THE FINAL CONFLICT

Son of Satan: Sam Neill

THE FINAL CONFLICT aka Omen III: The Final Conflict/1981. Director: Graham Baker.

"Most people confuse 'evil' with their own trivial lusts and perversions." -- Damien Thorn

Damien Thorn (Sam Neill), the anti-Christ, is now grown and still causing bloody mischief after the events of The Omen and Damien: Omen 2. Thorn becomes the new ambassador to Britain, then discovers that the Christ child has been born in London. Even as Thorn has his minions murdering male infants in case one of them is his adversary, Father DeCarlo (Rossano Brazzi) and his monks attempt to kill Thorn with special daggers -- only the little devil outwits them every time. Thorn develops a relationship with reporter Kate Reynolds (Lisa Harrow), but seems more interested in indoctrinating her teenage son, Peter (Barnaby Holm), into the ways of evil and lord only knows what else. But Damian's plans may come to nothing despite his best efforts ... The Final Conflict is a highly-enjoyable, slick and well-made horror film if you don't take it seriously, which is impossible to do for all but the sub-literate. On that mindless level the film boasts an excellent performance from Neill [Daybreakers], and a very notable turn from Don Gordon, who is Damien's executive assistant, and unbeknownst to Thorn, the father of a boy born on the wrong day. Brazzi [Summertime] doesn't seem to take anything that seriously, and probably didn't; Harrow and Holm are fine. The set-pieces in the film -- an assassin gets caught in a fiery trap while trying to kill Damien in a TV studio; the assorted suspenseful murders of the infants -- are well-done although a scene with dogs allegedly tearing a monk apart doesn't quite work because the rather cute doggies don't actually seem to be doing anything. The film is tremendously bolstered by a near-operatic score by Jerry Goldsmith, who has delivered an epic and beautiful theme with demonic undertones, and embellishes every scene with a sweeping and majestic backdrop. When Kate is, to all intents and purposes, raped late in the movie, she has virtually no reaction! But then the filmmakers have no more compassion for the assorted victims than Damien does.

NOTE: This was followed by the TV movie Omen IV, and just this year A and E had a series entitled Damien detailing the further adventures of Damien Thorn; it lasted one season.

Verdict: Comparatively empty but engaging and rather clever horror flick. *** out of 4.

THE CHOSEN aka RAIN OF FIRE

THE CHOSEN (aka Holocaust 2000 aka Rain of Fire/1977). Director/co-writer: Alberto De Martino.

Released in theaters in 1977, this Italian film has had its name changed more than once, and resurfaced on DVD as Rain of Fire (not to be confused with Reign of Fire, which was about dragons decimating the world of the future). It would seem for all the world like a direct imitation of Damian: Omen 2 -- there's an anti-Christ, sinister deaths and "accidents," and even a doctor cut in half -- were it not for the fact that it came out one year earlier. In any case, The Chosen was clearly influenced by The Omen (1976) and is in some ways a very loose "sequel" to that film. Robert Caine (Kirk Douglas) wants to build a thermonuclear power plant in the mid-east but there's a great deal of opposition to it, including objections from his own wife (Virginia McKenna), who is an early victim of an assassin's blade supposedly meant for Caine. In short order others who oppose the plant are killed off, even as Caine is told that the unborn child he is having with journalist Sara Golan (Agostina Belli) may be the anti-Christ. Then there's Caine's pleasant son, Angel (Simon Ward), who may be anything but. An interesting aspect of the picture is the notion that this plant may be a modern-day embodiment of a seven-headed demon with ten crowns that "will rise from the sea and destroy the world." Adolfo Celi of Thunderball, Alexander Knox [The Sleeping Tiger], and Anthony Quayle [A Study in Terror] are also in the cast. The movie is dull, poorly made and indifferently directed, although the actors, including Douglas (who appears buck naked in a dream sequence to show off what good shape he was in at 61), do the best they can with mediocre and mostly unoriginal material. A gruesome scene involves a politician and the spinning blades of a helicopter, and an unintentionally comical one has a Catholic priest attempting to mastermind an unwilling abortion! The music tries to imitate the score of The Omen without being one tenth as effective.

Verdict: Watch Damian: Omen 2 instead. *1/2.