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A Movie A Day: OMEN III: THE FINAL CONFLICT (1981)
Satan, I will avenge thy torment by destroying the Christ forever.
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with the next installment of A Movie A Day: Halloween 2010 edition!
[For the entirety of October I will be showcasing one horror film each day. Every film is pulled from my DVD shelf or streamed via Netflix Instant and will be one I haven’t seen. Unlike my A Movie A Day or A Movie A Week columns there won’t necessarily be connectors between each film, but you’ll more than likely see patterns emerge day to day.]
It is now official. I love all the Omen films (part IV lives with Godfather III, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, The Exorcist II and the Star Wars prequels in an apartment complex on the seedier side of Hollywood Blvd, recluses all).
The original is a classic in every sense of the word. From Richard Donner’s smart direction, to Jerry Goldsmith’s iconic score, to Gregory Peck’s absolute ownership of the role of Richard Thorne, a man whose journey takes him from loving father willing to do anything for his child to trying to stab the little evil bastard with a sweet dagger…
And then there’s Damien: Omen II, a film that I thought was only appreciated by me for the longest time. It’s not nearly as good as The Omen, it lacks that classic, effortless spark that Donner was able to capture, but it’s a surprisingly interesting take on a sequel. I like that we follow Damien into his early teen years and I like even more that he’s kind of an innocent and has to come to terms with just what and who he is.
Now I’ve seen OMEN III: THE FINAL CONFLICT and it’s definitely a worthy addition to the series. I knew Sam Neill was going to deliver the goods. He always does, but what shocked me was just how dark the movie is and how unflinchingly it went into some really fucked up territory.
There’s more baby death in this movie than you’d expect from a big studio picture. There’s a whole subplot of Damien trying to get rid of his competition, Christ reborn, in a very Biblical way. Instead of God killing the firstborn child in every household, Damien and his legion of worshippers kill every male child born on the night prophecized to mark the return of Christ.
They pinpoint the general location via biblical texts and scientific study of the stars and then Damien set his horde out to kill. And this horde includes children. In fact, they make a point in the movie that children are very easily swayed to the Devil’s side.
How can you not like a movie with all that in it?
And it has a fucked up backwards cross. Screw those upside down crucifixes you see in the regular devil movies! Damien has a giant crucifix that has a pained Jesus backwards on the cross, ass out, head making the top of the cross.
Neill relishes this role and dives in headfirst, giving a few great evil bastard monologues and balancing those out with his quiet charm as he takes the position his father once held: US Ambassador to England.
In a weird way he has already won when we start this story. Damien Thorne is the head of one of largest corporations in the world, he has wide reaching influence even to those who don’t realize they’re being manipulated, including the President. He has all the power and none of the risk.
It’s only that he knows Jesus is coming at some point that’s keeping him in any sort of check. If the anti-Christ is there then Jesus has to be on his way. That’s what the good book says.
So, Damien has a fairly low profile for being a public figure, charming his way into whatever scenario he wants and using his hypnotic eye to make things happens the way he wants, including a gruesomely brutal suicide that kicks the flick off like something out of Faces of Death.
If that wasn’t enough to make me dig this flick, there’s a big plot point involving a sect of priests that find the 7 daggers (the only thing on Earth that can kill the anti-Christ) who essentially become assassins for the Lord. Seven priests, each armed with one dagger, begin to stalk Damien.
Were I to find any fault with the movie it’d be that the priest assassins subplot wasn’t developed enough or amount to more than it did. I like that these guys aren’t murderers, don’t know what they’re doing, but are desperate to kill the anti-Christ before he can find and kill the reborn Christ. However, they still fuck up an awful lot and never really feel to pose any real threat to Damien.
I’d have loved it if half the movie played out in a cat and mouse game where the hunter and the hunted swap roles a few times, but the main push of the story involves a UK reporter (Lisa Harrow) who gets close to Damien and must be convinced he’s indeed evil incarnate.
That plays out fine and I especially like the easy conversion of her young son to one of Damien’s army, but not nearly as cool as pissed off priests with ancient daggers stalking the son of Satan. Just sayin’.
Let’s talk about the deaths. The Omen films have pretty good kills and this film is no exception. There’s not one death in OMEN III that comes close to the brilliant David Warner decapitation from the first film, but it makes a good show. One character gets wrapped up in burning plastic, leaving a damn gory mess when he’s put out. Then there’s the suicide I mentioned earlier, a gunshot so brutal that it really did remind me of those press conference suicides that pop up on Faces of Death.
Final Thoughts: A very fun, very wrong (in all the right ways) sequel that should have been a horrible film, but sharp direction from Graham Baker, a good script by Andrew Birkin, a fantastic central performance from Sam Neill and the right tone elevate the film farther than expected. It can’t stand should to shoulder with the first film, but then again what can?
Currently in print on DVD: YES
Currently available on Netflix Instant: NO
Upcoming A Movie A Day Titles:
Wednesday, October 27th: THE EVIL (1977)
Thursday, October 28th: THE DEVIL DOLL (1936)
Friday, October 29th: DARK NIGHT OF THE SCARECROW (1981)
Saturday, October 30th: SCARECROWS (1988)
Sunday, October 31st: RAZORBACK (1984)
I’m really excited to get to tomorrow’s THE EVIL. I saw a trailer for it recently and it had some imagery that I found familiar. There’s a film I saw on USA Up All Night as a young kid that I’ve been trying to place for years and it’s quite possible it’s this movie. Even if it isn’t, it’s Richard Crenna starring in a haunted house flick. So either way I’m a winner.
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
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Previous AMAD 2010’s:
- Raw Meat (1972)
- Ghost Story (1981)
- Two on a Guillotine (1965)
- Tentacles (1977)
- Bad Ronald (1974)
- The Entity (1983)
- Doctor X (1932)
- The Return of Doctor X (1939)
- The Tenant (1976)
- Man in the Attic (1953)
- New Year’s Evil (1980)
- Prophecy (1979)
- The Other (1972)
- The Mummy (1959)
- The Gorgon (1964)
- Mad Love (1935)
- Repulsion (1965)
- The Church (1989)
- The Black Cat (1981)
- The Black Cat (1934)
- The Comedy of Terrors (1963)
- Dolls (1987)
- The Silent Scream (1980)
- Scream of Fear (1961)
- The Mephisto Waltz (1971)
Click here for the full 215 movie run of A Movie A Day!
Readers Talkback
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Quite a few cues from this soundtrack get regular rotation on my iPod. RIP Jerry.
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This movie is actually tame by comparison to Obama's achievements. Quadrupling of the debt, a race war at the Arizona border, complete destruction of the health care system, double-digit unemployment. Satan himself couldn't have done such a great job.
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People usually love the supervillains anyway. The Joker is always more fun than Batman. And Obama is definitely supervillain material. Mr. Glass.
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It was a damn good film. I love at the end when he has pretty much gone full-on apeshit evil and is screaming: "NAZRENE!!!!"
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Oh yeah. That's the stuff right there.
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The megacides of the 20th century carried out By Stalin, Mao, and Pots (good athiests all the way) make Hitler look like a philanthropist. So fuck the left and it's smug anti-religion.
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I agree with most of what you say Quint, but I feel the climax really turned me sour on this film. The movie has this big build up for a big, biblical confrontation between Christ and the Anti-Christ, and totally blows it. The great that comes before it only makes the disappointment worse.
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-There is one more with a little girl in it, I think it was a made for TV movie though. It was included in the Omen box set that came out a while back.
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Love this movie and Goldsmiths score is phenomenal.
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Pass the apple sauce. A great film from Mulcahy and some of the cinematography in it (especially the fantasy sequences) give a nod to what is coming in Highlander. Love that film especially when the giant pig pull the guys house away from him, leaving him watching the TV as it disappears into the distance. An underrated classic!
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First paragraph after the pic. It is now official. I love all the Omen films (part IV lives with Godfather III...) IV is the one with the girl.
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I've always liked this final entry in the series too even though I've always thought the ending was a little weak after the build up for the battle of all time. My only logic problem comes with the plan of the seven assassin monks, each with one of the daggers. That's a really cool idea, but in the original film Bugenhagen explains that there is a specific process you must undertake with the daggers. The first one kills the human body, but not the Beast, and they must be inserted in a certain order to destroy the Beast. Surely the priests would've known this, so seperating the daggers wasn't a good idea.
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Much better deaths. And baby death always just warped me back in the day. Can't wait for the Razorback talk-back. Weird ass movie . . .
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In a sense
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And Episode 1, 2 and 3 should have taken lessons from the Omen trilogy as to how you add layers to an already known evil character. Plus - Neil looks like he COULD be the father of Mark Hamill -
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. . . the first one rules all.
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I love how Damien's right hand man draws the line at baby killing. He's on board with the whole eternal damnation thing, but when the baby killing directive is given he calls Damien crazy. And that shotgun suicide was a tad Mousetrap. Original's a classic, though.
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The ending sucked. However, Sam Neil ruled. Would have been better if the Anti-Christ killed Jesus and ruled the world in endless pain. Like Obama is doing now. : )
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is like the coolest scene in the whole movie. It's supposed to be telling the audience either it's the end of the world or the beginning I guess.
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Oct. 26, 2010, 10:44 p.m. CST
How could Goldsmith write such magnificent music for a movie...
by Nasty In The Pasty
...that climxes with Sam Neill getting owned by a fifty-foot tall glowing plastic Jesus? This ranks in the top ten of lame movies almost saved by brilliant scores (and another six or so movies on the list were scored by Goldsmith).
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THE FINAL CONFLICT is like the ultimate Hammer horror film, right down to the claustrophobic British settings, ruined abbeys, and mad monks. Except Hammer never had a music score that majestic.
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never forget...
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You are quite correct. Also the "kill" has to be made on hallowed ground. Which they seem to forget by part 3.
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How could The Church not know that Jesus is supposed to come back AS A MAN during the Second Coming and not reborn as a baby? Kinda stupid...
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The ending sucked, and ruined the entire franchise.
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Word the fuck up
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Damien was Satan in the form of a man and, thus, he had Man's physical limitations & weaknesses.<p></p> Jesus didn't return as a man, he returned as the "King of Kings" ... a phrase commonly used to describe God.<p></p> As far as the Assassin Priests who should've known better, remember that the Roman Catholic Church doesn't use Revelations (where the passages telling Jesus would return not as a man but as King of Kings)<p></p> So, essentially, Damien (who was in human mode) had no chance of beating Jesus (who was in God mode).<p></p> I guess the "moral" is that Evil gets so caught up in power and paranoia that it overlooks the small details ... like you're hunting for a GOD stupid!<p></p> oh, for the "Obama is the Anti-Christ" crowd: you've taken stupidity to a level that surpasses Sarah Palin.<p></p> grats!
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creepy skull baby in the baby carriage always freaks me out!!!...and yeah that ending was bordrline cheesy...
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I've only seen the first three, and I actually didn't like the second one that much. But I thought Sam Neill was a great anti-Christ. And I never even thought about voting for John Edwards because he looked too much like him in this. lol Sad but true. I loved how smooth Sam Neill played it. He almost had a James Bond swagger. And he was clearly a man among men, if you know what I'm sayin'. He'd have to be. I thought they got it just right. Shame it's not streaming on Netflix, or I'd rewatch it now.
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i'd prefer the first two, though. love the ice skating sequence in the 2nd one.
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Damien rises to power effortlessly. All who try and stop him get decimated with ease. However, at the end of the line, when it really matters, when all the marbles are at stake,[SPOILER] he lets a woman sneak up and stab him in the back?! The Son of Satan went down like that?![/SPOILER]
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Omen 1 to me is the best horror film of all time,its fuckin perfect in every way. The sequels were both good but weren't as good and i think we all agree on that one. I actually liked the ending of omen 3 though. The films were never about some big biblical battle in a special fx type way,it was always a more personal film with each of Damien's family trying to kill him,it was fitting that his lover killed him. I like the end scene,you really get a feeling of warmth like you've actually just come out of some dark shit! Brilliant.
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Sensational work from Jerry Goldsmith. All the idiots that bang on about Michael Giacchino being the new Williams or Goldsmith should listen to this before opening their traps.
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Being from a semi religious household, these movies scared the shit out of me. The score from all three movies is superlative. Im an athiest now so I kinda find it funny that these movies remind me of a more innocent time lol. BTW My grandmother still thinks im a satanist haha
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...but now that I realise there is no such thing as an omnipotent 'God' I find the whole thing completely laughable. Same goes for The Exorcist.
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Wow. Didn't see your post there. Great minds etc etc. I wouldn't say it was a more 'innocent time' (I used to be in the church choir and wear a crucifix!) because adults were doing our best to fuck our minds up with religious bullshit and put the fear of God into us. I'm in the UK and currently engaged in a huge struggle to get my child's school to exempt themselves from the compulsory 'Collective Worship' policy currently doing their best to tell children that the first humans were Adam and Eve. Surely people have the intelligence to recognise this is hogwash since Hubble.? I guess not.
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Just sayin'.
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A tribute to his great score: http://tinyurl.com/3a4pk34
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Everyone knows Obama was the first anti-Christ president.
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..but what does that make bush 2? creating a joke slide-show to search for non-existant WMDs in the oval office could only be conjured in the mind of lucifer himself: http://tinyurl.com/3anhds7
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...it's set in the 80's with a thirtysomething Damien, yet it came out only three years after the second installment, which kind of retcons the first two movies as being set in the 1950's, which they CLEARLY were not. If they had to go with an "adult Damien" idea, why didn't they just set it in the 90's or 00's?
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Bill Gates is the Anti-Christ. Saddam did have WMDs. He used them on his own people. We should have left the day we found out that they weren't there anymore. Good flick though
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Sorry. Old joke. The classroom scene in Omen 2 (Damien knowing all the answers) was my fave part.
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It's Exorcist II that sucks. And probably the Exorcist prequel, but I didn't even bother with that one.
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This would be a classic for me if not for that ending. Also, The AntiChrist is named George. His father was George. And his minion was Dick. 3 wars, thousands dead, country bankrupt.
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Liev Schreiber is many things, but a replacement for Gregory Peck he ain't.
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INFERNAL SPOILERS AHEAD the nanny hanging herself "for you damien", the raven's appearance on the fence before pecking the reporter's eyes out, the whole elevator bisection, mark's aneurism in the woods, dr. who getting the shaft, the train sandwich, the melting plastic monk on the t.v. set, the aforementioned crispy baby, and these are just a few deaths, not to mention the great score and bleary film stock(?) used in the first movie. i used love movies from that era, the way they'd weirdly lengthen people's heads and make everything more sinister seeming...
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..but it's one thing to invade a country with noble intentions (ha), it's completely another to then JOKE about the cause publicly while people are being killed.
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the one with the girl. you have to review that if you claim to love all the Omen. movies
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never forget...
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...everyone knows that would be Michael Eisner.<p>That is all.
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It is sew. Or sough. Or sow. Or...something like that.
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This series was good because of the clever brutal killings (in mainstream 1970's terms). The relentless demonic nature of the films came off as campy to me because the biblical prophesy story basis was only loosely based on the bible. The anti-christ reigns with 7 years of terror and then Christ (Nazarene? Really?) returns and banishes him for 1000 years before completely relegating him and his followers into the lake of fire for eternity...the end...So, the 3rd film didn't work at all because the killings were few and lame and it functioned only on the premise that what was unfolding for Damien was already written in prophesy, which it wasn't. It didn't work for me, sorry. Now you might tell me to suspend my disbelief (to use film school jargon), but the filmmakers took this road the moment they quoted the infamous 666 passage from Revelations, which by the way, is taken out of context in this series. I will say this: Sam Neil does evil well.
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Omen III hokey, silly but pretty well directed. I lost it when Jesus appeared. Dumb fun!
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Oct. 27, 2010, 11:40 a.m. CST
The AntiChrist Chasing a Old Monk In A Land Rover....
by Drunken Busboy
Isn't exactly a great ending! That's exactly how this movie ended to. Damien followed the monk & Reporter in his Land Rover to an abandoned ruined church. He got out of the Land Rover. Used the reporter's kid as a shield when Old Monk tries to stab him. Damien pushes old Monk down only to be stabbed by reporter! Sam Neill should have been given a chance to play Damien in two movies like the producers originally planned. The first of the two could have focused on Damien's rise in the business world then the 2nd of the two focus on his rise in politics and eventual downfall. The first two thirds of this movie Rock!! The last 1/3 utterly sucked for ending an excellent trilogy of Horror!
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I thought the Pedophile undertones between Damien & the reporter's son Peter made the movie creepier even more than the extravagant killings.
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It explores the ethics of the business world and how evil can flourish in it. I really wished the movie explored the Paul Beuhrer character played by Robert Foxworth more. That guy was an evil prick but very realistic to high powered businessmen of today!
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The Damien theme has dramatic orchestration reminding me of Vader's Empire theme. The fox hunt chase is a brilliant composition. And the build up to the desk suicide is great. But for best kills I have to say that II's "trapped under the ice during the hockey game" is the most nerve racking and the "severed in two by elevator cable" was pretty extreme and graphic for a late '70s studio production.
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of all is the swinging sign kill from the remake. It's just silly how fucking real that is. Anyone seen a making of of that scene? Head gets sliced then secondary motion of the headless body is either digital or practicle perfection. I haven't seen it since it came out but I think it might be bettany(America's favorite self flagellating angel warrior)getting chopped
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I find it really weird that people don't know there was a 4th one. even the soundtrack re-release art calls it a trilogy. I saw the 4th one...I dont recall it being that bad.
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..the Trilogy. One of the best scenes is when Damien discovered his 'true calling" thanks to Sgt. Neff (Played so brilliantly by Lance Henriksen.)and then there are the brutal killings, the reporter who gets her eyes gouged by a pack of ravens,the doctor gets sliced in half via elevator cables and then there's Mark's Anyurism.(maybe he should have accepted damien's offer.lol)<p>The conclusion felt a bit rushed, but still a worthy sequel.<p>TFC had it's moments and some were very shocking at that,from a Baby getting killed via Hot Iron, to Damien having sex with the reporter in the 'back door" if you know what i'm saying.And yes, The ending was disappointing.
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...what does that make Dubya?!?<p>(Cue Jeporady music )
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I agree, i always thought the second one was the best. I may have been to young to understand it when I saw it at the time, but Ive always loved the anti-christ being an unknowing teenager. Just seems appropriate. Too bad that show Pleasant Point never got the opportunity to explore it further.
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you might as well have ctrl+c'd both my posts up there! ;)
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But part 3 sucks, apart from the great typewriter-ribbon-tied-to-a-gun suicide death at the start of the film. What I'd like to know is why Damien can be killed with just one knife in part 3, when we've been told in the first two movies that you need a whole bunch of knives?
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..yes, the beheading (it was David Thewlis doing the David Warner redo, BTW) was the best, BEST thing about the remake. It had the perfect progression of Rube Goldberg-like events leading to the beheading, that was not overdone like the Final Destination series.
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he shoves it up her culo. <p> I always liked this film.
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...You should hunt down the books for OMEN Parts IV and V - they're obviously based on scripts for movies that never happened, were both written by people who wrote the first 3 books, and (unusually for most movie tie-ins) are really, really good. OMEN IV - ARMAGEDDON 2000 is about how the Tribulation starts (and, true to the 80s, it starts with a nuclear war), and OMEN V - THE ABOMINATION continues the story. You see, Damien got that reporter chick pregnant...<P> Great continuations to the story, both of them. You should check them out...
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...Was ET: THE BOOK OF THE GREEN PLANET. Seriously. Based on a story idea Spielberg and Melissa Matheson came up with, for a sequel that never happened. Which is great, because the end of the novel is really where Act I of the sequel-that-never-was SHOULD have happened. That said, it is a GREAT continuation of the original ET story, and would've made a great movie, though they've only now got the technology to properly realise stuff like the Flopgopple and ET's home, the Green Planet itself...
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is confusing in this movie. We're told that Christ will be reborn as a baby when the three stars merge. Why would God send His Son back to the world in a mortal form after He conquered the grave in His first coming? This leads to all of the babies being killed, which is pretty gruesome and certainly fits with the sick death scenes in the series. But at the end, Damian goes to the old Monastery, and when he confronts Christ the Savior is in the form of a man. Then we see a subtitle that says "Lo! The Lion of Judah! The Messiah returns not as a child, but as King of Kings!" or something like that. Kind of pulls the whole rug out from the movie. But I've always liked it, especially the score, and being an old fuddy duddy, I enjoyed seeing the devil whupped by Jesus at the end.
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very unneeded. I was actually surprised how good the remake was although it was way too obvious that Damien was evil. I was hoping that the remake would set up remakes of the sequels which could be improved on especially the 3rd movie.
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But the movie got panned. I think the tv movie was actually pretty decent but subpar compared to the previous 3 movies. I think if done right an Omen TV series could have been pretty cool. With all this Twilight & Smallville teen angst stuff an Omen TV series featuring Damien in his late teens figuring things out would have made me watch. An Evil protagonist is hardly done on TV anymore.
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That alone makes Part II pretty dam cool! ;)
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Oct. 27, 2010, 7:04 p.m. CST
After Being Raised Catholic and Many Sunday School Classes
by Drunken Busboy
I still never has an interest in reading the Bible until The Omen movies came along. I remember as a 12 year freaking out that a Horror movie was portraying the things to come and the Bible backed it up! The Exorcist didn't even do that for me.
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Atheism has no book that tells them they must do stupid ass shit to qualify as an atheist.<P> Idiots who bring up communist dictators as a strike against atheism while holding dear to a bible that says to kill women who don't leave pussy blood on the sheets the day after their honeymoon piss me the fuck off.
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As a child, I remember getting happy whenever Ave Satani would play. I liked Damien. He was cool when I was a kid.<BR><BR>That said, I hate part III because of the ending, which doesn't fit the rest of the series, AT ALL. It feels like a sad attempt at Christian validation and just negates everything we've seen in the series.
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that scene (from II) is eerie as hell.
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You know someone has them framed hanging on the wall in an office or behind the home bar! That's what I would do with them.
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Didn't the outgoing ambassador (who blows his brains out at the start) have Ruby Wax as his secretary? That's enough to make anyone kill themselves.
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I didnt read your aforementioned posts until now.(as i am quick to post my opinions in the forums.) Don't call it Plagurism, but instead; great minds think alike. (0:'
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weird we both used the word aneurism for mark's death in the woods..! that one always disturbed me the most. i think it was just after the point at which damien fully accepts his fate and starts to revel in it.
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...Fountains Abbey in North Yorkshire. Its fucking great, you can't help staring at the big window hoping a holographic Jesus will appear. Great flick, this. PLUS - Lisa Harrow was intensely bangable.
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Graham Baker says in The commentary on the DVD that the strange crucifix is an actual German Crucifix from the 16th century.
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Actually Atheism depends on the bible. Bases most of its arguments against a judeo-christian god. Atheism falls to shit when confronted with certain eastern religions and the Prime Mover belief of some ancient greek and roman philosophers. <p> And if you think a bloody sheet in the bible compares to somewhere between 70-100 million killed by Atheist governments, you are simply another fool blinded by ideology. An archaic proof of virginity is so ideologically terrifying to you that it is on the same level as millions dead. Wow. Just wow. <P> Throw in all the murders Christian governments have committed in the name of God and add Adolf Hitler for shits and giggles and you're still nowhere near the megacides committed by Communist (aka Atheist) regimes. <p> Christianity at least tells you that murder is fucking wrong. And before you go dragging out the old testament you can get fucked. Christians are not Orthodox Jews from the ancient world. They had a new covenant with God that cast aside the old Mosaic Laws. How many people did Jesus have murdered in the New Testament? How many lands did he conquer? Jesus Crispies annoy me at times, but Atheist fucks piss me off a whole lot more. Fuckers believe in NOTHING but the glorious state.
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..and the crusades anyone? extremist muslims believe in a higher power also. your tally of atrocities is puerile. extremism of any stripe is the problem. using religion to further the true goal (acquisition of power) is as evil as any other version of human slaughter or suppression.
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Okay, then: <p> The inquisitions were enacted as a means of re-establishing "law and order" during and after the black plaque and mini ice age, where it was constantly raining and Europeans could not grow crops (a lot of Europeans truly believed it was indeed the End of Time). It was not so much about hunting witches as thieves and scavengers...when law and order was slowly but surely re-established, it became a tool by the powers that be (the existing institutions at the time, being the nobles, the priests and popes -who were quite wealthy- and trade merchants) to destroy political challengers. It is similar to what you see with the Media at times. So it is not so much a Christian thing, as it was those who were in power destroying those who challenged them, or those who were appropriately powerless enough to be used as scapegoats (so people would not blame them and thus revolt). <p> The crusades were in response to the Holy Jihad. One thing that people do not know is that the first crusade was the "children's crusade", where a few hundred children led by monks were sent as emmisaries to the middle east to negotiate the re-opening of christian pilgrimage sites. Muslims in turn killed the monks and enslaved the children (Tolkein based some elements of LORD OF THE RINGS from this event), which then led to bonafide armies being sent in to forcibly re-open the pilgrimage sites... of course, once there, more baser desires of conquest emerged.
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The reason the 7 monks only took one dagger apiece is that the original method per THE OMEN was that you needed one dagger to kill the Anti-Christ's body, whereas the other daggers (placed into his body per the outline of the cross) would send his soul permanently back to Hell. If the other 6 daggers were not used, the spirit would inhabit another baby or fertilized egg and be reborn. <p> In the case of OMEN 3, the rest of the procedure was no longer needed, being that if The Messiah was truly returning, it would not matter if the Anti-Christ found a new host baby, since the Apocalypse would be quite a bit quicker than 20 to 30 years. Thus, all the monks needed to do was kill Damien's body, which would then allow Christ to return without opposition.
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They were still "The Holy Roman Empire", as it was things like the Inquisition and actions similar to those seen in the film THE DEVILS (which does take liberties with its visuals, but is fairly true to the general behavior and issues of the characters and the time) that led to the "Protest"ant reformation and the fragmenting of the Holy Roman Empire into Protestants, Catholics (which is latin for "universal"), Calvinists, etc.
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‘Darkness Will Devour Them All!!’
Sunday Brings Antepenultimate GAME OF THRONES For HBO!! -- 23 total posts 23 posts - 1st Trailer for Jean Pierre Jeunet's THE YOUNG AND PRODIGIOUS SPIVET!!! Joy Follows... -- 30 total posts 13 posts
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