OMEN IV: THE AWAKENING

The other day, I walked into my apartment to a rancid odor. Guessing that a moose had not died and rapidly decomposed under my bed, I surmised that the terrible stench came from my kitchen garbage. Earlier in the week, I had cooked something, I don’t even remember what, and the cooking scraps I’d tossed out had begun to work their dark magic. Immediately, I took out the trash and lit a vanilla scented candle. As I left my kitchen, I looked at my DVD rack and instantly associated this foulness with Omen IV: The Awakening.

The first Omen movie is a classic, and the other two entries in the trilogy are classy, respectable additions to the genre. I equated these films with the meal I’d cooked earlier in the week; after all, even if I couldn’t remember what I’d prepared, I know I’m one Hell of a chef. Omen IV, however, is a putrid abortion, which leaves a stink upon the series that threatens to erase the tasteful memories of the first three films, and is best placed in the garbage, which should be removed from the house immediately thereafter.

A quick history: having recently launched its own television network in 1990, Fox Studios, the company responsible for such high end fare such as Cops and Married with Children, was searching for new programming. Forgoing any concept of fresh ideas, Fox decided to revive some of its older movies and convert them to two hour television movies (Give the studio credit; Fox was enamored with lack of creativity long before all the studios caught on with the current remake craze). The first of these was to be a new Omen flick, also to be one of the most incompetently made films I’ve ever witnessed.

A quick plot synopsis: the Omen with a girl. A girl whose acting technique is to look really bored. The plot is note for note exactly the same, but gone terribly wrong. It’s as if the Sistine Chapel were repainted in the local church by a 3 year old, and the Roman Catholic Church sponsored the painting. I could go into how atrocious everything across the board is in this film, but it’s better to use one example that sums the mess up: as a private eye passes a choir on the street, they transform into hideous demons who chant the Latin chorus from The Omen. Jerry Goldsmith should have been rolling in his grave over this, and he hadn’t even died at that point. Fox obviously didn’t give a damn about their fans, but worse, they didn’t give a damn about the Omen’s legacy either.

They didn’t give a damn enough to put any extras besides trailers on this disc. Trust me. You wouldn’t watch extras if they were there.

Long before Omen IV reaches its twist ending, you’ll have shut it off to save yourself from the stench of this misguided example of How a Horror Franchise Goes Hideously Wrong. But then, if you’re reading this review, hopefully you’ll avoid the film. After all, I wouldn’t want you to spend your money on trash.

--Phil FassoOMEN IV: THE AWAKENING

The other day, I walked into my apartment to a rancid odor. Guessing that a moose had not died and rapidly decomposed under my bed, I surmised that the terrible stench came from my kitchen garbage. Earlier in the week, I had cooked something, I don’t even remember what, and the cooking scraps I’d tossed out had begun to work their dark magic. Immediately, I took out the trash and lit a vanilla scented candle. As I left my kitchen, I looked at my DVD rack and instantly associated this foulness with Omen IV: The Awakening.

The first Omen movie is a classic, and the other two entries in the trilogy are classy, respectable additions to the genre. I equated these films with the meal I’d cooked earlier in the week; after all, even if I couldn’t remember what I’d prepared, I know I’m one Hell of a chef. Omen IV, however, is a putrid abortion, which leaves a stink upon the series that threatens to erase the tasteful memories of the first three films, and is best placed in the garbage, which should be removed from the house immediately thereafter.

A quick history: having recently launched its own television network in 1990, Fox Studios, the company responsible for such high end fare such as Cops and Married with Children, was searching for new programming. Forgoing any concept of fresh ideas, Fox decided to revive some of its older movies and convert them to two hour television movies (Give the studio credit; Fox was enamored with lack of creativity long before all the studios caught on with the current remake craze). The first of these was to be a new Omen flick, also to be one of the most incompetently made films I’ve ever witnessed.

A quick plot synopsis: the Omen with a girl. A girl whose acting technique is to look really bored. The plot is note for note exactly the same, but gone terribly wrong. It’s as if the Sistine Chapel were repainted in the local church by a 3 year old, and the Roman Catholic Church sponsored the painting. I could go into how atrocious everything across the board is in this film, but it’s better to use one example that sums the mess up: as a private eye passes a choir on the street, they transform into hideous demons who chant the Latin chorus from The Omen. Jerry Goldsmith should have been rolling in his grave over this, and he hadn’t even died at that point. Fox obviously didn’t give a damn about their fans, but worse, they didn’t give a damn about the Omen’s legacy either.

They didn’t give a damn enough to put any extras besides trailers on this disc. Trust me. You wouldn’t watch extras if they were there.

Long before Omen IV reaches its twist ending, you’ll have shut it off to save yourself from the stench of this misguided example of How a Horror Franchise Goes Hideously Wrong. But then, if you’re reading this review, hopefully you’ll avoid the film. After all, I wouldn’t want you to spend your money on trash.

--Phil Fasso

(Note: We the editors do want you to spend your money on this trash! Or at least the OMEN collections. Linked below!)

Posted by RobG at 10:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

OMEN 3: THE FINAL CONFLICT

Far too often, horror franchises follow a tired formula, where the monster returns in sequel after sequel simply to slay the next group of anonymous teens. Even though these franchises progress in number, the Jasons and Freddys of the world dish up absolutely no character development at all; each movie in the series serves as just another reason to find new ways to kill. Here is where The Omen trilogy is a giant cut above the rest. Instead of offering up a static character, the franchise follows the arc of Damien Thorn, from his childhood through his adolescence, and concludes with his adulthood as his devilish promise comes to full bloom like an evil rose. The Final Conflict, the completion of the trilogy, succeeds in paying off for both the character and the franchise.

The film begins with an expertly edited scene that follows the seven daggers of Megiddo, as workers excavate them from the ruins of the Thorn Museum in Chicago, which exploded at the end of Damien: Omen II. The knives eventually travel to auction, where a secret order of priests, led by Father DeCarlo, buys them in order to end Damien Thorn. The blades are a nice touch, as they connect this film not only to its immediate predecessor, but to the first film, where mankind’s trouble began. And mankind’s trouble is in full swing, as the next scene shows. The world’s hunger problem has increased to devastating levels, and Thorn Industries is promoting itself as the savior. Enter Damien Thorn himself, at 33 a powerful man with plenty of prestige and influence not only economically, but politically. Damien soon takes over the position of American Ambassador to the Court of St. James (another nice nod to the first film, it is the position that his father Robert held), as he prepares to take control of the entire world and bring about the apocalypse.

The film establishes several different angles, and follows through well on each of them. As Damien rises, the priests try to put an end to him at various points throughout the film. But Damien always has the upper hand, and the tone throughout the film suggests that, as in the previous films in the series, evil will rule at the end of the day. Along the way, Damien also starts a romance with a British reporter (a skewed mirror to the beautiful romance of Robert and Katherine Thorn that anchored the first film), whose teenage son Damien appears to be grooming as his successor. The movie suggests another child may be in play here, as a comet is on the move, echoing the celestial event that signaled the birth of Damien. Could this be the second coming of the Christ? Damien sees it that way, and in a move reminiscent of King Herod’s biblical murder of the innocents, sends his disciples on a murder spree of all the newborns in England. With these forces in play, the film concludes with a definitive victory that caps off the trilogy.

That ending is the most disappointing point of an otherwise solid film. Instead of following through on the notion that the daggers of Megiddo are the only way to destroy Damien—a notion, by the way, carried out in all three films—The Final Conflict instead induces a deus ex machina that removes all the power from Damien’s adversaries and thrusts it into the hands of the New Christ. The deus ex machina is generally regarded in literature as a weak way to end a story; its place in this movie serves a perfect example of why. God’s arrival to tidy things up is frustrating, and always led me to ask, why didn’t He just do this when Damien was 5? This ending may be part of the explanation for why The Final Conflict was the least financially successful of the Omen trilogy, especially in light of how it’s actually a better film than Damien: Omen II.

I wouldn’t suggest that you let the ending stop you from seeing the film, though, as the conclusion is the only real flaw in an otherwise solid outing. As with the first two entries, The Final Conflict has captivating direction, editing and cinematography, and another powerful score by Jerry Goldsmith (the way Goldsmith weaves his themes from the first film into the new material is flawless; watching the Omens again reminds me of just how sad it is that this master composer is no longer with us, and with film). All of these give the film a consistency with the rest of the franchise, and offer a polish and class not generally associated with the horror genre. Also consistent are the creative death scenes, including a nasty “accident” in a news studio, and two deaths on a bridge during a fox hunt. Director Graham Baker puts the set pieces to good use, as he does the rest of the script, which sets a tone that is steadily horrifying and foreboding; it never lets the audience forget that if Damien succeeds, our world as we know it is over.

The most compelling element of the film is Sam Neill’s performance as Damien. The film would ride or sink on his acting, and he imbues the Antichrist with a dark charisma that is both frightening and seductive, exactly the way the Bible portrays Satan. Witness the scene where he holds discussion with a life sized statue of the crucified Jesus and see his mastery of the role. For those who know him solely as the grumpy paleontologist in the Jurassic Park films or the unhinged reporter in John Carpenter’s In the Mouth of Madness, you’ll be surprised at just how good he is at playing the villain. In lesser hands, the adult Damien might not have been effective; in Neill’s hands, the character pitch perfect.

As with Damien: Omen II, the disc boasts few extras. There are trailers for this and other Fox flicks, but the only real special feature of note is the commentary by director Baker. He distills some decent information about casting, plotting and shooting the film, but there are far too many dead spots; whole scenes go by without Graham uttering a single word. He probably would have fared better with a moderator, as Harvey Bernhard did on his Omen II track; or if he was as charismatic and lively as Richard Donner is on both of the commentary tracks for The Omen. Baker’s silence is so prominent that fans can skip the track without really losing much. Any fan who wishes to seek out information about The Final Conflict is almost better off watching The Omen Legacy, a documentary which chronicles the Omen series, than spending two hours for what amounts to maybe 20 minutes of commentary.

With The Final Conflict, The Omen trilogy came to a proper end, a solid effort that is sullied only by an uncharacteristically weak final few minutes. Ten years later, Fox Studios would return to The Omen with an abomination of a fourth effort for television that does not even include Damien (just one of its many failures; and they wonder why it flopped?), and then a remake of the first film that seemed made only to capitalize on the release date of June 6, 2006. But for hardcore Omen fans, the series ended powerfully with the original trilogy. Looking back on these three films recently, I remember exactly why I fell so in love with them at an early age, and why The Omen is still my favorite horror flick: they’re superbly made movies that simultaneously manage to satisfy genre fans as they rise above the genre in following the character arc of a demonic child right through his adulthood. Any horror fan with a true appreciation of great movies should enjoy all three.

--Phil Fasso

Posted by RobG at 09:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Damien: Omen II

When I initially got a DVD player back in 2000, the first flick I wanted to buy on disc was The Omen, by far my favorite horror film, and in my opinion the best horror film ever made. To my dismay, I discovered that The Omen had not yet been released. Fortunately, a few months later, I had in my hands not just the first film, but a box sex that included the entire original trilogy! (We won’t talk about Omen IV, even if that atrocity was also in the set.) So on the first night the set was released in stores, I sat down and watched all three films. That night, I had the same estimation of the middle film, Damien: Omen II, that I’d had for years since first seeing it, and I still have. The Omen is not only a great horror flick, but a great movie. Whereas the second Omen flick is a good horror film that comes nowhere close to reaching the greatness of the first.

Omen II starts off promisingly enough. Bugenhagen, the archaeologist who had first warned Robert Thorn of the evils of his young son Damien, brings another archaeologist underground in Israel to see paintings of the face of Satan on a wall. Both men quickly perish as sand fills in and the cave collapses. Flash forward several years to a 13-year-old Damien and his adopted family. Damien’s uncle, Richard Thorn, and his second wife have adopted the boy, who is off to military school with his cousin Mark. When Richard’s Aunt Marion tells him to separate the boys and he refuses, the trouble begins. A series of violent mishaps lead Richard to question whether brother Robert really was insane when he tried to kill Damien, and if the boy might just be the devil on earth. As he tries to uncover the truth, Damien learns of his powers from a military commander, and starts to flex his demonic muscle. Will he win out over the forces that try to stop him from taking over the world, or will those adversaries crush him before he can bloom into his full demonic powers?

On The Omen Legacy documentary, which covers the whole franchise, producer Harvey Bernhard agrees with my assessment of the sequel: good horror sequel, but not a great film, by horror standards or by more mainstream. The problem, Bernhard suggests, is that the plot has no meat, and I agree. The first Omen was a tight drama about the unwinding of a family. Its narrow focus made the end of the world up close and personal. Damien: Omen II, by contrast, tries to expand Damien’s influence, spreading the focus to cover the military school, Richard’s attempts to discover the truth, and the power of Thorn Industries. Yet the film satisfies less. It also functions on another level, as a coming-of-age story for the Antichrist, as he becomes aware of his powers, and transforms from confused kid to knowingly evil kid by the film’s end. But it does so in uncompelling fashion; simply put, Damien was cooler at 5 than he is at 13. But that shouldn’t fall on actor Jonathan Scott-Taylor’s shoulders. He does his best to carry the unholy burden of both puberty and being the Antichrist. I blame the script by Stanley Mann and Mike Hodges, the latter who also acted as director before being unceremoniously fired and replaced by Don Taylor. Their writing can’t hold a candle to the far superior script of David Seltzer’s original Omen.

That last paragraph might make it sound as if the flick is a disaster, but it’s not. It’s a solid horror flick. So what works? The establishing shot of Damien frames him behind a fire, as if he’s walking through the flames of Hell. The movie’s high spots are the violent “accidents” that, while not quite on the level of the first film, are very effective: a reporter meets her fate at the beak of a raven, and the wheels of a large truck; a Thorn Industries employee who calls to question Damien’s power ends violently during a hockey game on an iced over pond; another associate of Richard’s discovers why people should not walk on train tracks; and Mesach Taylor of Designing Women and Mannequin fame should have taken the stairs instead of the elevator. Tying all these incidents are Damien and Richard, the latter played by Academy Award winner William Holden. As Holden’s biographer Bob Thomas related it in his biography Golden Boy, the actor was very upset with turning down the role that went to fellow Oscar winner Gregory Peck in the first film, and was therefore anxious when Fox offered to him the next Omen film. As Peck did in the original, Holden adds a distinct touch of class and superior acting to a horror flick. His presence raises the level of the film. Lee Grant, another Oscar winner, holds her own as Richard’s wife. Taken together, Peck, Holden and Grant might give the Omen franchise the most acclaimed set of actors ever to appear in a horror series. And of course, the use of a new score from Jerry Goldsmith is stellar and downright ominous, and ties this film to the first.

Less than stellar are the extras. Having put all their gusto into the release of the first film, Fox only awarded two special features to the sequel. Accompanied by the disc’s producer, Harvey Bernhard provides a commentary. He’s honest about his appraisal of the film, describing how Damien should have been older in the film. He’s also harsh in his judgment of Hodges, the film’s first director, describing how he dawdled all day in setting up one scene. He’s much more complimentary to Don Taylor, a friend of Holden’s who replaced Hodges and brought the film in on time and budget. Bernhard’s comments reflect what I’ve always thought about the sequel: it’s a good horror film, but it’s not on par with the original, and could have been so much better. A number of trailers for other Fox films round out the disc. I suppose I wanted something more in depth, perhaps a documentary or some interviews, but The Omen Legacy provided much of what this disc lacks.

If I watch Damien: Omen II on its own terms, it satisfies. It’s got an ominous tone that’s hammered home by its superior score, and the high spot kills are equally creative and gruesome. Unfortunately it’s hard not to compare it to its predecessor, and to what is yet to come for Damien Thorn in the better Final Conflict. But I’m happy to have it as a continuation of little Damien on his path to demonic adulthood, and as a part of a fine franchise and box set.

--Phil Fasso

Posted by RobG at 08:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Omen Legacy

I’ve seen a number of documentaries over the years that have covered one particular horror franchise or another.  Depending on how these docs are assembled, they’re hit or miss.  Still, I was more than a little jazzed when, a number of years ago, on Halloween night no less, American Movie Classics ran The Omen Legacy, an in-depth look at the series started by my favorite horror movie, The Omen.  The results are impressive, and should please all Omen fans with background stories and some interesting insights on not only the films, but faith, God and the devil.

The documentary starts off with a brief overview of the series, and makes note of the “Omen curse.”  It then heads into a discussion of religious movies, and how they took a dark turn with Rosemary’s Baby and The Exorcist.  This rolls into how an idea from Rev. Bob Munger about the birth of the Antichrist on Earth sent producer Harvey Bernhard on a quest that would lead to writer David Seltzer and director Richard Donner’s brilliant take on the notion.  The doc then spends the next 47 minutes, nearly half its running time, discussing the inception, production, release and effect of The Omen, and excels in doing so.  It discusses everything from why the name of the film changed from The Birthmark, and how the film’s robust box office returns allowed for Star Wars to be made.

The doc then turns its eye to Damien:  Omen II.  The sequel was a troubled production from the start, as Legacy chronicles.  Quarrels between the studio and Bernhard and fellow producer Mace Neufeld, piled on by a change in director, led to a film that never had a chance to equal the original.  Bernhard basically says that the movie is a highlight reel of five or six horrific events, a story without any meat.  I couldn’t agree more.

Following chronologically, Legacy then picks up on The Final Conflict, the completion of the original trilogy.  According to Bernhard, we Omen fans can thank actor James Mason for fronting the air fare for Sam Neill to do his screen test.  The introduction of a love interest for Damien led to real romance, as actress Lisa Harrow and Neill moved in with one another during the film’s production.  The clips from the film display just how sinister Damien has become in his 30’s, and just how great a job Neill does as the adult Antichrist, now in full embrace of his powers.  His demise at the film’s end made Christian groups happy everywhere, but did little for fans, as it was the least successfully of the trilogy, financially speaking.  A shame, since it’s a better film than Omen II.

Regrettably, Legacy next focuses on Omen IV:  The Awakening.  A made-for-TV abomination that has all the tell tale signs of being made-for-TV (dull camera work, stiff acting, a silly plot, lowbrow and ineffective special effects).  For those who decry the current state of horror remakes that are far inferior to the originals, know that Fox was well head of the curve back in 1990.  A film that is more sequel than strict remake, Omen IV is an abortion best avoided by fans of anything, especially The Omen.  I applaud Legacy for offering a complete view of the franchise, but I advise fans to skip this section of the doc, which only demonstrates how appallingly bad the film is.

Finally, Legacy looks very briefly at The Omen television series, which never made it beyond its pilot.  Donner says he hated it, and refuses to talk about it any further.  And so neither will I.  Fortunately, Legacy also includes a scene from the Damien episode from the first season of South Park as part of the franchise’s cultural legacy.  The doc leaves off with the suggestion that the Omen films are so popular because they base themselves in the eternal struggle of good vs. evil.

The Omen Legacy does several things right, the first of which is installing Jack Palance as the narrator.  His richly sinister voice suits the material perfectly, and writers Naomi Pfefferman and Brent Zachey give him a solid script with which to work.  It also includes plenty of well-paced and well-chosen clips from the films themselves, and makes powerful use of Jerry Goldsmith’s brilliant scores.  It includes interviews with many of the parties involved in all four films, such as:  Donner, Seltzer, and Bernhard; actors Martin Benson, David Warner, Lee Grant, Lance Henriksen and many others;  producer Neufeld, and former head of Fox studios Alan Ladd, Jr.;  as well as a minister, a professor of theology and a  member of the Church of Satan.  The stories these people share, coupled with Palance’s commentary, provide a rounded background for the series that any die hard Omen fan will love.

Director Zachey also does a nice job of not repeating much of the information from “666:  The Omen Revealed,” the excellent 46 minute doc that Fox included with their previous DVD releases of the first Omen movie.  Rarely do those interviewed for both docs retread information.  Instead, Legacy expands on “Omen Revealed,” discussing different aspects from the same topics.  For instance, whereas Donner told a story about getting the baboons to act angry in the zoo scene, here Neufeld relates the story of how actress Lee Remick couldn’t drive a stick shift.  Zachey must have had an easier time covering the other two films in the trilogy, and the dreaded fourth installment, as their stories were previously undocumented.

I have very few complaints about The Omen Legacy.  My biggest quibble is the lack of interviews with the people who played Damien.  Harvey Stephens and Jonathan Scott-Taylor, the first two to essay the role of the Antichrist, left acting quickly after their portrayals, and perhaps Sam Neill was too big an actor to take part.  Most sorely missed is Gregory Peck, the Academy Award winner who portrayed Robert Thorn.  Peck died two years after Legacy was put out.  I’ve seen Peck do plenty of interviews, but never once have I heard him comment on his role in The Omen.  But given the breadth of people interviewed, and the depth of stories they share, this is a minor quibble.

The Omen Legacy is available as a stand-alone disc from Image Entertainment, and as an extra on the two-disc re-release of The Omen from Fox.  But if you buy the latter, you’ll miss out on one extra that is well worth seeing:  “Power and The Devil:  The Making of Damien: Omen II.”  The seven minute piece is mostly fluff about the sequel, but it includes snippets of interviews with Academy Award winner William Holden, the only comments I’ve ever seen him make on the film, or his personal art collection for that matter.  Scott-Taylor and Bernhard also comment briefly on the film and Damien himself.  Is “Power and the Devil” a necessity?  To the Omen completist, absolutely.  And let’s face it:  who but an Omen completist would fervently seek out Legacy?

The Omen Legacy is an outstanding documentary, a superb look at a top of the line horror franchise.  As the series suggests, and the doc reflects, the world is constantly involved in a test of strength between good and evil.  For fans of little Damien, who would grow from birth into the ultimate evil, The Omen Legacy is as good as it could ever get.

--Phil Fasso

Posted by RobG at 08:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)