Modern Monsters
After a popular The Omen featured a spooky child and some memorable death scenes, including the possibly best decapitation ever filmed, a captivated audience wanted to know what kind of a teenager Damien, now an orphan, would become. The answer was not the one they expected: the Devil's son had become KD Lang. With Dumbo ears.The beginning, a cartoonish jeep ride hysterically scored by a Jerry Goldsmith searching for the face of Jesus and manically played by an Ernest Hemingway wannabe, sets the tone for the rest of the movie. A priceless statue of the Whore of Babylon is discovered in some architectural digging site, along with a fresco depicting Damien, conveniently painted at the age he is now. The archaeologists are promptly dispatched and we can meet the Beast.Damien (KD Lang), now living in his uncle's (William Holden) estate, is quite the rascal, and a douche. Aunt Marion (Sylvia Sidney) dislikes him and wants him separated from his cousin Mike. This causes a feud at the diner table, after which it's time for The Super Duper Whore of Babylon Slide Show, during which the evil eye of a raven stops Aunt Marion's heart in her upstairs room.Uncle Richard is president of Thorne Industries, a vague yet powerful conglomerate which apparently owns an agricultural compound in New York City. The firm's new executive director wants to rule the world through seeds, which confirms than Monsanto IS the devil. This is established after another ridiculous ride, this one on a golf cart. So we have the demon, we have seed, let's spawn!Enter Joan Hart (Elizabeth Shepherd), in flamboyant scarlet red, and one gasps. The "young woman" announced during the slide show must be well in her forties. She's a good looking lady, but calling her a "young woman" is pushing the envelope a bit, underlining how geriatric the cast mostly is. The lady in red cranks hysteria up to 11 as soon as she appears, yelling "You are in danger!" to Uncle Richard. But she is unable to be more specific. She goes to Damien's football practice (hey, why not?), recognizes the face of Evil and flies to her prompt demise, a ludicrous raven attack during which Jerry Goldsmith, all barrels blazing, manages to over-score himself.One would thinks that after such a blast we would all have a moment. No such luck. Let's go jet-ski and have a snowball fight turned epic battle by Jerry in a trance! This is Damien's birthday, see, and no expense has been spared. There is the most hideous cake ever, a Polaroid with flash and even a firework which everyone watches in awe, sporting brightly coloured Aran sweaters. "Suspicion of destiny. We all have them", sagaciously observes one of the evil guys. The Thorne residence is full of random woodwork, delirious curtain arrangements and atrocious antiques. The most hideous family room ever doubles as a movie theater.People on the East Coast do love their sports; it's now time for an ice hockey match on the estate's frozen lake. Another good guy, who is clearly too old for this kind of activity, drowns when the ice breaks. Uncle Richard is devastated, his very bright yellow cap somehow undermining his grief.Back to military school, Damien is even more a douche then before. His sargeant (Lance Henriksen, always a good sign), wisely advise him to read the Book of Revelations to understand who he is. True to its name, the read, a bit like a user manual, allows Damien to locate the exact spot where the number of the Beast is tattooed on the skin of his skull. Accompanied by the 666 horns of The Goldsmith Fanfare, Damien runs through the woods, to the end of a pontoon where he screams "WHY ME???" to the dark heaven. Oh God. Why, indeed?A school visit is ludicrously set to take place during a very delicate checking process at the Thorne plant, now a chemical facility. Toxic compounds are released, killing another good guy. Damien has not been affected by the leak and a doctor runs some tests to understand why. His lab is for some reason full of bubbling red alembics you would expect in a witch lair, but not in a modern research facility.After discovering Damien has jackal blood (what, not hooves?), the good doctor is offed in an attempt to equal the surprise decapitation of the first movie. No raven this time, only the filmed evidence that the butter- cutting wire is a demonic invention.Uncle Richard starts having his doubts about Damien. Well, it only took him five violent deaths in his immediate entourage to get there. He nevertheless remains in denial when the curator of the Met brings him a letter of Revelations and a box. What's in the box? What's in the box? WHAT'S IN THE BOX?!?!? The Megiddo daggers, the only weapons able to destroy Damien. These, as the Whore of Babylon statue, will remain loose ends.Cousin Mike (remember him?) is troubled. He follows Damien out in the snow, where he has his head telepathically crushed. A huge funeral ensues, with mountains of flowers, a motorcade and more Goldsmith that it is humanly possible to endure.The Met curator is killed by nothing less than a locomotive, in true Final Destination fashion. A incongruous boogie-woogie cotillion happens for Graduation Day. Uncle Richard unsuccessfully attempts to kill Damien and is shot by his wife, screaming "DAAAAAAMIEEEEEN!"Should one mentions that the end credits roll on a bombastic "Ave Satani Versus Jesus" choir? Jerry, calm down. There is still one movie to be scored. There is no card indicating how many horn players were harmed during the recording of the soundtrack.
smooth_op_85
Robert Thorn and family are now gone as Damien is now being raised by his Uncle Richard (the brother of Robert) and wife Anne with his cousin Mark.Sent off to a military academy where they have family ties, Damien starts to notice strange things happening to him and others. First, he stares at a kid who later goes haywire. Next, he knows all the dates his history teacher gives him the names of events to and from there it gets stranger and stranger as he now comes into his power.What I liked about the first film was the journey. Robert didn't believe that his son could be of all the AntiChrist. He followed a trail that closed behind him until the final scene and finish Richard however, shows the business side of the Thorn family as well as people trying to warn Richard that the fate of his brother could be his soon. It's a race against time to find if he could succeed where his brother failed.With a lot of great scenery, brightness, good acting, I actually like their voices for the era they're filming in (late 1970s) and the story as well as the music which was a strong feature of the first. This one ramps up the kills which are inventive and strange enough to warrant attention. The sequel does seem to leave out some of the calculated trail of the first then speeds up to catch up. I give this film an 8 because it's well done, sleek and modern for its time while also having a bit of nostalgia It's a great film to get lost in if you want to be delighted and terrified at the same time
GL84
Sent off to a military school by his uncle, a teen comes to learn that his past includes his secret as the Antichrist and sets off learning his newfound powers while those around him try to curtail the rise of his destiny.This is quite a decent effort that does entertain on its' own but does fall flat against the original. One of the better elements is the fact that there's a much more impressive sense of grandeur than expected here in regards to the intense action throughout here, as there's much more here than initially expecting along the film. There's a fine energy here from the film's big action scenes such as the opening crypt burial with the two professors or the highway attack with the crow on the reporter which helps this one move along at a much brisker pace as these big energy scenes come along at a far greater rate in this one. For the most part, this greater influx of scenes also allows this one to pack in much more gruesome and graphic deaths with a much larger body count to work with getting that extra play by really upping the ante here with some rather spectacular kills which is what really gives this one some good moments with here. This spectacular sense, though, highlights the first of the film's flaws here in the fact that the film opts for the grand showcase rather than the realistic throughout here. The fact that this one goes for that grandiose sense of spectacular kills and action scenes really tends to throw the sense of logic and reason found in the original which loses the tense and scares there so it has fun and exciting scenes rather than chilling. The sense of atmosphere it featured is dropped off for a conflicting attitude which is quite disastrous to this one as it seems to conflict with the ominous tone from the storyline about the dawning of his legacy. This also brings up the other big flaw here about this one which is the lacksidaiscal plot pace here which doesn't really move along all that quickly so the spectacle comes off really forced in even more obviously against the storyline pace as it meanders along providing the opposite reaction intended against the stellar action by taking so long as it does to get the truth out. The last part here that doesn't really hold up is the finale which comes in really rushed and seems designed to set-up the next film rather than actually conclusively ending this one. Otherwise, it's a decent enough effort.Rated R: Graphic Violence and Language.
