Warning: This review contains spoilers for the first movie in the series. I highly recommend you watch The Omen before reading this review

At the end of The Omen we left little Damien at the grave of his parent. With Damien: Omen II it's now several years later and Damien has been living with his aunt, uncle, and their son Mark (who has become Damien's best friend).

Mark and Damien have been sent to a kinda military sorta private school where our now not-so-little Antichrist starts really testing his powers out. Mayhem ensues, as you can well imagine.

This time instead of Donner at the helm, we have Don Taylor directing. Usually when you switch directors in a sequel it does not bode well, but I say this is an exception. I watched these back to back and the feel of these first two remained constant (even with this one being filmed in Wisconsin rather than the UK), and that's the hardest part to get right, innit? Taylor's name may not be on everyone's lips like Donner's is, but he's no stranger to horror flicks having held the reigns on Island of Dr. Moreau, another flick I thoroughly enjoyed.

Having stupidly turned down the lead in the first flick, William Holden decided he best try to get in on the popularity this time around and took the role of the uncle. Holden is no slouch and does every bit as good in the role of patriarch as Gregory Peck did in the first one. The transitions from confident to blindly optimistic to suspicious to downright horrified are handled expertly.

Lee Grant also does well to match her predecessor, Lee Remick, in the matriarchal role. In fact, I have a hard time separating the two in my head now. Eerie, that.

Oddly enough, Brazillian actor Jonathan Scott-Taylor is cast as Damien this go 'round and comes off as perfectly proper and English. Not a hint of a Brazillian accent at all. This kid really, really pulled this role off with style and nary a missed beat. The facial expressions are remarkable. We know when Damien is about to jiggy with it just by looking at his eyes. Way cool job.

Once again we have an R rating in the USA, and once again I'm saying this is not going to turn your young kids into a serial killer. Unless they are prone to night terrors, let them watch.

In my view, this one may not have completely lived up to Donner's vision in the first, but it stood well against it. Well enough for me to go 4 1/2 stars.. I'll round that up to 5 and say if you're into horror flicks, go on and buy the whole set on this series.


Final Conflict: Omen III

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Recommended:
Yes