How does it stack up to its predecessor? Well, let's see.
DAMIEN: OMEN II (1978)
Blogtober Qualifications: The Antichrist, the Book of Revelation, bifurcation, questionable acting
*Spoiler warning for The Omen (1976)*
Damien Thorn (Jonathan Scott-Taylor) is the son of Satan. Or, at least, that's what his father (and a few others) thought. But they're all dead now, so that's good.
For the seven years since the events of the first movie, Damien has been living with his uncle Richard (William Holden), aunt Ann (Lee Grant), and cousin Mark (Lucas Donat). Damien is happy in his life, but it can't last forever.
Agents of Hell begin to make themselves known to him, in the hopes of helping him on his way. At the same time, a few less evil people have begun to notice the similarities between Damien and the warnings cast down in the Book of Revelation. But it has to be asked: if Damien accepts the destiny put before him, can anything stand in his way?
So just before we get started here, I'm gonna go ahead and say that this will be a shorter review. The main reason is that I just don't have a lot to say about the movie. I watched the movie, obviously, and I'm pretty sure I enjoyed it, more or less. But it's mostly just kind of there.
The main actors do a decent job. Damien's actor was about sixteen, playing a twelve-year-old. He does a a good job, at least as long as he's being asked to stare at things and react neutrally. When he's asked to emote, however, it kind of falls flat.
Damien's uncle Richard is fine, his aunt Ann is fine, and his cousin Mark is sub-par. Luckily he's not featured much.
Lance Henriksen is back with us, as the new commanding officer at Damien's military academy. This won't be the last time we see him this year (hint hint), and he does fine in his role, but again, he doesn't have much to do.
This is, I feel, one of the main problems: there are too many side characters. These side characters tend to have some pretty spotty acting, and they mostly just exist to be killed off. I'm not sure what you could do to fix it, but there it is.
Speaking of characters being killed, boy is there a lot of that in this movie. It happens more than once that a new character is introduced, discovers something creepy about Damien, then they die a couple scenes later. And the deaths themselves, while somewhat enjoyable, become more and more ridiculous as the movie goes on. They should've called this movie Final Destination '78.
Actually, that would kind of make sense. It's vaguely implied, or at least I suspected, that Lance Henriksen's character is the horseman War. By that same token, I got the feeling that Damien's uncle's business partner Paul (Robert Foxworth) was meant to be Famine. So it makes perfect sense that Death would be here too. Maybe it's Pestilence's fault no one can act.
So, all in all, Damien: Omen II is fine. It never even comes close to the suspense created in the original, but it's not a bad way to spend a couple hours.
Before I go, I just want to say this. A lot of very compelling evidence is given attempting to prove that Damien is the Antichrist, including his face being on an ancient wall painting depicting the Antichrist. But, in my mind, the most obvious hint is this:
See? He is clearly taking a selfie with a smartphone. In 1978. Now tell me he isn't the son of Satan.
Tomorrow we take a look at a CG movie set in the universe of what may be the most well-known horror video game series in the world. It features one of my absolute favorite characters in all of fiction, so I'm pretty hyped.
Until next time!
Current interests:
Listening - Les Miserables: 10th Anniversary Concert (1996)
Playing - Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle (2017)
Reading - B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth: The Exorcist (2016)
Watching - Thunderbirds Are Go! (2015)
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