H22 #21: Omen III: The Final Conflict

The concluding chapter to the Omen trilogy is built on the tantalizing premise of Damien becoming a nefarious player in world politics. There's potential for an epic story here but the film gets bogged down in the complexities of a half-baked plot involving a team of Italian assassins, astronomical predictions, prophecy, and many other narrative dead ends. 

A young Sam Neill takes on the role of Damian, a wealthy industrialist and youth influencer with an eye on politics. Neill plays Damien as smooth and charming, even a bit dull at times. Fully intent on a master plan for world domination, he's developed a secret following of people willing to carry out his diabolical designs. The how or why of this movement is never really explained. It was interesting how he fashioned his message to young people, fancying himself as an anti-establishment rebel like some wealthy white men today. 

The crux of the plot hinges on Damien's obsession with the second coming of Christ which he believes will happen on March 24. He orders all babies born on that day be killed by his followers in a disturbing sequence. The climax involves a scene one might imagine in apocalyptic books like the Left Behind series. Christian eschatology barely interests me except for research purposes, but millions still believe it.

Despite the myriad inconsistencies of the script*, The Final Conflict does sustain a grim early '80s atmosphere, effectively using locations throughout England and achieves some frightening moments. It's never clear if the film wants to be a political or supernatural thriller. A planned sequel entitled Armageddon was never made. If there were a part of the Omen saga ripe for a remake, following Damien as an adult in the 21st Century would have great potential, especially when considering the current state of world politics.

*The film is set in the 1980s, even though the previous films were clearly set in the 1970s when Damien was a child, so technically the film should've been set around the year 2000.

H22 #20: Damien: Omen II (1978)

In some ways Damien: Omen II is a smarter and scarier film than The Omen, but it does lack the directorial panache Richard Donner brought to the first chapter. Mike Hodges, the original director of Damien, was fired a month into filming by the producers and replaced by Don Taylor, a journeymen known for getting projects done on time. Despite the production issues there's a number of memorable set pieces and some good performances.

William Holden stars, playing the brother to Gregory Peck from the original film, as industrialist who took in Damien, now a teenager. Jonathan Scott-Taylor took on the role as Damien and managed to be both sinister and sympathetic. When he learns the truth about himself he initially reacts with horror but quickly comes to embrace his evil self. Other members of the cast include Lee Grant, Sylvia Sydney, Lance Henriksen, Allan Arbus, and Meshach Taylor.

The script for Omen II brought a sense of international intrigue with a plot involving archaeology and multi-national corporations. Part of the story is also set at a military academy, a setting many films used around this time, where Damien is being prepared for his future with the help of the Satanist commander played by Henriksen. In a favorite moment Damien gets into a historical trivia battle with his teacher. A vivid sense of fatalism and quiet terror pervades the film.

The "death by design" sequences reminded me of the underrated Final Destination films, as most of them involve freak mechanical accidents (also an ice rink and a crow.) Wintry and wicked in its logic, I remember this one frightening me as a kid, surprisingly underrated on re-watch. 

H22 #19: The Omen (1976)

 According to Wikipedia, The Omen sprung from a discussion among producers about the anti-Christ, one of whom was a born again evangelical. Mainstream religion in the 1970s was getting a little whacky (suddenly priests find a new purpose in the horror genre), and The Omen fits the era like a glove (and may also account for why the 2006 Bush era remake was a dud).

The Omen was written as a popcorn movie, a summer blockbuster for the Bicentennial year (it was the 7th highest grossing film.) It was also part of the cycle of movies on prophecy and the nature of evil that began with Rosemary's Baby in 1968 and continues on into the 21st Century. The '70s marked a middle ground between secularized religious fables leaning into some exploitative elements and the more earnest (unintentionally funny) religious made for the "faith based" crowd in the 2000s.

Watching The Omen in 2022, it plays as camp, a heightened version of a civilization in decline as the aristocracy finds itself infiltrated by Satan's acolytes. From an aging Gregory Peck slowly realizing he's a pawn in a plot far more consequential than Watergate to poor Lee Remick being terrorized at every turn (the film is especially harsh on women) family, kids, marriage, picket fences all looks like one bad trip. David Warner, who looks like he just came from a photo shoot with Led Zeppelin, labors hours in his darkroom connecting the dots of a vast satanic conspiracy! The animal kingdom also gets into the act with packs of jackals, baboons, and viscous guard dogs turning in some wild performances - no doubt a busy set for the wranglers!

Richard Donner's only horror film to my knowledge, excluding his vast catalog of TV work, used all the right influences from Hammer films, Giallos (the kills), and a touch of The Exorcist. I bet Donner and his editor Stuart Baird had a ton of fun editing these sequences. Whenever a mainstream director takes on horror it way too middle of the road, so I like how Donner really went for it and insisted viewers debate whether the kid Damian was really behind all the killings.

Jerry Goldsmith's score is delightfully over the top, a parody of sorts. 

I suppose Satan themed movies were entering a Baroque phase by 1976 and The Omen offers all that and more. Tell me what other movie you get to see Gregory Peck and David Warner wander through a graveyard digging graves and getting attacked by jackals?