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Damien: Omen II
SO so very tacky... in the most endearing way!
1978
Director: Don Taylor
Starring: William Holden, Lee Grant
Indeed.
THE SETUP:
The devil’s son is older now, growing more powerful, but still taking time out to off anyone who so much as thinks bad things about him.
DISCUSSION:
This is one of those films I remember seeing the ads for, but being too young to see it at the time (I was 10). My friends saw it on cable and told me about it, so that put it back on my radar. What a HOOT! Every single aspect of this movie is SO UTTERLY tacky and banal… but in the MOST endearing way! Let us explore…
The music was incredible… this is one of those movies where the soundtrack is going 'DUN-DUN! DUN-Dun-DUN-Dun-DUN-DUN-DUN!' while NOTHING is happening. There's a shot of a crow and the soundtrack explodes. WHAT a hoot. A lot of people on the IMDb wrote about how great the soundtrack was. Uh… it was intrusive and noticeable, that's for sure, but it didn't inspire much in me except laughter.
Many people on IMDb also say that this movie features good acting! I heartily disagree! Gads, everyone involved was SO AWFUL, particularly the hideous Lee Grant. Did anyone else notice that her hairdo makes her head look like an enormous penis? You can really notice a lot of styles of acting, screen writing, and directing that were prevalent at the time, but seem alien (and completely false and ineffective) today. The script was an absolute nightmare! But everything was SO banal, middle-of-the-road, and downright TACKY that you have to love it! I was literally slapping my knee all the way through.
I also LOVE how the Holden and Grant characters have to be absolutely psychotic in order to continue denying that anything is going on. So by the end like 5 people have died shortly after telling them to beware of Damien, and they're still like 'Damien? How could anyone possibly think anything's wrong with him?!?!?!' And so many of the deaths seem so unmotivated… I mean, maybe this person has suspicions about Damien or warns someone, but what are they really going to DO that's such a threat to him? Doesn’t the devil really have better things to do than killing everyone who bears a poor thought for the little creature? It just seemed pointless after a while.
I think these films were the precursor to the FINAL DESTINATION films in which you also have these elaborate deaths that come with lots of build-up, but aren't committed by a person, they just kind of happen.
Oh dear… well, that's about it. Not really scary, not much of quality about it, but a totally enjoyable film if you like to laugh, especially if you enjoy a totally serious tone about something utterly ridiculous.
Does this hairdo make my head look like a penis?
SHOULD YOU WATCH IT?
By all means, yes!
RELATED MOVIES:
The FINAL DESTINATION movies also feature long, elaborate, protracted deaths that aren't committed by any person.
