That lovable little rapscallion from "The Omen" has returned to raise more Hell in "Damien: Omen II". No longer a toddler, Damien is closing in on his 13th birthday. While most pre-teens must cope with puberty and the confusion that accompanies it, Damien (portrayed by Jonathan Scott-Taylor) is more pre-occupied with his destiny, which is that of the son of the Satan, The Anti-Christ. He is now living with his Uncle and attends a military academy where he is quick to put his peers in his place and is encouraged by a sketchy teacher (the one and only Lance Henriksen!) who encourages him to read a passage in the Bible that tells him all he needs to know about himself. If only every teenager were given such guidance!
The film faced an uphill battle when its original director, Mike Hodges, was swapped out for Don Taylor, but thankfully, the end results aren't as compromised as one would expect. On the contrary, "Damien: The Omen II" is a rather solid companion piece to the Richard Donner original, with death scenes that are every bit as ground-breaking for their time and still shocking today (all about the crow pecking out the eyeballs) and a great cast that includes William Holden, Lee Grant and Elizabeth Shepard. Scott-Taylor seems born to have played Damien, managing the dynamics of being a sympathetic character turned a bone-chilling menace quite effectively. The film may rush a bit to its ending, which is perhaps its only flaw, but on the whole, it's a worthy follow-up that is almost every bit as mean and memorable as its predecessor.
The film faced an uphill battle when its original director, Mike Hodges, was swapped out for Don Taylor, but thankfully, the end results aren't as compromised as one would expect. On the contrary, "Damien: The Omen II" is a rather solid companion piece to the Richard Donner original, with death scenes that are every bit as ground-breaking for their time and still shocking today (all about the crow pecking out the eyeballs) and a great cast that includes William Holden, Lee Grant and Elizabeth Shepard. Scott-Taylor seems born to have played Damien, managing the dynamics of being a sympathetic character turned a bone-chilling menace quite effectively. The film may rush a bit to its ending, which is perhaps its only flaw, but on the whole, it's a worthy follow-up that is almost every bit as mean and memorable as its predecessor.