Review of The Final Conflict (1981) by David L — 02 Dec 2012

As with many horror franchises, there comes a point when it would seem sensible to stop churning out sequels to a film that had a classic original - based on this evidence, now is a good time for The Omen to stop.

In it's own right, this film is distinctly average, but in comparison to its prequels, it's awful. What was one of the most sinister premises in movie history has now just vanished as the evil child that we love to hate is no more, and now he's grown up to be just a regular adult.

The fact that Damian is now aware of who he is, and plots to take over the world like some evil arch enemy of Superman is just ridiculous. This episode also tries to introduce a new born saviour, who will apparently rise up and attempt to rid the world of the antichrist.

For this reason, a large bulk of the film follows a story to extinguish all babies born on a certain day - pure madness! There's not really much linking with the previous editions, given that the majority of Damian's family are now dead and he's capable of looking after himself.

The only ongoing reference are the daggers by which Damian can only be killed by. These are dug up following their burial at the end of Omen 2, auctioned and distributed to several priests intent on killing our villain.

As expected, few are successful and soon meet their end. Sadly, there aren't even any Ingenious or gruesome moments by which the victims are disposed of, unlike what we have been treated in the previous instalments, which to me just provides the icing on the cake in justifying that this series has somewhat collapsed.

To me, Damian is officially not sinister anymore, although that may also have something to do with the fact that I view Sam Neill as a heroic dinosaur hunter (from Jurassic Park), and not the work of Satan.