Damien - Omen II

Seven years later... Damien (Jonathan Scott-Taylor) is 12 years old is now living with his uncle Richard Thorn (William Holden), his wife (Lee Grant) and their son (Lucas Donat). When Damien has discover his high I.Q. and his origins. Damien is now using his evil power to get himself everything he needs to be powerful. He using his demonic powers, which he kills those people who anger him or in his way.

Directed by Don Taylor (Escape from the Planet of the Apes, The Final Countdown, The Island of Dr. Moreau "1977") made an entertaining sequel to the original but less effective. Probably the most memorable moments in the sequel is the creative death sequences. The film had problems during filming, since Mike Hodges (Croupier, Flash Gordon, I'll Sleep When I'm Dead) was the original director of the second film. Which he was fired during production for taking too much time with set-up shots and creative differences. Although some of Hodges' scenes were kept in the final cut.

DVD has an sharp anamorphic Widescreen (2.35:1) transfer and an good-Dolby 2.0 Surround Sound. DVD has an interesting commentary track by the producer:Harvey Bernhard (The Beast Within, The Goonies, The Lost Boys) and moderated by DVD producer:J.M. Kenny. DVD also the original theatrical trailers and trailer for the first and third film. Although despite certain flaws, the second film is certainly well acted and it has another great score by the late Oscar-Winner:Jerry Goldsmith (Alien, Explorers, Total Recall). Screenplay by Stanley Mann (Conan The Destroyer, The Collector, Firestarter) and the original director:Hodges. Panavision. (****/*****).

If you liked the first installment, you probably will like Damien-Omen II. It still has the creepiness involved in the first movie and the theme of good vs. evil. But like the first Omen movie, it is quite predictable. Some of the kill scenes are good though, especially the elevator scene.

Take a shot and rent this one. Just don't expect to see a classic.

This entertaining movie is a pretty good example of big budget mainstream horror. It is, of course, a sequel to The Omen; a film that had tapped into the 70's thirst for religious themed horror and had went on to be a big smash hit. Damien: Omen II, perhaps unsurprisingly, doesn't have the originality of that first film but it maintains the story very well in my opinion. It's the one film in the franchise where the action has moved from the UK to the USA. It focuses on the now 13 year old antichrist Damien Thorn, who is being schooled in a military academy. It's also the part where he becomes aware of who he really is.

In many ways its story arc follows quite close to the original template but with the addition of more frequent, inventive and gory death scenes involving the poor unfortunates who get too close to the truth. In effect, this movie plays out like a series of elaborate set-pieces strung together over a fairly basic plot-line. This isn't such a terrible thing though because these macabre moments are all really executed very well. In particular are three notable death sequences – on a deserted road a woman is attacked by a raven who pecks her eyes out, she is then finished off by being hit full force by a truck; a man is cut in half by a falling elevator cable; during a game of hockey on a frozen lake, the ice breaks and a man falls under resulting in the disturbing scenario where we see him helplessly floating just below the ice. These set-pieces, along with several others, constitute the highlight of the movie and they are all well-conceived and give the film its definite draw. Because the film is neither a beginning, nor an end to the story it allows this instalment to simply focus its attention on the macabre material in between and it's really not a bad thing.

There are other interesting changes though, such as the use of the raven as the creature of the devil, I thought it was a better choice than the Rottweiler from the first movie and it was very well integrated into the story. The acting too is more than decent with the likes of William Holden basically taking on the role Gregory Peck filled in the first movie, while Jonathan Scott-Taylor looks right as Damien, his thin features can look cold and ominous but he is never cartoonishly evil, which was a good thing. He has one particularly memorable and original scene too where he knows the answer to every single question his history teacher throws at him. It's one of the less gruesome more subtly sinister moments that really stands out. Some things remain the same though and once again there is a really good score from Jerry Goldsmith. It's very dramatic with that ominous choir sound that is just perfect for this subject matter.

Damien:Omen 2 is a very enjoyable sequel to The Omen in my opinion the first is better but i did enjoy this also. This film was released in 1978 2 years after the first and it tells the story of Damien the Anti-Christ who is now age 12 he is starting to understand his duty in the line of Satan whilst a strange crow eliminates any people who know his real identity and are seen enemies in the eyes of Satan. This film is not the best in the Omen series but it is a very watchable film, it isn't a film that will bore you to death and it isn't a film that will keep you on the end of your seat for 100 minutes but i do recommend it to the people who are interested in these films it is a clever entry in the omen franchise

***/*****

"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.