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| Sam Neill enveloped in a ring of fire and US state and satanic symbols looking dubious on this poster for Graham Baker's The Final Conflict |
Devil child Damien has become an adult and the leader of Thorn Industries, when he is appointed the new US ambassador to London, and star formations show that the second coming is getting near. - The antichrist must be stopped!
The Final Conflict is written by Andrew Birkin (Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006)), following Richard Donner's orignal masterpiece The Omen (1976) and turkey sequel Damien: Omen II (1978), and is directed by debuting Graham Baker (Born to Ride (1991)).
It is a bit better than the preceding, ridiculous Omen II: Sam Neill (Tommy's Honour (2016)) is good as Damien, - although his speeches about the Nazarene are a bit long. Final Conflict also has a production size and several fine ideas, which made me want to pay attention to it. Lisa Harrow (Sunday (1997)) is also good as the journalist character. And Jerry Goldsmith's (Mulan (1998)) score does its part for the film.
The Final Conflict has a dog attack scene that is severely involuntarily comedic.
Related post:
Omen franchise: Damien: Omen II (1978) - Mimicking follow-up is a true turkey
Watch a 30 second TV ad for the film here
Cost: 5-6 mil. $ (different reports)
Box office: 20.4 mil. $ (North America only)
= Big hit (returned 3.4 times its cost in North America alone)
[The Final Conflict was released 20 March (USA) and runs 108 minutes. Shooting took place in England, including London, and in Wisconsin and Washington DC in and around May 1980. SPOILER Reportedly the scene in a TV studio of the death of a priest, who burns while trapped in melting plastic, was the hardest to shoot, taking 2 weeks to get right. Stuntman Vic Armstrong did the backwards 100 foot fall from a bridge for the film, calling it the most frightening stunt of his career. The story changes the franchise's chronology to make Damien's adulthood in 1981 possible. It opened #1 to a 5.5 mil. $ first weekend in 918 theaters in North America, where its gross dipped 6 mil. $ from the previous film's earnings. Globally, a conservative gross estimate might be 30-35 mil. $. The franchise returned only many years hence with Omen IV: The Awakening (1991, TV movie), a flop, and was attempted rebooted later with financially successful but critically panned The Omen (2006). Baker returned with Impulse (1984). Neill returned in Attack Force Z (1981). The Final Conflict is rotten at 32 % with a 4.43/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of The Final Conflict?
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