June 9, 1978
Damien: Omen II is a 1978 supernatural horror film directed by Don Taylor. It is the sequel to The Omen, and the second installment of The Omen series. It stars William Holden and Lee Grant, with Jonathan Scott-Taylor, Robert Foxworth, Lew Ayres, Sylvia Sidney, Lance Henriksen, Ian Hendry, and Leo McKern. Set seven years after the first film, it follows a now-pubescent Damien Thorn (Scott-Taylor) as he begins to realize his destiny as the Antichrist.
Franchise producer Harvey Bernhard wrote the screen story, with a screenplay by Stanley Mann and Mike Hodges. Hodges was the original director, but was replaced by Don Taylor early in production. Unlike the first film, which was shot in England and Italy, filming of the sequel took place primarily in the United States, in locations around Chicago, Illinois and Wisconsin. The opening scene was shot in Israel.
It was released by 20th Century Fox on June 9, 1978, and received mixed reviews from critics. A sequel, The Final Conflict, was released in 1981.
Storyline
One week after the events of the first film, archaeologist Carl Bugenhagen learns that Damien Thorn is still alive. In Acre, Israel, Bugenhagen asks his friend Michael Morgan to deliver a box to Damien's new guardian, explaining that Damien is the Antichrist and that the box contains the Seven Daggers of Megiddo needed to kill him. When Morgan expresses scepticism, Bugenhagen takes him to a local ruin to see the mural of Yigael's Wall, which was said to have been drawn by a monk who had visions of the Antichrist as he would appear from birth to adulthood. Morgan believes him upon seeing Damien's face painted on the mural, but both he and Bugenhagen are buried alive after the ruins abruptly collapse.
Seven years later, the 12-year-old Damien is living in Chicago with his uncle and step-aunt, Richard and Ann Thorn. Damien gets along well with his cousin Mark, with whom Damien is enrolled in a military academy, but is despised by Richard's aunt Marion, who sees him as a bad influence on Mark and threatens to cut Richard out of her will if he does not separate the two boys. Late one night, Marion suffers a fatal heart attack after being scared by a raven that appears in her room.
Mark and Damien leave for the academy, where their commanding officer, Sergeant Neff, takes Damien under his wing, indirectly revealing that he is a Satanist sent to watch over him. Damien also stuns one of his teachers with his phenomenal knowledge of historical events and their exact dates. Neff then asks him to read Chapter 13 of the Book of Revelation, and that it was about him. After reading the chapter, Damien uses a mirror to reveal the number 666 on his head. Upon this realization that he is the Anti-Christ, Damien runs away towards the lake and wailingly shouts, "Why me?"
Meanwhile, over the following days, a number of other bizarre incidents surrounding the Thorn family occur: a photojournalist named Joan Hart who tried to interview Richard after seeing Yigael's Wall (and Damien in person) is run over by a truck after being attacked and blinded by the same raven that caused Marion's heart attack, a senior manager of Thorn Industries (a corporation owned by the family) drowns in a frozen lake, and two other employees are suffocated by toxic fumes following an unexpected gas leak at a factory plant. The latter incident also sickens Damien's class, who were visiting the plant at the time. At the hospital, Damien is the only student found to be unaffected by the fumes, but a doctor suggests keeping him in the hospital as a precaution. The doctor later discovers that Damien's marrow cells resemble those of a jackal, but is killed by a falling elevator cable before he can report his findings.
Meanwhile, Bugenhagen's box has been found during an excavation of the ruins and delivered to the Thorn Museum. Dr. Warren, the museum's curator and Richard's friend, opens it and finds the sacred daggers, along with a letter by Bugenhagen explaining that Damien is the Antichrist. Warren rushes to inform Richard. Mark overhears their conversation and confronts Damien, who admits to being the Devil's son. Damien pleads with Mark to join him on his rise to power, but Mark's steadfast refusal "forces" Damien to kill Mark by causing an aneurysm in his cousin's brain.
Shaken by his son's death, Richard goes to New York City to see a half-crazed Warren before being taken to the rail yard, where Yigael's Wall is being stored in a cargo carrier. As he sees Damien's image, Warren is killed in a freak locomotive accident, convincing Richard beyond doubt that Damien is the Antichrist. Upon his return, Richard has Damien picked up from his graduation at the academy while taking Ann to the museum in order for them to retrieve the daggers. After finding them, however, Ann uses them to kill Richard, revealing herself to be a Satanist and proclaiming that she's "always belonged to him". As she screams Damien's name, Damien, having overheard the altercation, unleashes his telekinetic ability and wills a nearby boiler room to explode, setting fire to the building and burning Ann with fire killing her instantly. Damien leaves the burning museum and is picked up by the family driver as the fire department arrives.
Also See
- The Omen (1976)
- Omen III: The Final Conflict (1981)
- Omen IV: The Awakening (1991)
- The Omen (2006)
- Damien (TV Series)
- The First Omen (2024)