Omen III: The Final Conflict

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Omen III: The Final Conflict

Omen III: The Final Conflict movie poster
Directed by Graham Baker
Produced by Harvey Bernhard
Richard Donner
(executive producer)
Written by Andrew Birkin
Starring Sam Neill
Don Gordon
Rossano Brazzi
Music by Jerry Goldsmith
Cinematography Phil Meheux
Robert Paynter
Editing by Alan Strachan
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Running time 108 min.
Country United Kingdom
United States
Language English
Preceded by Damien: Omen II
Followed by Omen IV: The Awakening
IMDb • Allmovie

Omen III: The Final Conflict is the 1981 film in third installment in a cycle of horror movies documenting the rise and eventual fall of the Antichrist. It follows The Omen and Damien: Omen II as the third film in the Omen series.

Released in 1981, the film charts the progress of the now-adult Damien Thorn to a position of earthly power (becoming United States ambassador to the United Kingdom with an eye on the U.S. Presidency) as a springboard for triggering the Apocalypse.

The movie was directed by Graham Baker. It stars Sam Neill as Thorn, with Lisa Harrow as journalist Kate Reynolds, and Rossano Brazzi as the priest Father DeCarlo, charged with the divine task of killing the Antichrist.

The movie tells two simultaneous stories: the rise of Thorn and his hold over his increasing flock of worshipers and the work of DeCarlo to kill him, set against the countdown to the Second Coming and the showdown between good and evil.

Contents

[edit] Story

Damien Thorn (Sam Neill) is appointed Ambassador to the Court of St. James's, the same position his adoptive father held in the first film. Unlike the two incarnations of Damien portrayed in previous Omen films, the adult Damien is entirely aware of his unholy lineage, and his destiny.

An alignment of the stars in the Cassiopeia region of the night sky (the traditional location of the stellar signal of the Second Coming) causes the creation of a super "star", described in the film as a second Star of Bethlehem.

Thorn realizes it is a sign of the Second Coming of Christ and he orders all male children in England born on the morning of March 24, 1982 (the morning when, in the story, the Cassiopeia alignment occurred) to be killed in order to prevent the Christ-child's return to power, as predicted in the Book of Revelation. A sub-plot in the film deals with one of Thorn's disciples, Dean, attempting to cover up the fact that his own son was born at the appointed time; Dean not only fails, but is killed by his own wife.

Thorn has also become involved with journalist Kate Reynolds (Lisa Harrow), a complex relationship which undermines his plans to dominate the world. Damien also focuses his attention on her pre-teenaged son Peter (Barnaby Holm), whom he takes as a disciple.

Meanwhile, Father DeCarlo (Rossano Brazzi) and six other priests armed with the seven knives of Megiddo— ancient holy weapons which are the only earthly weapons which can harm the Antichrist— hunt Thorn in the hope of killing him before he can destroy the "Christ child". However, one by one all the priests die until only DeCarlo survives.

Finally, in spite of Thorn's efforts, DeCarlo informs Reynolds that the Christ-child is "out of his reach" (a title card at the end states that Christ's second coming will not be as a child, but as an adult) but that nonetheless, the task still remains to destroy Damien. In a final act of evil, Damien uses Reynolds' son— now slavishly devoted to Damien— as a human shield against DeCarlo's dagger. As Peter lies dying, Damien tries to strangle Father DeCarlo to death. In a desperate bid to salvage his waning power, Damien calls out for Christ to appear before him. As he does this, Kate Reynolds steals behind Damien, stabbing him in the back with the knife. Christ appears in a flash before a dying Damien, who tells the vision "you have won nothing".

After Damien dies, his body is seen in the background with Kate Reynolds standing over it. In the foreground, Father DeCarlo is carrying Peter's body. A final title card is a quotation of Revelation 21:4, stating that suffering and death will be eliminated forever. Thus, this scene may be interpreted as Jesus resurrecting (or at least showing postmortem mercy to) Peter.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Casting

Jack Nicholson, Marlon Brando and Gene Hackman were all considered for the role of Damien Thorn. It was decided that an unknown actor would fit the role best, hence the choice of Sam Neill, at that point early in his career. Rossano Brazzi got his role as Father DeCarlo due to his statement of "He is a priest with balls!" Graham Baker mentioned this in the commentary, along with his whistling interpretation of Rossano's role in South Pacific. Producer Harvey Bernhard plays the Ambassador's press secretary when the Ambassador calls him and says "I want a press conference, my office..."

[edit] Locations and filming

The evening party scene was filmed in Brocket Hall, just outside of London, which also substituted as Damien's residence. Kate, Damien, and Peter walk from Hyde Park to Speakers Corner. This scene was shot in the summer in the rain and dampness of London. The Moors sequence was shot in Cornwall including Roche Rock with added visuals for the lightning. The Disciples Of The Watch sequence was shot at around 4-5am in one night in the Yorkshire Moors. The finale was shot at Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire. "Shooting here was very cold and very eerie," according to Graham Baker's commentary on the DVD. University of London Observatory in Mill Hill, London (identified as "Hendon" in Baker's commentary) substituted for the Fernbank Observatory for The Second Coming sequence.

The crew did not go back to Subiaco to film the exterior location of the monastery as in the first film as it only appears in two scenes in this film. They just used footage from the first film when Gregory Peck, playing Robert Thorn, and David Warner, playing Jennings, look over the monastery. Stock footage from The Omen were also used when the Ambassador, who takes his own life at the beginning of the film, walks to the United States Embassy.

Lisa Harrow said one of the most difficult sequences to shoot for the film was the death of the first priest in the fictional television studio where her character Kate Reynolds interviews Damien. It took over a fortnight to get right. It is considered one of the nastiest mainstream movie deaths, involving a priest burning to death whilst trapped inside melting plastic sheets. The scene where Barbara saw a vision of her baby burned/dead was shot on slate 666 and the camera jammed according to director Graham Baker. Stuntman Vic Armstrong performed the backwards one-hundred foot fall from the bridge. In Guinness World Records 2005, he described it as the most frightening stunt of his career. Most of his falls were less than 70 feet.

[edit] Chronology

In order for the story to be enacted in the then-contemporary 1981, the series timeline required substantial editing, moving events from the first two movies back in time. This allowed Thorn, a child in 1976 and a teen in 1978, to be an adult by 1981.

[edit] Alternative Title

When first released in 1981, the film's original official title was simply The Final Conflict. Later, as often happens with video and DVD releases, the title was adjusted to Omen III: The Final Conflict in order to accentuate its link to the other two films in the cycle.

It was also said that the working title was "Omen III – Barbara's Baby" as a play on the title Rosemary's Baby. It appeared on some teaser posters in many countries but the final title was announced soon after.

[edit] The Omen cycle

There were four original Omen films. The fourth film, Omen IV: The Awakening (1991), was made for television and was part of a failed attempt by the 20th Century Fox studio to revive the films as a horror franchise in the style of Halloween, Friday the 13th, or A Nightmare on Elm Street.[citation needed]

A remake of the original film, The Omen, was released on June 6, 2006 (6/6/6).

[edit] Trivia

 Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (September 2007)
  • Executive producer Richard Donner; director of The Omen, Superman, and Superman II; was going to direct this film but was unable to due to legal troubles with the Salkinds after Donner got fired from directing Superman II. Leueen Willoughby, who played Leueen in Superman II, played Barbara. Tommy Duggan, the diner owner in Superman II, played Father Mathius, the priest who traveled across the Moors. Duggan also appeared in The Omen as the priest who appears at the funeral of the lead characters, Robert and Katherine Thorn. The White House featured in the film is a stock shot from Superman II, the same camera angle but without the visual effects.
  • Director Graham Baker says Sam Neill based his earlier characterisations on the actor James Mason, a close friend to producer Harvey Bernhard. Mason suggested Neill for the role, and paid for him to be flown to England for a screen test. Neill later reimbursed Mason for the ticket.
  • Neill and Lisa Harrow, who played Kate Reynolds, dated while filming; in 1983, they had a son, Tim. Harrow revealed in the documentary The Omen Legacy that the crew ended up escorting she and Neill to the set from her apartment than from the hotel Neill was staying in at the time.

[edit] External links

v • d • e
The Omen Series
Original Films
The Omen • Damien: Omen II • Omen III: The Final Conflict
Remakes
Other films
Characters
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omen_III:_The_Final_Conflict"
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