The Final Conflict (1981) 20th Century Fox/Horror RT: 108 minutes Rated R (graphic violence, terror, some language, a sex scene, brief nudity, disturbing images) Director: Graham Baker Screenplay: Andrew Birkin Music: Jerry Goldsmith Cinematography: Phil Meheux and Robert Paynter Release date: March 20, 1981 (US) Cast: Sam Neill, Rossano Brazzi, Don Gordon, Lisa Harrow, Mason Adams, Barnaby Holm, Leueen Willoughby, Marc Boyle, Milos Kirek, Tommy Duggan, Louis Mahoney, Richard Oldfield, Tony Vogel , Robert Arden, Ruby Wax, Arnold Diamond, Eric Richard, Al Matthews. Box Office: $20.4M (US)
Rating: ** ½
The Final Conflict holds a special place in my heart as it’s the first Omen movie I was allowed to see at the movies. I was 13 when it came out and my parents knew how much I loved the first two so my dad agreed to take me to a Sunday matinee (1pm, Barclay Square Theater in Upper Darby, PA) that opening weekend. Needless to say, I was psyched! I already read the novelization cover-to-cover. I also reread the novelizations of the first two Omens. Also (and as important), it was an R-rated horror movie. It was my fourth R-rated movie at theaters (following The Fog, Stir Crazy and The Dogs of War). As any preteen and young teen will attest, this is a big deal.
At the time, I loved The Final Conflict which picks up about 20 years after the events of Damien: Omen II. I recently rewatched the whole trilogy and it hit for the first time how much of a disappointment the third and next-to-last* installment is. It’s not a bad movie by any means, but it could have been so much better. Ideas are introduced only to be dropped. The pacing is off. It’s not the least bit scary. Worst of all, the ending, which should have been awesome, is rather anticlimactic. We waited all this time and this is the best the makers could come up with? Let me put it in Biblical terms, the series starts with a bang and ends with a whimper.
The Final Conflict starts off pretty cool. While excavating the ruins of the Thorn Museum in Chicago, a worker (Matthews, Aliens) unearths the seven daggers of Megiddo. He sells them to a pawn shop where an antiques dealer acquires them. They go up for auction and are purchased by another fellow who makes sure they find their way to a monastery in Italy (the same one Robert Thorn visited in the first movie) where Father DeCarlo (Brazzi, Summertime) prays over them. These are the seven daggers needed to kill the Antichrist (aka Damien Thorn). He and six monks arm themselves to go out into the world to do the dirty deed.
Damien Thorn, played by Australian actor Sam Neill (My Brilliant Career), is now head of Thorn Industries, but what he really wants is the ambassadorship to Great Britain (the same office his earthly dad held in the first movie). The only problem is that somebody else currently holds that position. Actually, it’s not a problem. After an encounter with a large black dog, the ambassador takes his own life leaving the President (Adams, F/X) free to appoint Damien. He’s also appointed Chairman of the United Nations Youth Committee; I’ll talk more about that in a moment.
The stage is set for something huge. It seems that the Second Coming of Christ is imminent. An alignment of stars points to when and where the Christ child is born (March 24, 1982; sometime between midnight and 6am, somewhere in England). Damien orders his followers to kill ALL of the babies born during that time. This includes the son of his advisor Harvey Dean (Gordon, The Beast Within). Meanwhile, DeCarlo and his guys make a few attempts on Damien’s life, none of which succeed. In the midst of all this madness, Damien somehow finds time to start a relationship with TV journalist Kate Reynolds (Harrow, The Last Days of Chez Nous) and her 12YO son Peter (Holm).
Despite everything that’s going on, The Final Conflict tends to be something of a bore. It’s slow in parts. It’s also filled with ideas that go undeveloped. Take Damien’s instance of being made Chairman of the UN Youth Committee. What does he intend to do? Does he plan on building an army of children to help him fight Armageddon? Once he gets the job, it’s NEVER mentioned again. Or what about Kate being an atheist? It’s mentioned once and that’s it. You’d think that the events that transpire would cause her to rethink her position. This is never addressed.
Because The Final Conflict is an Omen movie, there are the death scenes. The best one is the ambassador literally blowing his brains out in his office. Blood and brains splatter all over the wall behind him. At 13, I never saw anything like that before. It’s still cool. We also see one of the monks get burned to a crisp on the set of Kate’s show during an interview with Damien. One guy gets torn to pieces by dogs but nothing is shown. Another guy gets a hot iron rammed into his eye. They make the movie better, but not by a whole lot.
Neill is quite good as Damien; he looks sufficiently charming and evil. Brazzi is also good as Father DeCarlo although his character isn’t developed very well. Harrow is okay as the love interest. Adams, although prominently billed in the opening credits, has just one scene. Why didn’t the makers do more with Damien’s relationship with the President? Is the Commander-in-Chief one of his followers or just one of the many he can easily manipulate? Damien getting him to allow him to serve as Ambassador without having to resign as CEO of his company brings to mind a certain sitting President.
The Final Conflict disappoints on many levels, but the biggest is the ending. I was hoping for something bigger. Instead, it comes down to the few survivors (including Damien) in a dark church. That’s it? Really? I like The Final Conflict okay; it has a few good points but they don’t add up to much. It has a good set-up that director Graham Baker (Alien Nation) doesn’t follow through on. The screenplay by Andrew Birkin is pretty half-assed. The score by Jerry Goldsmith is great though. To its benefit, The Final Conflict is much better than many of today’s so-called horror flicks. It has an ambitious premise but not much follow-through. From a bang to a whimper, that about sums it up.
*= In 1991, there was a made-for-TV sequel called Omen IV: The Awakening. I saw it once, it’s okay.
