Okay, I have a bit of a confession to make. Out of the three films in The Omen Trilogy, this is actually my favorite. Maybe it's because I saw it for the first time in my mid-teens and therefore could relate more to the two teenage protagonists of the film and that led me to have more affection for it. Technically, I will admit it's not the "best" of the three (as subjective as that is), but deep down I don't care, it's still my favorite.
This film takes place seven years later and Damien (played this time out by Jonathan Scott-Taylor) is living in Chicago with his Uncle Richard (played by William Holden), his Aunt Ann (played by Lee Grant) and his cousin Mark (played by Lucas Donat). Damien and Mark attend school together at a Military Academy. They're both in the same platoon under Sergeant Neff (played by Lance Henriksen). Richard is the CEO of Thorn Industies, a multi-national conglomerate and is busy dealing with Paul Buher (played by Robert Foxworth), an executive proposing that Thorn Industries buys up as much land as possible for extensive farming opportunities, which means Thorn Industries would control a large portion of the world's food sources. Richard has trouble with this idea, thinking it unethical and perhaps illegal.
Of course, anyone familiar with the book of Revelations has quickly pegged Paul as another of Damien's followers and is setting the stage for his eventual rise to power. The movie wastes no time in cluing us into this either with Paul talking cryptically to Damien about destiny. In fact, Damien has a number of followers or protectors this time around, popping up all around the place. You can usually pick them out fairly easily although a couple were a bit of a surprise the first time I saw it.
Everything changes when Sergeant Neff (another protector, obviously), clues in Damien to his true heritage. It's a credit to the film that Damien is initially horrified when he finds out and literally tries to run away from it. Yeah, it's a bit melodramatic but it works and is easily the most sympathetic the character has ever been in the film series as a whole. It also struck a chord with me on a personal level, like "Ooh, I've been there." Not literally, of course, but still it's weird to have that kind of feeling in the middle of a horror film, especially with someone who is more or less supposed to be the villain, but somehow it made the film for me. It really is one of my favorite scenes of the film.
It's not long before Damien has accepted his new found destiny and the body count starts to rise as a new group of people have discovered the truth and without fail each have a terrible accident befall them either before or shortly after they try to warn Richard and Ann of the truth about Damien. Like any true horror sequel, the death scenes are much more elaborate this time around, especially an Elevator death sequence that will leave you thinking twice about not taking the stairs.
Of course, now that the audience knows for certain Damien is indeed the Anti-Christ, the supernatural element is much more overt this time around with Damien taking a far more active role. When we first see him, the shot is through a burning brush fire because, well, subtlety has never been this film series strong point. He first unleashes his growing powers on a school bully Teddy, causing Teddy to freak out and it's implied he is hallucinating that something is attacking him (we don't see what it is though). As someone who was bullied myself as a kid, perhaps scenes like this one where Damien turns the tables on his aggressors is part of the appeal for me.
Overall, Damien: The Omen II follows a lot of the same plot beats as the original especially in the last quarter of the film as Richard finally learns the truth and finds out it's up to him to destroy Damien (considering there's a third film, we can guess how well that goes). Still, there's enough here to recommend it. It's interesting to see Damien take a more active role after being a more passive character in the first film. There's the relationship between Damien and his cousin (and practically brother, since they more or less grew up together) Mark that adds some layers to it. There are also a few surprises for the audience who think they have the entire plot figured out already. It's a fun scary movie and not one to take too seriously. Even after writing about it now and picking it apart a little, yeah it's still my favorite of the three.
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