“Damien” is a supernatural thriller. You know that about the A&E series premiering today because of the music — lots of dark, spooky, portentous music, heavy on bass notes and cellos.

Created by Glen Mazzara, “Damien: The Beast Rises” is a belated sequel to the classic 1976 horror film “The Omen,” which starred Lee Remick and Gregory Peck as a couple who adopt a strange child who is just a little devil. Literally, as they say.

Directed by Richard Donner, the film (which spawned several sequels) capitalized on the always-fertile lethal-child trope, which worked so effectively in films like “The Bad Seed” and the “Children of the Corn” franchise.

In “Damien,” the devil child has grown up to become a war photographer with washboard abs named Damien Thorne (Bradley James). Never mind that if he was the same Damien from “The Omen,” he’d be about 50 today: We can make the leap in logic, no thanks to embedded flashbacks to Peck and Remick in the old film.

While on assignment in Syria, Damien encounters an old woman who grabs him by the shoulders and declares, “I have always loved you, Damien,” then babbles a Latinate phrase before getting beaned by a brick.

Well, that was weird.

But more weirdness thisaway comes when Damien returns to the States and all kinds of horrific things happen around him. He’s either the Joe Btfsplk of the photography world or something demonic. Actually, he often mentions that he has a cloud over his head, so maybe the writers really were inspired by Al Capp.

What is certain is that Damien Thorne is not someone you want to hang out with if you value your existence.

Just ask his girlfriend, Kelly (Tiffany Hines), who takes him to consult a wizened professor to learn about ancient prophecies and scripture foretelling the rise of the Beast on earth.

“Many expect the Beast to come from the world of politics,” the prof intones.

Feel free to insert your own punchline here.

How about: “I am the Lord of Darkness, and I approve this message”?

Later, Teach becomes human kibble for a trio of hellhounds. Then Kelly gets sucked into quicksand in the middle of New York City, prompting a new level of desperation in Damien, as well as a certain vulnerability that makes it harder for him to figure out who’s really on his side and who isn’t. He meets a strange woman named Ann Rutledge (Barbara Hershey), who seems to know everything about his life and says she wants to protect him.

“That dark cloud that’s been following you, you can’t let it in,” she warns.

But what is Rutledge’s true purpose? Is she really there to protect Damien, or does she have other plans for him? Damien can’t be sure of anyone or anything anymore, and, it turns out, with good reason.

The show has potential on paper, but it squanders too many ripe moments with ham-fisted writing and direction. And, of course, that ominous music, accompanying even the most mundane moments, of which there are plenty. At one point, a cop drops coins into a vending machine, in slow motion, while warning Damien he’d better watch his step. The camera cuts to the bag of chips, slowly moving forward as its coiled metallic holder rotates. Then the bag tumbles downward. The music swells. My eyes roll.

Are we supposed to believe that the devil is in the saturated fat or something? Well, maybe if Michael Pollan had written the scene.

James is appealing in the leading role, although he is only partially successful in making some of the dialogue howlers believable. Rutledge is the magnetically mysterious center of the series not only because of Hershey’s star presence but also because of the way she delivers many of her lines through smiling, clenched teeth, as if her jaw has been wired shut. No matter — she’s Barbara Hershey and, like Jamie Lee Curtis in “Scream Queens,” lends the wobbly project much-needed stability.

Bad writing, funny direction, deafening music — in the end, none of it is enough to kill the “Beast.” It does rise, although not to the potential of its concept.