Omen IV - Das Erwachen

"The Omen" series was a one-hit wonder for the most part and finally hit the brick wall completely with this terrible fourth installment. Damien is dead, but he had a child (Satan's grand-child). After she (the young Asia Vieira) is adopted by two attorneys, the typical odd deaths take place and it appears that the child is the reason for the happenings. A really sorry production that got no studio backing and went directly to video rental shelves and cable television stations. Turkey (0 stars out of 5).

The fact that I watched this entire movie says something about it...or me. It is not a good movie. Terrible in fact. But terrible in the way that kept my attention in that perverse manner that is akin to watching a tragedy and not being able to look away. It would have made a great MST3K subject!

Most of the things that make a terrible movie enjoyable are here: bad dialogue, inappropriate music, contrived plot sequences, ridiculous pseudoscience. You'll thrill to slo-mo death sequences, the poor victims with mouths agape and waaaaaaaay too much time to contemplate their impending doom, facing the outrageously contrived deliverer of their deaths. Your heart will be warmed by old action scene cliches like when two women struggle for a gun and it goes off, but WHO'S SHOT? Both look at themselves, then the other, then themselves, then (seemingly 15 minutes later), one finally goes down. You'll sing along (in latin of course) with the street carolers that turn into a ghastly death's-choir that, for a moment, threatened to turn the movie into a twisted musical.

So if you believe like I do that as movies get worse they get better, then this might be a decent choice for you. It's not as funny as my current sci-fi schlock favorite, "They Live" featuring Rowdy Roddy Piper, but it's more fun to watch than luke-warm movies like Omen II or III.

I give it 4 out of 10.

This daughter of Damien is well cast. She is quite impressive as a she-devil.

I don't think it deserves the hate The movie is at best average.

Sure it isn't as good as the three previous but as a made for TV movie I find it passible.

Yes we get an obligatory devil dog... But this daughter of the devil makes a boy wet his pants! She's obviously a menace.

Usually when the devil is involved there is more Christian dogma than we have here.

But my biggest question is why does the devil hate New Agers? She turns New Age crystals to black? Her aura is brown?

Seriously though, this could have been better and it could have been worse.

This inferior sequel based by the characters created by David Selzer and Harvey Bernhard(also producer) concern on a matrimony named Gene(Michael Woods) and Karen York(Faye Grant). They adopt a little girl named Delia from a convent. Gene York about re-elect for congressman and he presides the financing committee. Meanwhile, Delia seems to be around when inexplicable deaths happen. She creates wreak havoc when goes a metaphysical fair, as stores of numerology, therapy, counselling heal,yoga, tarots, among others are destroyed. Karen York hires an eye private(Michael Lerner) to investigate the weird and bizarre events.

This TV sequel displays thrills, chills, creepy events and gory killing. Delia such as Damien seems to dispatch new eerie murder every few minutes of film, happening horrible killings . The chief excitement lies in watching what new and innocent victim can be made by the middling special effects. Furthermore, mediocre protagonists, Faye Grant and Michael Woods, however nice cast secondary, such as Michael Lerner,Madison Mason, Duncan Fraser and the recently deceased Don S Davis, he was an Army captain turned into acting. As always , excellent musical score taken from Omen I and III by the great Jerry Goldsmith. The movie is exclusively for hardcore followers Omen saga. The motion picture is badly directed by Jorge Montesi and Dominique Othenin Girard. Previous and much better versions are the following : The immensely superior original 'Omen'(Gregory Peck, Lee Remick)by Richard Donner; 'Damien'(William Holden, Lee Grant) by Don Taylor; 'Final conflict'(Sam Neil and Tisa Harrow) by Grahame Baker. Rating : Below average.

Ho-hum. Isn't it tiresome when viewers just totally blast a film like there are no redeeming qualities in it whatsoever. To read many of the other user comments, you'd think this was the worst film ever made.

Yes... this TV-movie is certainly not very inspired. Yes, it's a rehash, featuring much of what we've seen before in previous OMEN movies. And, yes, the film isn't above giving us our share of cliches... the hound from hell becomes the kid's protector, after saving her life. The new nanny may not be as innocent as she appears.

However... one has to take such a film in perspective. The series pretty much ran its course with the third one, where Damien had grown and become the U.S. president. So, of course old ground is going to be retread... it's a TV-movie for goodness' sake. (Not that all TV-movies are necessarily junk... DUEL jump-started Steven Spielberg's career... but, chances are, you're not going to get an auteur at the wheel of a TV-movie.)

What you do with a film like this is get in the mood for old, rehashed OMEN-like "thrills." The concept is still strong... a couple has a "Rosemary's Baby," building up one evil incident after another; slowly one or both parents become aware that something's not quite right. Then the terrible and profound conflict of choosing to protect humanity or your own "flesh and blood" (figuratively speaking.... here, the kid was adopted) comes into play. (Reminds me of the television series "Xena" where the same conflict arose with one of the main characters.) Then you just sit back, relax, and see how the film makers went about presenting such watchable drama.

Being a TV-movie, the gore quotient was low, minimizing the impact of the horrible deaths we are accustomed to in this series. Not that gore necessarily translates to chills, but you can't expect to be genuinely scared, generally, especially with a TV-movie. (Very, very few films are genuinely scary; even under the hands of a master, Stanley Kubrick... THE SHINING wasn't all that scary.) However, there were some jarring moments, like the detective (Michael Lerner... a highlight, here) getting into a "CARNIVAL OF SOULS" state of mind where appearances go from normal to the bizarre. (For example, the choir on the street, singing Christmas songs, suddenly becoming something else.) And the acting..? What was wrong with the acting? It's not like the actors weren't competent. The mother played by Faye Grant, for example, came across well enough. Maybe she's not the most extremely talented performer in the world, but she delivered satisfactorily. I found the kid to be a little disappointing, not convincingly menacing enough. However, she was much better than the Skywalker kid in THE PHANTOM MENACE. Sometimes you gotta make allowances for kids. Child actors who are knockouts are rare.

Now, don't get me wrong... I'm not saying low expectations should translate to the enjoyment of any movie. For example, there are entries in the FRIDAY THE 13th that I've found hard to watch, simply because some were totally uninspired. Even though nothing really knocked my socks off with this latest installment of THE OMEN, I wasn't bored, and was entertained overall. There were even some nice touches, like the inverted cross reflection on the dying former nun's hospital room wall, and the wonderfully subtle last shot, utilizing the crosswalks of the graveyard. Too many viewers love to be unfairly critical.