Omen III: The Final Conflict Reviews

According to the law of deteriorating sequels, films get worse as each new instalment is created. The Final Conflict is further irrefutable verification of this theory. The first two instalments in the Omen series were not among the genre's finest movies, but stood well on their respective standalone merits. The central problem of The Final Conflict (which marks the third The Omen film) is its tendency to be overwhelmingly silly - no scares, dumb characters, horrible plot points, and little sense of fidelity to the Book of Revelations on which the series is based. The artistic positives of the first film are also disregarded, with bucket loads of nothing but violence and gore as a substitute. Glaring continuity errors plague this film as well. I mean, the year is apparently 1982 and Damien Thorn (now played by Sam Neill) is supposedly 32. In the first movie he was born in 1966...can anyone else notice the unbearably distracting continuity fault? If Damien was 32 then the year should be the late 1990s. At that stage, you'd might as well regard your political leader as the Antichrist!

The Final Conflict now follows Damien Thorn - a.k.a. the offspring of Satan - as an adult who is steadily running the Thorn industries conglomerate as the company extends its far-reaching arms all over the world. The film opens with a salvage operation in Chicago to recover the artefacts that survived the destruction of the Thorn Museum that burnt down at the end of Damien: The Omen II. During the operation, the seven daggers of Megiddo are recovered. Said daggers are the only things on Earth that can kill the Antichrist. They are soon circulated to an assembly of seven monks, headed by Father DeCarlo (Brazzi), who embark on a mission to rid the world of Damien Thorn. Meanwhile, Damien flexes his political muscle as he is appointed Ambassador to England. The seven monks begin executing multiple hysterically ill-conceived endeavours to assassinate the Antichrist. All signs begin pointing to the possibility that that Nazarene has returned in the form of a child in the British Isles. This begins another ludicrous sub-plot as Damien sets out to eliminate the Nazarene who weakens and diminishes his influence and ability on the world with each passing day. Meanwhile, a dumb romantic sub-plot is tossed into the mix as Damien becomes interested in a journalist named Kate Reynolds (Harrow).

The Final Conflict depends far too much on the showcase of effects and innovative (gory) methods of killing different characters...all without tension or scares. Jerry Goldsmith's score is the only aspect that creates a somewhat intense atmosphere. Every other aspect of the filmmaking leaves a lot to be desired. The horror genre that was once prominent has now transformed into a film perplexingly lingering in an indefinite genre between 'horror' and 'drama'. There is insufficient horror to be part of the genre, and there is inadequate drama to be classified as part of that genre. The gore effects have been amplified and look superior to those used in the previous films; however the screenwriting leaves much to be desired. Horror fans will be left disappointed and disorientated, fans of the Omen series will be left even more devastated, while religious nuts will condemn the film! Why? The source material is disregarded while spiralling towards the film's silly conclusion that ultimately confirms this as a wasted opportunity. The ending seems far too rushed and looks underwhelming. I was laughing! I wasn't at all scared!

Overall, The Final Conflict is an extremely disappointing addition to a potentially outstanding horror series. The series of events were occasionally fascinating, but ultimately very silly. Like the first two movies the cast is very impressive, with Sam Neill effective as the Antichrist. The actors do everything in their capability to improve the woeful script they are working with. If only the first film concluded with the execution of the Antichrist...if that happened, then the world wouldn't have been exposed to two below average sequels. At least there's finally a sense of closure. Followed by a TV movie a decade later.

4.0/10