Sober-Friend
"Damien Omen II" should of been in reality the third film in the "Omen Series". The producers for some reason decided to age up Damien which proved problematic for this film.David Seltzer, who wrote the first film's screenplay, was asked by the producers to write the second. Seltzer refused as he had no interest in writing sequels. Years later, Seltzer commented that had he written the story for the second Omen, he would have set it the day after the first movie, with Damien a child living in The White House. With Seltzer turning down Omen II, producer Harvey Bernhard duly outlined the story himself, and Stanley Mann was hired to write the screenplay.This film is a little slow. The original director (Mike Hodge) was replaced. Now how much material that he shot that ended up in the final film is unknown to me. This film main problem is that there is almost no element of surprise discovery for the audience. The death scenes however are still effective (Even to this day) and it does scare you but not as much as the original did. The film is worth watching because the film is has Adult Actors that know how to act.
Modern Monsters
After a popular The Omen featured a spooky child and some memorable death scenes, including the possibly best decapitation ever filmed, a captivated audience wanted to know what kind of a teenager Damien, now an orphan, would become. The answer was not the one they expected: the Devil's son had become KD Lang. With Dumbo ears.The beginning, a cartoonish jeep ride hysterically scored by a Jerry Goldsmith searching for the face of Jesus and manically played by an Ernest Hemingway wannabe, sets the tone for the rest of the movie. A priceless statue of the Whore of Babylon is discovered in some architectural digging site, along with a fresco depicting Damien, conveniently painted at the age he is now. The archaeologists are promptly dispatched and we can meet the Beast.Damien (KD Lang), now living in his uncle's (William Holden) estate, is quite the rascal, and a douche. Aunt Marion (Sylvia Sidney) dislikes him and wants him separated from his cousin Mike. This causes a feud at the diner table, after which it's time for The Super Duper Whore of Babylon Slide Show, during which the evil eye of a raven stops Aunt Marion's heart in her upstairs room.Uncle Richard is president of Thorne Industries, a vague yet powerful conglomerate which apparently owns an agricultural compound in New York City. The firm's new executive director wants to rule the world through seeds, which confirms than Monsanto IS the devil. This is established after another ridiculous ride, this one on a golf cart. So we have the demon, we have seed, let's spawn!Enter Joan Hart (Elizabeth Shepherd), in flamboyant scarlet red, and one gasps. The "young woman" announced during the slide show must be well in her forties. She's a good looking lady, but calling her a "young woman" is pushing the envelope a bit, underlining how geriatric the cast mostly is. The lady in red cranks hysteria up to 11 as soon as she appears, yelling "You are in danger!" to Uncle Richard. But she is unable to be more specific. She goes to Damien's football practice (hey, why not?), recognizes the face of Evil and flies to her prompt demise, a ludicrous raven attack during which Jerry Goldsmith, all barrels blazing, manages to over-score himself.One would thinks that after such a blast we would all have a moment. No such luck. Let's go jet-ski and have a snowball fight turned epic battle by Jerry in a trance! This is Damien's birthday, see, and no expense has been spared. There is the most hideous cake ever, a Polaroid with flash and even a firework which everyone watches in awe, sporting brightly coloured Aran sweaters. "Suspicion of destiny. We all have them", sagaciously observes one of the evil guys. The Thorne residence is full of random woodwork, delirious curtain arrangements and atrocious antiques. The most hideous family room ever doubles as a movie theater.People on the East Coast do love their sports; it's now time for an ice hockey match on the estate's frozen lake. Another good guy, who is clearly too old for this kind of activity, drowns when the ice breaks. Uncle Richard is devastated, his very bright yellow cap somehow undermining his grief.Back to military school, Damien is even more a douche then before. His sargeant (Lance Henriksen, always a good sign), wisely advise him to read the Book of Revelations to understand who he is. True to its name, the read, a bit like a user manual, allows Damien to locate the exact spot where the number of the Beast is tattooed on the skin of his skull. Accompanied by the 666 horns of The Goldsmith Fanfare, Damien runs through the woods, to the end of a pontoon where he screams "WHY ME???" to the dark heaven. Oh God. Why, indeed?A school visit is ludicrously set to take place during a very delicate checking process at the Thorne plant, now a chemical facility. Toxic compounds are released, killing another good guy. Damien has not been affected by the leak and a doctor runs some tests to understand why. His lab is for some reason full of bubbling red alembics you would expect in a witch lair, but not in a modern research facility.After discovering Damien has jackal blood (what, not hooves?), the good doctor is offed in an attempt to equal the surprise decapitation of the first movie. No raven this time, only the filmed evidence that the butter- cutting wire is a demonic invention.Uncle Richard starts having his doubts about Damien. Well, it only took him five violent deaths in his immediate entourage to get there. He nevertheless remains in denial when the curator of the Met brings him a letter of Revelations and a box. What's in the box? What's in the box? WHAT'S IN THE BOX?!?!? The Megiddo daggers, the only weapons able to destroy Damien. These, as the Whore of Babylon statue, will remain loose ends.Cousin Mike (remember him?) is troubled. He follows Damien out in the snow, where he has his head telepathically crushed. A huge funeral ensues, with mountains of flowers, a motorcade and more Goldsmith that it is humanly possible to endure.The Met curator is killed by nothing less than a locomotive, in true Final Destination fashion. A incongruous boogie-woogie cotillion happens for Graduation Day. Uncle Richard unsuccessfully attempts to kill Damien and is shot by his wife, screaming "DAAAAAAMIEEEEEN!"Should one mentions that the end credits roll on a bombastic "Ave Satani Versus Jesus" choir? Jerry, calm down. There is still one movie to be scored. There is no card indicating how many horn players were harmed during the recording of the soundtrack.
Leofwine_draca
Well, after the worldwide success of THE OMEN, a sequel was rather inevitable, wasn't it? The producers of this decided to take no chances by virtually repeating the formula of the first film, basically having a loose plot interspersed with many grisly death scenes. Things kick off promisingly with a returning Leo McKern uncovering a mural on a wall in a spooky archaeological dig in Israel - along with a statue of the Whore of Babylon, there rests Damien's face as the Antichrist. Along with a bemused (and incidentally uncredited) Ian Hendry, the old man is buried along by tons of sand and his skeleton only discovered seven years later.After that, we are introduced to a whole load of new characters who basically take the place of people in the previous film. William Holden and Lee Grant are the new parents; plus a whole load of other characters whose only inclusion seems to have been to seemingly involve as many deaths as possible. What this film lacks is creativity - whereas in the original we have nice little touches like when David Warner discovered the black marks on the photographs - here, it's virtually a barren desert of ideas. Instead, the film is weighed down by a whole load of mumbo-jumbo and many superfluous characters who bear little relation to the plot. Many minor folks are simply required to run around and warn of death and destruction before getting killed. This is a formula which repeats itself throughout the film's lengthy running time and eventually becomes tiring.Still, Jonathan Scott-Taylor invests his evil little kid with a whole lot of menace, from brooding glares to sudden bursts of activity. Taylor enjoys many scenes he is given - such as the power game between himself and a history teacher. I also like the scene where he discovers who he is, and questions his role tearfully; "why me?!" he screams. This scene seems to ask for a little sympathy for the character, although this is immediately evaporated after he begins to kill off all those who dare know his secret in violent and cruel ways.William Holden lends a touch of class as the father figure; unfortunately, though, his role is ultimately identical to that of Gregory Peck (both fathers take an incredible amount of time to discover the true identity of their son, and both act too late). I found Lee Grant to be very shrill and annoying as Damien's mother, she is a superficial character whose role is to provide a sudden twist at the end. Along the way there are loads of familiar and respected actors and actresses to give much-needed credibility to the proceedings, as well as a disappointing turn from a young Lance Henriksen whose role is to...well, do nothing as it happens.Gore fans will be happy with the various killings on offer here, the deaths are where all the creativeness lies. People are poisoned by toxic fumes and turn blue, have their eyes pecked out by crows (queasy scene here), crushed by trucks and trains, or just simply collapse and die. In the film's "highlights", an ice hockey player is swept along UNDER the ice and an unlucky doctor dies a graphic death in a lift - cut in half by a falling cable. If you've ever watched DAY OF THE DEAD then you'll have some idea of what to expect. When I first watched this film - when I was an easily-impressed 15 years of age - I thought this film was a masterpiece. Now I'm not so sure. The fat running time means that a lot of scenes are unnecessary and ultimately boring. Worth catching once if you liked the first one, but not a film that stands up to repeat viewing.
