Day 402

aka Thursday 8th March 2018

Today I went for my morning walk:

…potted about when I got home, did the G2 crossword (which went pretty badly, I had to cheat on over half the clues!!!):

 

…and watched The Omen Trilogy, about the birth and rise of the son of the Anti-Christ. I had to start watching them in the afternoon as the first Omen still frightens me and while the second and third have scary moments, they’re not as scary as the first.

I think the first Omen is scariest for a number of reasons, it’s well written, well acted, has a great soundtrack, is well directed and it builds and builds a feeling of dread and terror. Although there aren’t many deaths or much gore in The Omen, each death is memorable and shocking, from the nanny hanging herself (It’s for you Damien, all for you) to the priest being impaled and Keith’s decapitation. And even when people aren’t dying, there are devil dogs menacing our heroes, animals going wild and a ‘crazy’ archaeologist telling our heroes that to save everyone they must kill Damien, by stabbing him with seven daggers, on consecrated ground. At times it feels (and looks) like a documentary rather than a feature film and it taps into loads of things I learnt at Sunday School/bible study (which makes me wonder if people who are Jewish, Muslims, etc., or were brought up in non-Christian households, find it as scary as us who were raised Christian or are Christian???).

Damien: Omen II is a slightly odd film as not much happens in it and at its end we’re left in the same place as The Omen (which isn’t really it’s thought as it’s the second film of the trilogy). We see a teenage Damien learn who he is and after initially rejecting it, accepting that he is the son of the devil. While this is happening various family members and other threats are bumped off (via demonic crows, ‘faulty’ trains, lifts or traitorous partners). There are some scary moments, and although there is good acting and direction, the story is a little weak and feels a little too much like a quick cash-in on the success of The Omen.

The Omen III: The Final Conflict has a better story, as the final part of the trilogy it can go all out and bring in the Second Coming and the possible apocalypse, and it stars Sam Neill, a great actor, who is always worth watching. There is also a return to more psychological, less gory horror, we see that Damien has an army of followers, who are willing to do anything for him, up to and including murdering children. The film starts with Damien firmly in the driving sit as everything goes his way and the monks, who have been sent to destroy him, are easily dispatched, apart from one, who, together with Damien’s lover, Kate Reynolds, manages to turn the tide and defeat Damien, which is one of two complainants I have with The Omen III: The Final Conflict. That the ending of the film is a little rushed and basically comes down to Damien, the master strategist, being distracted, allowing Kate to stab, and kill, Damien. My second complainant is that in The Omen we’re told that the Damien can only be destroyed if he is stabbed by all seven daggers (the first to kill his physical body, the remaining six to destroy his demonic self).

Regardless of my complainants, The Omen Trilogy is a great horror story and every horror fan should see it.