So yeah, I definitely wrote about this. I don't feel like looking up *when* because I already feel old enough right now.
Let's take another look at it though, with fresh eyes.
In 1991, the Producer behind the Series wanted to bring it back after a long dormancy. He still had the rights and he still had the props. A TV Movie was proposed that would set up future entries in the Series, moving the Film from Theater to Televison.
If that sounds ridiculous to you now, consider that Midnight Run got THREE Sequels in 1994- all made for TV. Not to mention other Films with forgotten TV follow-ups, ranging from The Jerk to Splash to Rosemary's Baby.
So how do you follow up a Film where your Main Character is dead? That sure is tricky.
To find out how this all (sort of) makes sense, read on...
Said Superior immediately dies of a heart attack, starting an oddly specific trend in this Film.
They, of course, know nothing about that.
Through a montage, we see the baby grow up into a little girl.
When she sees the former Nun approaching, she bites the head of her doll- as you do- and scares her off.
We get our first hints of the girl being evil when she gets into a scuffle with a Bully.
She gets back at him later, exploiting his fear of heights to make him piss his pants when he tries to chase her up a ladder.
When the angry Dad scolds the Father, the little girl...makes him get decapitated in an auto accident!
Those...don't seem like equal punishments.
They hire a lady to help watch the kid- since both parents are allowed to work in 1991- and she sees the kid's dark aura.
The kid gets wet...while Dad gets dead!
She goes to her fellow crystal-gazing friend...Joe from Highlander: The Series?!?
It's not enough to be about Religion, so this one works in Crystals, the metaphysical and Kirlian Photography (Photos that supposedly show your aura).
In retaliation, the girl starts a fire that manages to burn down the whole outside event.
To be fair, NOBODY has a fire extinguisher, so that's like 40% on you!
Using her hell hound, she knocks the lady out of the window (despite the previous shot showing the window at neck level, she flies out in full). The Wife faints as well.
The Wife goes to a different Priest- no heart attack for you, yet! - with a Bible and the Book on Crystals. She says that the 2nd book mentions and quote The Book of Revelations...which seems unlikely.
We get some odd dialog from the Priest, who basically blames all of humanity for the Anti-Christ's eventual reign. So... did he not know about Damien Thorn?
Also, mate, I'm not one to judge on hair, but...either shave that or cut it down a little.
The Wife is surprised a bit later when she gets pregnant.
Naturally, she starts the investigation in full as the Film *casually* progresses time by having her announce to people how long she has been pregnant in each Scene. Smooth.
She's having that baby. It is good news...right?
Michael Lerner is here as a Private Detective (after appearing for 10 seconds in Act 1) who finds out all about Delia's background.
He finds the Nun and she's now a Snake-Holding Prophet (after briefly being a Prostitute!) and dies, but delivers the info to Lerner.
Once he gets that and mails it, he's toast as...I guess, Satan scares him into walking near a construction site for old Scratch to SWING A WRECKING BALL AT HIM.
Nobody is going to look into THAT death- no sir!
Time for the big twist, with ZERO build up. Are you ready?
So, the Doctor was in it the whole time. He learned that Delia was Damien's Daughter (from a Scene in Part 3, to be fair) and carried a copy of his Embryo inside her.
When the girl fell off the horse, he took the chance to remove it... somehow.
When the Wife fainted, he took the opportunity to implant it in her (how long was she out?!?) and her Son is Damien...I guess.
After killing him, she takes his gun (all Doctors keep guns in their desk- fact) and goes home.
She kills the new Babysitter (who had zero build up) and then confronts Delia and the baby. Delia reveals that the baby has the Mark ON THE PALM OF HIS HAND.
That won't raise suspicion!
She can't resist Baby Damien's power (I guess this one is evil and empowered at birth?) and kills herself.
Now Delia and Alexander will be raised by a potential Future President...in a series of Films that didn't get made when nobody liked this one.
I'll be honest- it is better than I remembered it being. That said, I thought it was utter shit then, so...relative praise.
The Film, to its credit, does try to do some new things while sticking to the formula. I actually liked the Actress who played Delia here. I'm glad that she has kept working through at least 2015. The other Actors are honestly pretty darn good here too.
The big hurdle is, of course, the Script. The Story plays out in weird spurts. It will rush to kill one Character- like the Priest- and then stay calm for a while. The big deaths- like Lerner's- were apparently Directed by the Producer, which might explain how weird they feel.
As noted by IMDB, it is also odd that the famous Daggers don't show up in this one, even though said Producer I guess kept the props. Maybe that was being saved for Part 5?
The Resumes on our Directors is notable too, especially given how infamously bad this one. The original Director- Jorge Montesi- worked on the Captain Power releases, as well as Turbulence 3 and Mother, May I Sleep with Danger?
When he left, they brought in Dominique Othenin-Girard, who had just Directed Halloween 5 to finish up.
It is impressive that they got a Film done, even if it was this one.
Omen IV is just on the right side of being 'funny bad' and not 'bad that is just boring.' The insistent Soundtrack, ludicrous kills and ridiculous Plot Twist Sandwich at the end save it from that.
Sorry in advance to Martin here for reminding people of the unfortunate last name he was given...
Next up, I cover a John Carpenter Film that I've missed for all of these years. It is the same age as me, so let's see how it is. Stay tuned...