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 Director
: Don Taylor
Starring
: Lee Grant, William Holden, Jonathan Scott-Taylor, Robert
Foxworth, Nicholas Pryor, Lew Ayres, Sylvia Sidney.
Picture
2.35:1 Anamorphic, DD Surround, Single-Side Single-Layer,
Keep Case
Running
Time : 107 mins
The
story:
The
first time was only a warning.
Since
the sudden and highly suspicious death of his parents, 12-year-old
Damien has been in charge of his wealthy aunt and uncle
(Lee Grant and William Holden). Widely feared to be the
Antichrist, Damien relentlessly plots to seize control of
his uncle's business empire -- and the world. Meanwhile,
anyone attempting to unravel the secrets of Damien's sinister
past or fiendish future meets with a swift and cruel demise.
In this chilling sequel to The Omen, the forces of good
and evil battle each other to a taut and terrifying end.
The
summary:
Whilst
Damien:Omen II never quite reaches the heights of the original,
its an important horror that fans of the original will applaud.
Following on from where The Omen left off, the film centres
around Damien aged 12. Whilst eyeing-up the girls and a
crafty cigarette behind the bike shed keep most kids of
his age happy, Damien prefers killing off those that threaten
his destiny, as most good antichrists do. Omen II is much
gorier than the original - thanks mainly to a bigger budget
- and features a few horrific scenes featuring such joys
as runaway lifts and under-ice swimming. These scenes are
included to beef up the horror aspect, as following on from
The Omen is a tricky thing to do and unfortunately much
of the suspense has been lost. The spooky supernatural elements
of The Omen have been removed (such as the photographic
death predictions) leaving us with more action in it's place.
Another
well-written script ensures that the viewer is instantly
hooked and even between killings the time is well spent
developing the characters and revealing more of Damiens
destiny. William Holden is without a doubt the star of the
show but Jonathan Scott-Taylor (Damien) also puts in a commendable
performance. Sure, the acting can seem a bit wooden at times
but that's mainly the fault of the script rather than the
actors. The whole story is held together by the talented
Jerry Goldsmith's superb musical score in much the same
way as The Omen. Perhaps not a classic compared to the first
in the trilogy (and to be fair, it's hard not to compare
the films like-for-like), this is still one of the best
horror sequels to date and still chills in a way that belies
its 23 years.
A
good (but not great) disc from 20th Century Fox, it's main
flaws are the lack of extras. Fox can only have themselves
to blame for this, as compared to the supplementally-endowed
Omen this sequel comes off badly. They shouldn't have spoiled
us the first time round...
An
essential addition to your collection if you're a horror-fan
and a worthwhile addition if you liked the original. If
you haven't seen the first film then you MUST before you
even think about seeing this.
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