forces and unrequited love with out-of-this world special effects and stunts. (2004)

Cheri: Sky Movies, 8.30pm Wednesday.

The young son of a courtesan in 1920s Paris is forced to end his scandalous relationship with an older woman after his mother arranges a marriage for him. “Like a passable bottle of champagne, Cheri fizzes and slides down quite easily,” Variety said, “but lacks real body and doesn’t really hit the spot.” Stephen Frears directs Michelle Pfeiffer, Rupert Friend and Kathy Bates; the screenplay is by Christopher Hampton, who collaborated with Frears and Pfeiffer on Dangerous Liaisons. (2009)

The Fast and the Furious: Sky Movies Greats, 8.30pm Friday.

This thriller trash with dash, about an undercover cop (Paul Walker) who infiltrates a carjacking ring, kick-started a franchise that’s still going flat out. So stunning is the high-definition horsepower that it should keep more than just boy racers off the streets. As the Chicago Tribune quipped: “There’s some undeniable appeal to watching a well-oiled, built-for-speed machine operating with its pedal to the metal.” Vin Diesel and Michelle Rodriguez co-star. (2001)