Samhain Project Op-Ed by Aidan Will: Damien Omen II

 

The story continues in Don Taylor’s Damien: Omen II. Jonathan Scott-Taylor takes the titular role of the Antichrist, now 12 years old and an honor student in military school. Leo McKern briefly reprises the role of Bugenhagen in a prologue where he attempts to convince his friend (Ian Hendry) that Damien Thorn is the Antichrist. They are both buried alive in a tunnel where a painted wall depicts the face of the Antichrist of looking like Harvey Stephens. McKern is the only actor to appear in more than one installment. This seems more hurtful to smooth continuity than the timeline shifts, in which Damien is five in 1976, twelve in ’78, and 33 in ’81.  Since no years are mentioned in the first two installments, only a mention of a presidential run in 1984 by Damien in The Final Conflict, it is acceptable to push the first two installments back over a decade and deal with mildly period-inaccurate surroundings. It’s cheap, yes, but nothing to get bent out of shape about or to dismiss the sequels.   

The film picks up seven years later, with Damien living with his adoptive Uncle, Robert’s brother Richard (William Holden, who refused the lead in the first film, but hopped on the opportunity to star in the sequel after the first’s success.) a successful industrialist and his wife Ann (Lee Grant, a fan of the first film). He truthfully loves his cousin Mark (Lucas Donat) like a brother, but basically better than a brother because there’s no animosity and such.  Richard’s sister Marion loves Mark, but hates Damien, considering him a shitty influence. She comes off as an ornery and unlikable influence herself.  She suffers a fatal heart attack at the hands of a raven with shifty eyes, so we can move on.    

Thorn also owns a museum, and the curator (Nicholas Pryor) introduces him to a colleague of Keith Jennings, a journalist (Elizabeth Shephard) who tries to warn Richard of Damien’s origin.  In the middle of nowhere, the engine of her car stalls, and her eyes are clawed out by a raven, leading her to wander into the street and be struck down by a semi truck.  That is what we call overkill, old Scratch.  The subtle ambiguity of the first film is swapped out in favor of Damien’s growing power, much to the dismay of critics.

At Thorn Industries, Richard and a manager Bill Atherton (Lew Ayres) clash with younger manager Paul Buher (Robert Foxworth) who strongly advises that the company move into agriculture to profit off famine in many countries by growing and manipulating food supplies, and buying up land. They dismiss his ambition as immoral.

Marks birthday celebration commences in winter, and Buher introduces himself to Damien, informing him that he will one day inherit all of his parents works, not mentioning Mark, to Damien’s confusion.  During a hockey game, Atherton falls though the ice and drowns in a river, leaving Buher unopposed in his plans for the company.

Damien and Mark meet their new commander at the academy, Sergeant Neff (played by the incomparable Lance Henriksen). After Damien makes a teacher look foolish, Neff tells Damien to keep on the down-low for the time being. “The time will come when everyone knows who you are.” He tells Damien to read Chapter 13 in the Book of Revelations, after which Damien locates his sixes underneath his hair, and is initially distraught at finally realizing his identity. Neff and Buher show that the satanic conspiracy has followers in high places, not just a disconcerting nanny and a pack of Rottweilers.

 Damien soon comes to terms with his destiny, taking his class on a field trip to the industrial plant, which suffers an explosion, fatally silencing two employees who were going to inform Richard that Buher’s land acquisition scheme has resulted in the murder of some people unwilling to sell their land.  Damien’s class is made sick from the fumes, but he himself is unharmed, wading through his incapacitated fellow students to silently show Buher that he has realized his power. His class survives, but a doctor (Meshach Taylor) is perturbed by Damien’s lack of injury.  He analyzes a blood sample which he finds to resemble a jackal as opposed to a human.  Before he can tell anyone, he too is silenced, by a rapidly descending elevator cable. 

The curator of the Thorn museum receives a package containing the seven daggers of Megiddo, and a letter explaining that Damien is the son of that Satan guy. He informs Richard, who dismisses his ravings, but their conversation is overheard by Mark, who is convinced. Mark confronts Damien in the woods, and Damien finally takes pride in the fact that he is the beast, and implores Mark to join him since he still loves him as a brother. Mark is appalled, and refuses him and attempts to leave, but Damien causes a fatal aneurysm in his brain. Damien cries out in horror and grief, expressing true regret that someone he actually cared for had to die for him to push forward.

Richard is now sure that something is not right with Damien and meets with his curator to view the wall (Now inside of a cargo carrier) showing Damien’s face in a visual prophecy. He sees his face, and is convinced, but the curator is crushed between two train cars.  

 Richard is followed by Ann as he goes to the Museum to retrieve the daggers, but is betrayed by Ann, proving herself to be the prophesized Whore of Babylon as she impales him with the daggers. Damien, who overhears all of this, apparently isn’t a fan as he immolates her in fire.  Damien leaves the museum, now completely unopposed as the sole heir of Thorn Industries.

Jonathan Scott-Taylor has quite a job in the film.  In the first film, Damien serves basically as a plot device.  No disrespect whatsoever towards Harvey Stephens, the tyke just doesn’t have a lot to do. Scott-Taylor needs to elevate the role into a complete character, and he does it well. He doesn’t quite shake his British accent, which may seem a bit awkward at times, but he has enough presence to make it a respectable performance at the center of the film.