Omen II: Damien (1978)

Omen II: Damien (1978), directed by Don Taylor.

Aka Damien: Omen II.

It opens just after the end of The Omen (1976). Uncredited Leo McKern (The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961), Help! (1965), Ladyhawke (1985)) and Ian Hendry (The Hill (1965), Theater of Blood (1973)) -- the archaeologists who know too much -- suffer death by sand in an unfortunate worksite accident.

Several years later Damien is living with his uncle and family, still in wealthy surroundings, now in Chicago and attending a military academy. He does not at first realize his true identity, but has powers to control other people. The secret society of satanic protectors grows around him.

As a story this is pretty low-grade filler. The whiff of the infernal is not very strong, the kid is not frightening and the plot belabors the notion that Thorn Industries seeks to control world food supply, someday making Damien a powerful person. I think we could have accepted that as given. There is no real payoff; tune in next time.

If as a literary conceit the Antichrist is to have a life parallel to Jesus, then I suppose this segment could be taken as representing the missing years, but not much is done with it.

The plot becomes formulaic: someone suspects the truth or is just in the way, that someone dies in a inventively horrible way. Waiting for the next one becomes a game for the viewer.

I think we actually envy Damien's power to humiliate school bullies and stuffy teachers.

Notes:

• Following the pattern of having heavyweight actors lend some seriousness, William Holden and Lee Grant take over for Gregory Peck and Lee Remick from the first film.

• Holden turned down the role in the previous film.

• Lance Henriksen fan club!

• Elizabeth Shephard dies by a combination of crow and semi-truck. Last seen as the title character in The Tomb of Ligeia (1964).

• The unaccountably suspicious Aunt Marion is played by Sylvia Sidney, last seen in Fury (1936) only 42 years earlier.

• Mike Hodges was the original director. He was fired but some of his scenes remain. The producer said "different visions" but from the commentary track the biggest complaint was that he worked too slowly.

• Jerry Goldsmith returns.

• Photographed by Bill Butler -- The Conversation (1974), Jaws (1975).

Available on Blu-ray. My thumbnails are from the Shout Factory disc, which has two commentary tracks:

• A happy conversation with producer Harvey Bernhard. He points out that Christians who get a lot out of Revelations are a big part of the audience for this series, even though the films are not particularly devout.

• Erratic, disorganized thoughts by a Shout Factory consultant.