La Malédiction finale

Neill is very good here. Neill would go on to be one of those few actors with such a range that he can convincingly play the hero to literally the devil incarnate.

Neill has some ear popping monologues with a statue of Jesus. It's so obnoxious that I'm half amazed it wasn't cut. It all strikes me as rather career threatening for an actor and I wonder if any American actor would have done it.

But those scenes do help give this movie a bit of depth.

The first Omen was great because the Thorns weren't sure if crazy supernatural things were occurring, or if they were just crazy. Unfortunately, this one, like Omen II mostly boil down to crazy death scenes.

There's one major annoyance here... why does Damien believe the second coming will be a child*? He literally reads from the Bible. And the producers were well aware that was wrong, considering the display the relevant passages of the Bible.

It's certainly not terrible, and has some effective horror scenes. Looked at simply as a horror movie, it's kind of an oddball, but it works. But considering the seemingly end of time apocalyptic stakes, not to mention closure of the three movie arc, it's lacking, and the world surrounding Damien seems surprisingly small.

* I think the reason Damien decides to kill babies is obvious: the production wanted to do the baby killing thing.

Firstly, it has a seemingly fool-proof concept: the Antichrist, now a successful corporate CEO, is appointed U.S. Ambassador to England, AND president of the UN youth council. It practically writes itself. But, no, social commentary isn't brought into it; he doesn't kill his way into the U.S. Presidency, and the country is never thrown into a third world war. And to think I believed in him! You think this might also present a good chance for some overacting- but, once again, only missed opportunities. It was quite talky; Damien plays it cool, and Sam Neill's performance mostly involved making sinister expressions (at which he's a natural, granted,) and, frankly, the big lines he delivers come out kind of funny-sounding when modulated through his fake American accent (he has one of these in Jurassic Park, too, but at least that role didn't call for any serious acting.) I blame the director more than my man Sam, but I've seen some pretty terrible movies salvaged by one good performance.

Why, this film even let down my bloodlusting side. It opens with a nice, gruesome death, but subsequent killings are either too silly to even guffaw at, or just plain uninspired- especially the climax.

This second sequel to huge hit 'Richard Donner's Omen (Gregory Peck, Lee Remick)' centres on anti-Christ personified by Damien (Sam Neill) . Now grown-up Damien (as a teen was incarnated by Jonathan Taylor) is the only proprietary of Thorn industries , one time deceased his forested parents (William Holden , Lee Grant from Omen 2 by Don Taylor) . Damien is named American Ambassador to London by the US President (Mason Adams). A group of monks (Rossano Brazzi , Tony Voguel , among others) get the seven daggers , as Damien Thorn can now only be murdered by one of the daggers . In England Damien is helped by an assistant (Don Gordon) and he falls in love with a TV journalist (Lisa Howard) . The film talks, fundamentally, about the rebirth of Christ and confrontation to anti-Christ Damien . The devilish Damien is poised for ruling over earth supported by his underlings .

This exciting follow-up contains thrills , chills , suspense ,tension and grisly killings . The chief excitement resides in seeing what amazing and creepy murders happen every few minutes of picture . The eerie scenes range from the genuinely fantastic to the bizarre and horrifying images . The movie is quite predictable but we have seen the previous chapters but also its predictability is redeemed in part by the charismatic acting by Sam Neill , the New Zealand-born player , and an effective secondary casting . Colorful and adequate cinematography by Phil Meheux (The Zorro) . Again evocative musical score by the great Jerry Goldsmith (Planet of apes) with soundtrack-alike first entry , winner a deserved Oscar . The motion picture was professionally directed by Graham Baker (Beowulf , Alien Nation) . Followed by an inferior television movie , Omen IV (2001) , and for genre addicts only , directed by Jorge Montesi with Faye Grant and Michael Woods .

The horror in this movie is so bad it's funny! Every time a monk gets anywhere near Damien the poor guy falls off a bridge or drops down a hole or just slips on a banana peel or something.

On the other hand, the smart and pretty lady reporter gets her hands on Damien right away, without any trouble. It's said that Sam Neill who plays Damien and Lisa Harrow who plays Kate Reynolds were actually falling in love for real as this movie was being made. It really shows! Aside from being just gorgeous, Lisa Harrow was a good actress. You can see that her character has at least three sides to her. As a reporter, she's intrigued by Damien's vast wealth and growing political power. As a mother, she's frightened of his influence over her troubled teenage son. And as a woman, she can't help responding to the sheer excitement of his darkly sexual charisma. But what makes this interesting is that the story line always treats her character with respect. Her sexual feelings don't cancel out her heart or her intelligence, they just make her more mature and sympathetic.

Why is it that major stars like Julia Roberts and Meg Ryan never play anyone half as interesting as this?

This film begins with a construction project uncovering some ancient daggers which were buried many years earlier. It is then revealed that these 7 daggers are known as the "Daggers of Megiddo" and they were made for only one purpose--to kill the Antichrist when he finally appears on Earth. The scene then shifts to a corporate CEO by the name of "Damien Thorn" (Sam Neill) negotiating with the "President of the United States" (played by Mason Adams) on his conditions for accepting the ambassadorship to Great Britain. For purely political reasons, the President gives Damien everything he wants. In the process, however, he unwittingly fulfills an ancient prophecy that the Antichrist would begin his rise to power in the British Isles. Not long afterward, a special astronomical event occurs which is interpreted by certain monks in an Italian monastery that Jesus is about to be reborn. Not only that, but in order to facilitate this event, they are now obligated to use the Daggers of Megiddo to kill the person they know to be the Antichrist--Damien Thorne. What they don't realize, however, is that Damien is fully aware of their intentions--and he is willing to do whatever it takes to ensure his claim to world power. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this turned out to be a satisfactory final installment of the Omen Trilogy as it contained some decent suspense along with solid performances by both Sam Neill and Lisa Harrow (as "Kate Reynolds"). Admittedly, I didn't much care for the rather phony religious mumbo-jumbo thrown in at various times, but even so, the film still managed to pass the time well enough, and I have rated it accordingly. Average.