Pretty Good

People are voting emotionally.

Good concept, poorly executed.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Damien Thorne is now in his early thirties and is in charge of a large corporation; he is still going up in the world though. He believes that prophecy means that he must become the US Ambassador in Britain as he is destined to confront a returned Christ there. Shortly after stating this the sitting ambassador kills himself in a spectacular, and gory, fashion and Damien is indeed appointed to the position. Father DeCarlo as acquired the Seven Daggers of Megiddo and along with six other men plan to eliminate Damien before the prophesied return of Christ. Damien meanwhile is trying to find the child; and if he can't identify the child he will have every baby boy born on a certain night killed… even the son of his closest acolyte. While all this is going on Damien is getting close to TV presenter Kate Reynolds and takes her son under his wing.This film provides a solid conclusion to the Omen Trilogy; it also turns up the grisliness to a large degree; the scene where the ambassador shoots himself is genuinely shocking as the wall behind him is splattered red. It isn't long before one of Damien's potential killers burns to death in a rather macabre scene. There are more shocks to come; we don't actually see the babies dying but it is made clear that many are being killed, some only just off screen. Sam Neill does a really good job as Damien; he makes the character charismatic and seductive rather than obviously evil… at least until he starts ordering the deaths of the babies. In some ways it is predictable; we know that those trying to kill Damien won't succeed to soon and the early attackers are doomed from the start; that doesn't matter though as their horrific deaths just raises the stakes for the final confrontation. Sadly the finale doesn't match what has happened before; it is too quick and Damien dies as 'heavenly choirs' sing and bible verses appear on the screen. Sam Neill isn't the only person to put in a good performance; the rest of the cast are somewhat overshadowed but they are still pretty good. Overall I'd say that this is a decent horror film; people who watched the opening two instalments of the trilogy are sure to want to watch it, watching the previous films isn't essential but I suspect it will improve one's enjoyment of this.

The last and least of the OMEN trilogy. What this film offers is a fairly complex and widespread plot that draws in biblical allusions, Damien and his legion of followers, a female journalist and her son who get drawn into the battle, a squad of vigilante monks who act as assassins, plus the widespread murder of babies. If that's not an impressive selection, then go find another movie.There's a kind of 'epic' feel to this movie, which recreates Armageddon and relocates it to the UK. As so many diverse characters are involved and the film goes on for a fair length, it certainly feels like an epic and more than your average horror film. While the characters may not be more than pawns in the game, the cast is a great one, with all actors and actresses doing their bit. Sam Neill is excellently cast as Damien, and brings just the right air of evil about him in the role. Rossano Brazzi, who plays the chief monk out to get him, is also fine, although sadly his character doesn't figure in the (disappointing) finale. Don Gordon is good as Damien's misguided follower, while Lisa Harrow brings life to her clichéd role as a female journalist, who isn't just out for herself like journalists are in most films.This is a film with a nasty edge to it as well, more so than both previous films. Here, we see Damien rape his lover, we see multiple murders of young babies - a long-held taboo - and lots of grisly violence and gore. I don't understand those who say this isn't a gory film, as the version I saw certainly is. It may not be very bloody but the death scenes are really nasty, leaving your imagination to do the work. We see a shotgun suicide, people getting repeatedly stabbed, a man getting an iron in his face (that's gotta hurt...), another falling to his death, a priest gets torn apart by dogs, and in the film's spectacular "highlight", a priest's assassination attempt goes disastrously wrong, leaving him hanging from a rope, covered in a plastic sheet and burning alive.There are two main flaws with this film, as far as I can see. The first is the running time - it seems to go on forever. The second is the terribly disappointing ending, which feels rushed and is up there with TO THE DEVIL A DAUGHTER in terms of anti-climatic moments. Hardly a fitting ending to the trilogy, which has basically been just one big build up to this confrontation. It's over within five minutes, and leaves you feeling cheated. Aside from this major flaw, OMEN III: THE FINAL CONFLICT isn't bad at all.

"With all the power of evil, with fire and brimstone, with the intensity of hate and the foulness of Hell itself, I shall curse the world, condemning it to…a brief recession." Now this is how you make a sequel! The Final Conflict does just about everything right in building on franchise tropes and expectations and growing them to a newer, grander narrative. Damien is in full command of his power here, and it's exciting to see him at the helm rather than the omnipotent hand of Satan. Of course, he still has his minions and another Rottweiler helps him do his bidding, but seeing Damien at the head of Thorn Industries and how he worked his rise to power makes for a thrilling way to move the story forward. Neill is perfectly cast, injecting a combination of winning charm and darker torment behind his suits and smiles. Jerry Goldsmith is back once more for the score, and like with the story, he expands on his earlier work to provide a fuller, more diverse piece. Some of those angelic compositions near the end are show stopping.Omen III centres itself on an epic story where there are plenty of consequences at stake. We knew all along that Damien would rise to power, but now that he's got it, we don't know whether he'll get his ultimate goal of taking over the world. He has colleague entanglements, as he must kill the child of his assistant to rid the world of Christ, he has romantic complications with Kate, at one point disturbingly raping her in a bid to show how pain can be beautiful, and he ultimately has to face off against God himself. There's a lot more dramatic material there than there ever was in the Final Destination-like crux of the original two films. The vendetta the seven kamikaze priests vow against Damien also really puts the anti-Christ at risk, wherein the first two films his safety was always assured. Writer Andrew Birkin (most famous for his Peter Pan writings, of which you can certainly see "lost boys" aspects here) does a wonderful job of putting it all out on the table(laying it all on the alter?) for one truly thrilling battle for the ages.Not only is the story as sound as ever, but horror fans are really going to like the viciousness of the deaths throughout. With the seven vigilante monks going after Damien, and Damien himself killing off many others who stand in his way, the body count here is quite high, and like with the first two films, the producers don't hold back in staging an elaborate death scene. Since this had the films of the slasher era to compete with, the brutality of the carnage has been upped once more, and some of the deaths are quiet unsettling. The most notable being when the ambassador ties tape around the door knobs in his office, linking it all to his shotgun trigger, so when his colleagues enter his brains get splattered all over the presidential crest. Another sees a woman burn her infant son with a hot iron, and we memorably see the charred remains of the baby's face. One more, still, is when the first priest tries to kill Damien at a TV station, slipping up from the rafters and being dangled and burned in plastic as he melts in pain. The effects work is quite accomplished (done by A Clockwork Orange makeup artist Freddie Williamson), matching the menace of the acts themselves. Even the events that aren't gory still have a sinister quality to them, like when Damien, after killing an adversary at a fox hunt, rubs what he says to be "fox blood" on the face of a boy in initiation. With that and that uncomfortable rape scene, The Final Conflict certainly doesn't play it safe like a Hollywood movie should.A riveting thriller, through and grue, The Final Conflict certainly lives up to its title and offers Damien a fabulous final send off. The scope is so much larger than the first two films, and more than just a thriller it ends up becoming some grand theological statement of our times. It's pretty ballsy for a horror sequel to depict Christ on screen, but this one goes one further and gives us an ending so grand and fitting that it looks cut from Ben-Hur. As far as horror sequels go, the Omen III is certainly upper echelon. It's a shame it ended when it was just starting to hit its stride, but then again, given what would follow with the ill-advised fourth film, maybe they did good and quit while they were ahead. A must see! THE FINAL CONFLICT is quite an interesting film Damien grows up and the series ends on a satisfying note.

Sam Neil takes over the role of Damien, who is now an adult in charge of Thorn industries, and eying a political career running for president the following year, and also preparing the way for himself and his followers for the return of his father to power - Satan. However, a secret order of priests are in place to stop him, no matter how many of their number have to die in the process...Poor sequel is terribly misconceived(jumps too far ahead in time) and utterly ineffectual(no suspense and inept shock value) Sam Neil is the only successful thing here, making Damien a sinister and ruthless foe, but is swamped further by bad continuity, since the first two "Omens", were more or less contemporary(cars, fashions, technology are clearly modern, whereas this film would put them in the 1950's & early '60's! Huh?) Climax is so turgid, and plot so crass, that this is a most ignoble way to end the "trilogy".