Damien: Omen 2

Starring:William Holden, Lee Grant, Jonathan Scott-Taylor, Robert Foxworth, Nicholas Pryor, Lew Ayres, Sylvia Sidney, Lance Henriksen, Elizabeth Shepherd, Lucas Donat, Allan Arbus, Fritz Ford, Meshach Taylor, John J. Newcombe, John Charles Burns, Paul Cook (II), Diane Daniels, Robert E. Ingham, William B. Fosser, Corney Morgan
Director: Mike Hodges, Don Taylor
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Product Type: DVD

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Several years after the mysterious events that claimed the life of the U.S. Ambassador and his wife, the now teenaged and militarily enrolled Damien Thorne is slowly being made aware of his unholy heritage and horrific destiny. Woe is he (including anyone in Damien's adoptive family and his classmates) who suspects the truth or gets in his way. While not as unrelentingly frightening as its blockbuster predecessor, this more-than-competent sequel to The Omen raises some interesting questions about the nature of free will (can the antichrist deny his birthright?) before falling into a gory series of increasingly outlandish deaths, the best of which is a terrifyingly protracted scene beneath the ice of a frozen lake. Jerry Goldsmith (who won an Oscar for his work on the first film in the series) contributes another marvelously foreboding score. --Andrew Wright

Customer Reviews:

Best One Made.......2007-03-24

This was the best of all the Omen Movies. It really shows the battle between good and evil in all of us.

Bad Flicks Go To Hell.......2006-12-21

Like the initial "Omen" entry, this sequel tries so hard to be "scary." It's this ham-fisted effort to induce Terror that gives the film its ridiculously amateurish feel; here is the cynosure of comic book Apocalypse, a flatland of imagination that makes "Jason Goes To Hell" look like "Macbeth" by comparison!
As with the first "Omen" the most significant part of Omen The Second seems to be the musical score; based on Gregorian chant the sound is often thrilling. It is not, however, the Bold & Original Stroke that provincial critics would have one believe. In fact, legendary director Amando de Ossorio used ecclesiastical chants a few years previously in his "Blind Dead" series (a quartet of truly unsettling films beside which the "Omen" trilogy appears laughable). But not to digress: as the most noteworthy aspect of "The Omen 2"--its music--amounts to plagiarism, that should indicate what a shoddy flick we are considering here.
Tailor-made for dullards, the "Omen" trilogy will always garner a large audience. Nowadays it appeals mainly to Nostalgia freaks obsessed with any/all products of cheesy old Hollywood. More sophisticated life-forms, however, would do well to avoid these dreary flicks.

The Omen (the sequel).......2006-12-18

The Omen 2 (1978) is the sequel to the original 1976 film The Omen. The story continues after the first where Damien is now a teenage military academy student and is one step closer to realizing who he really is and his heritage. Damien now lives with his aunt and uncle since his father Robert was killed.

At first, Damien is unaware of the incidents that took place during the first film. This makes him innocent at first but whenever someone crosses his path it is very apparent that something evil is going to happen. The film, like the original, has many memorable scenes and was also creepy though not as creepy as the first. With another good script and continuing good suspense, this movie is also a classic though a notch down overall from the first. If you haven't seen it yet, you should.

The Son of a Jackal.......2006-10-31

As a film in its own right, Damien: Omen II is a somewhat desultory and stagnant affair. A laconic pace isn't helped by fairly uninspired acting and direction, although Jerry Goldsmith once again produces a memorable score. As a sequel to a very successful horror film however this film isn't too bad at all. Every horror fan by now knows the curse of the sequel and although Damien: Omen II is nowhere near as good as its predecessor it still has a lot going for it. Where it really excels is in its particularly imaginative set pieces, which I won't spoil here. Also like most decent modern horror films it has more to say than simply revelling in cathartic acts of violence. In the first film Damien is linked to the political arena, now he makes the shift towards the very heart of capitalist America; big business. Considering this is a Hollywood production it's quite amusing to see Damien rise to power through capitalism and consumerism, the very tools by which Hollywood and America are founded on. The natural connotation of this is that capitalism is satanic, a great plague spreading it's way across the world.

There is definitely some value to this sequel, which is incredibly rare for the horror genre, however the film does suffer from a somewhat flat and colourless quality and has the overall appearance of a made for TV movie.

I actually liked Damien in this film!.......2006-10-23

Damien is a worthy successor to the original Omen classic. The music is taken up a notch from the original by Jerry Goldsmith. I loved this film all the way. What I particularly liked was the chemistry between Jonathan Scott-Taylor and Lucas Donat. They actually seem like real brothers. That's why Mark's death was so sad and painful to see (I'm sure Damien must have felt the same way). Another standout was Lee Grant-her acting was so strong, really convincing. All in all, a great movie, really awesome!!

DVD:

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