Considering it was cranked out only two years after the original and that Richard Donner and David Seltzer don’t return, “Damien: Omen II” (1978) is an attention-holding and worthwhile continuation. We jump ahead in time to catch up with Damien (Jonathan Scott-Taylor), who is 13 and attending military school.
Back in the USA
The action moves to Chicago, where Damien is raised by his uncle Richard Thorn (William Holden) and aunt Ann (Lee Grant). Director Don Taylor doesn’t provide the moody religious atmosphere that Donner did, but it’s nonetheless enjoyable to soak up the Seventies trappings (even though this is set in the Eighties — I think). And Jerry Goldsmith’s thick religious score, complete with chorus, does help.
None of the kills are as iconic as in “The Omen,” although that’s a very high bar. But writers Stanley Mann and Mike Hodges do pepper in a lot of new characters who are suspicious that Damien might be the Devil reincarnated, and Damien subconsciously (or consciously, later on) picks them off in creative ways.
“Damien: The Omen II” (1978)
Director: Don Taylor; Mike Hodges (uncredited)
Writers: Stanley Mann, Mike Hodges (screenplay); Harvey Bernhard (story)
Stars: William Holden, Lee Grant, Jonathan Scott-Taylor
Over six Tuesdays, RFMC is looking back at five films and one TV series in the “Omen” franchise.
If you’ve ever wondered what a “Final Destination” movie in the Seventies would be like, well, “Damien: Omen II” is it. Some kills simply require actors to act like they’re being attacked by an invisible force, and others are a little cheesy, like the opening cave-in that dispatches Bugenhagen (Leo McKern), the only survivor from the first film who knows Damien’s secret identity.
But other sequences are creative – notably poor Dr. Kane (Meshach Taylor), who is trapped in an out-of-control elevator.
Moody teenager
Looking like a morose version of how Corey Feldman would look a decade later, Scott-Taylor is an excellent Damien. In the first film, Damien is a toddler, so I presume he is killing people subconsciously. That’s how it seems at the start of this one, too.
If he’s the Devil but he doesn’t know he is, that makes him somewhat of a tragic victim. It raises the question of whether it’s morally right to kill him – as his father tries to do in “The Omen,” and as his uncle is eventually convinced to attempt here.
At some point late in the film, without an obvious inciting incident, Damien embraces that he’s the Devil and consciously kills people. The transition is complete, as we knew it had to be. I would’ve liked a little more internal conflict to Damien’s turn to the dark side. Perhaps cousin Mark (Lucas Donat) could’ve been played up more as a stabilizing influence.
Instead, while it’s sometimes unclear if Damien knows his true identity, there’s never any doubt that he’s comfortable with who he is. When people in his circle drop dead, he’s never bothered.
Powerful family
Attempting to add richness to the surrounding world, we learn the Thorn family is a corporate power. It branches into electronics and energy, but board member Paul (Robert Foxworth) — perhaps one of Damien’s secret disciples — has an additional idea: to buy up poor farmers’ land around the world and plant genetically modified crops.
This leads to a fascinating moral situation that socio-economic-political theorists still struggle with. The people will be saved from starvation, but they will also essentially be slaves on their own land. It’s heavy handed that Paul says he wants Thorn Industries to get in the business of “famine.” That’s not a good word to use when trying to appeal to his Richard’s moral concerns. But it evokes Biblical terminology, which is the point.
It’s both interesting and odd that “Damien” combines foreboding religiousness with modern technology. But the film certainly handles the combination more smoothly than “Exorcist II: The Heretic” did one year prior. That film goes into sci-fi territory with a device that measures supernatural forces – admittedly a small qualm in an overall terrible film.
“Damien: Omen II” blends things smoothly as it lays the groundwork for how Damien will hold power in the Earthly world once he reaches adulthood. We’re getting further away from the wonderful mood of the original. But the narrative – although broadly predictable — retains some grandeur, and the proto-“Final Destination” kills are fun for horror nerds. I remain on board to see what happens next.