La Malédiction IV : L'Éveil

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.

Although I have given this the same rating as I did for 'Omen III: The Final Conflict' (1981), that is purely for two reasons: the use (or re- use, really) of Jerry Goldsmith's fine scores from both 'The Omen' (1976) and 'The Final Conflict', and one of the film's better death scenes, which closely recalls the runaway train of 'Damien: Omen II' (1978), reminding us that there is something left of the spirit of Damien Thorn.

And that is one of the problems here. Only one fleeting reference is made to the anti-hero of the previous 'Omen' films and the mother character, Karen York (played by Faye Grant) even dares to ask who he was! Wasn't Damien supposed to be a vital figure in both politics and business a mere ten years before? A man aiming for a seat in the Senate and, from there, the Presidency? A key captain of industry and, like his adoptive forefathers, a key adviser to the President of the United States? She is a lawyer, after all, and you'd think that a lawyer would do something like read a newspaper once in a while...

It is implied (although never confirmed) that the new Antichrist, a girl named Delia York (played quite well by Asia Vieira) is the daughter that Damien had with that pesky journalist, Kate Reynolds (Lisa Harrow) from the previous film, and it would, at least, have mildly improved things somewhat to have Harrow reappear or at least get something of a mention. It might even have been a bit of a fun turn-around for the actress to get a Joan Hart-style role here, even if she did ultimately bite the dust!

Dominique Othenin-Girard started work on this film, having recently directed the unoriginal, but still okay 'Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers' (1989). He left the film during production (again, probably because of artistic differences) and was hurriedly replaced by Jorge Montesi. Being a TV movie at a time when TV movies weren't really anything to shout about anyway, you can't really tell the difference between the work done by the directors. The action sequences (such as the aforementioned death scene) were directed by the so-called 'Devil's Godfather' and 'Omen' producer, Harvey Bernhard.

Basically, this is a remake of the original film, albeit with a few twists and turns along the way. Mainly, the major change is that, while the mother in the original film (Lee Remick) was treated like she would fall apart at any moment, Faye Grant is the investigator here. The idiotic husband, Gene York (Michael Woods), whilst constantly busy on Capitol Hill, has little to do other than give her and Delia the occasional hug and berate Karen for being neurotic. But, in places, Faye Grant's acting is very wooden and obvious, such as when she tells Delia that "That's just not true!" But Damien's lackeys demean her just as much as Damien himself mistreated Lisa Harrow in the previous film.

Well known TV actors Michael Lerner, Don S. Davis and Madison Mason get quite good roles, with Lerner holding the true charisma here as a former crooked cop turned shady private investigator who is hired by Karen York to dig deeper into Delia's history. The film even gets a brief, but reasonably effective version of both Holly and Mrs. Baylock from the original film but, as said, they appear far too briefly and too weirdly to make any true impact on the audience. Other performances are very overdone, especially the nun who gives the Yorks their new baby (Megan Leitch).

One good scene is an early sequence in which Karen and Delia are playing and run across a 'heroic' Rottweiler -- a more plausible introduction for man's best friend into the Yorks' household than in the original 'Omen'! Quite simply, Robert Thorn (Gregory Peck) should have fired the Baylock woman (Billie Whitelaw) on the spot for constantly dragging that demonic mutt back into the house!

Die-hard fans of the 'Omen' franchise may want to give this one a go, but it literally is a film for a rainy day when there is nothing better to do!

Harvey Bernhard and Stanley Mann had penned an adaptation of Gordon McGill's 'Omen IV: Armageddon 2000' back in 1983, but it was rejected for this trashy, uninspired TV movie. In comparison, Bernhard's and Mann's script is godly and suspenseful, with a great look back over the 'Omen' films, and attempts to repair the damage done to the running plot of the franchise in 'The Final Conflict'.

Inverted crosses galore, the aforementioned retread of Goldsmith's score (shockingly mouthed by some demonic carol singers in one scene, ewww!!!), and that one death scene make this intermittently interesting but, if 'The Final Conflict' saw the 'Omen' series run out of steam, then this one left it dead and buried, with only other remakes left to make audiences remember the glory days of the original!

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.

After the already disappointing "Final Conflict", the series hits rock-bottom with this very weak fourth entry. At least the third film tried (unsuccessfully) to continue the story of Damien, while this one simply rehashes and copies ideas from the "Omen" (animals are afraid of the Antichrist, the death of one man is very similar to the death of the photographer in the first film). But what looked exciting and creative there looks just dumb here. And the little girl looks simply like a spoiled kid.