Damien: Omen II

This significantly weaker continuation of the unattainable cult classic could have been shorter. It has some nice scenes, but the murders are too restrained this time. The best are the elevator, the truck and the opening scene in the underground. Jerry Goldsmith's music is again excellent, though in the scenes where the raven flies in, it reminded me strikingly of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana. The lead as the son of Satan was well chosen, he has the same unpleasant eyes as his predecessor. But when he read about the Apocalypse, he obviously didn't finish it, or he wouldn't have been looking forward to what was in store for him. I missed the dogs a bit, but the ravens were good too. Unlike the first film, the ravages of time have visibly gnawed away at this one. I'll keep the original rating, but I'd lower it by one star today. Still a good movie. (20.07.2024)

Damian has entered puberty, and at military academy, he begins to feel that something is happening to him. Nothing so terrible that he likes seeing naked cadets in the showers; they just need to tally the numbers of that beast. Without Seltzer's script and with a change of directors, nothing could come of it other than a series of more or less obscure deaths that even a psychiatrist from M.A.S.H. (currently employed at an American agricultural company) wouldn't be able to handle. The plot basically boils down to the fact that the jackal's son, in collaboration with a black bird, is getting rid of the understanding ones (the clueless ones have a slightly longer lifespan), and everyone, even if they cling to God, can be sure that they will be run over by a truck or crushed by a locomotive. Thank God that Goldsmith throws in his greetings to Beelzebub; otherwise, it wouldn’t affect the viewer much at all. (12.01.2021)