Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Damien: Omen II (1978)

3/31/2016

Damien: Omen II (1978) - Mimicking follow-up is a true turkey

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A poster for Don Taylor and Mike Hodges' successful Damien: Omen II

QUICK REVIEW:

Seven years after the events of the first film, (the masterpiece The Omen (1976)), devil-boy Damien lives with his rich, initially unsuspecting uncle and his family, until he is to go away to a military school.

Rarely has a phenomenal first film been followed by as poor a sequel as is the case here. The awfully titled Damien: Omen II is a big production, justified by the massive success of the original film, led by William Holden (The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)), who was there for what must have been a hefty paycheck, (let's not kid ourselves.) He was offered the Thorn-part in the original The Omen but turned it down due to his distaste of starring in a film of the devil, - but after the film's incredible success, he made sure to agree to do the sequel...
The tentative chills of the film are soon replaced by a sense of 'who-dies-next', which isn't scary at all, and worse is that the death scenarios are almost ridiculous more than once, SPOILER with the scene of the man who dies under the ice, - which changes from being glass-like to completely white and nontransparent between shots, - being the worst.
The promising premise of Omen II is wasted in what turns out to be nothing more than a stupid rehash, which attempts to match the brilliant first film as if filmmaking was nothing more than a can factory.
Stanley Mann (Firestarter (1984)) wrote the script, based on Harvey Bernhard's (Omen IV: The Awakening (1991, TV movie)) story and David Seltzer's characters (Bird on a Wire (1990)), and the film was initially directed by Mike Hodges (Flash Gordon (1980)), who was thought slow and therefore got replaced by Don Taylor (The Island of Dr. Moreau (1977)). The film is a case of the fatal combination; bad start, middle and end. - Damien: Omen II is just plain bad!

Willam Holden applies a stern face in Don Taylor and Mike Hodges' Damien: Omen II

In lieu of a trailer for the movie, not currently on Youtube, here is Jerry Goldsmith's (The Omen) opening theme

Cost: 6.8 mil. $
Box office: 26.5 mil. $ (North America only)
= Big hit (at least)
[Damien: Omen II was released June 9 and runs 107 minutes. The only returning actor is Lew McKern (The Blue Lagoon (1980)) as Bugenhagen, who, however, went uncredited. The film is mainly set in Chicago, and the Thorn Industries building is in fact Chicago's city hall, but filming also took place in Wisconsin. The film opened #1 in North America in just 525 theaters to an astounding 3.8 mil. $ first weekend. The franchise continued with The Final Conflict (1981), Omen IV: The Awakening (1991, TV movie), The Omen Legacy (2001, TV movie) and The Omen (2006, remake). Damien: Omen II is rotten at 41 % with a 5 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

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Donald Sutherland has passed away

Born in Canada, Sutherland battled polio as a child. His first credit was in Suspense (1963, TV-series) and his first film was The Castle of the Living Dead (1964). Later credits in his remarkable career include The Saint (1965-66), The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), 1900 (1976), Casanova (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Ordinary People (1980), A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), Fallen (1998), Virus (1999), Fierce People (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lord of War (2005), The Hunger Games (2012), The Undoing (2020, miniseries) and many more. He passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Roger Corman has passed away

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Corman had a sprawling, intellectually hungry life as a youth and young man before arriving with his first film in 1955, Five Guns West. He would follow that with titles such as Apache Woman, It Conquered the World, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Teenage Cave Man, A Bucket of Blood, House of Usher, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Intruder, The Raven, The Terror, The Masque of Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Wild Angels, The Trip, Bloody Mama and many more. As a producer he was behind almost 500 films. Arguably among the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, Corman passed away at age 98. R.I.P.

William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

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3/31/2016

Damien: Omen II (1978) - Mimicking follow-up is a true turkey

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