I saw Damien: Omen II recently, and there’s a scene in it where all the boys at the military school Damien attends are gathered for a promotion ceremony, and several of Satan’s acolytes are there helping Damien, and we hear in the background, as the evil people conspire to help Damien become the Antichrist, shown by their shift eyes and wicked glances (You might expect them all to twirl a Snidely Whiplash-style mustache, rub their hands together, and laugh and evil “Moo-hoo-ha-ha!” laugh based upon their behavior.): “(So and so): promoted to second lieutenant,” etc. I was hoping they’d also be heard saying, just as we cut away to see Damien’s aunt & uncle (Lee Grant & William Holden) meet at the airport as he returns from New York City, having just seen a mural, painted almost 2,000 years ago, and recently imported to America for a museum, depicting the beast of the apocalypse as having Damien’s face: “Damien Thorn: promoted to Antichrist.”
And at the end of the movie, we’re shown the quote, from II Corinthians, 11:13: “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.” Um, what does that have to do with the Antichrist? That passage from the New Testament warns us about false Christians who profess to promote Christianity but are actually just using it for themselves or for other malign or heretical purposes, like greedy televangelists and such. I’m sure there are more germane passages, like maybe from Revelations, that would relate more effectively to this story of the Antichrist in the Omen movies (minus the fourth one, which is hilarious, but does not feature Damien*). Or did they all get used up already in all the Omen rip-off movies that followed the original movie The Omen in the late 1970s and early ‘80s? It's funny, because that quote would be more appropriate appearing at the end of the crazy fun Omen rip-off movie Holocaust 2000.
* The fourth Omen movie, Omen IV: The Awakening, credits the theme music from The Omen and Omen III to Jerry Goldsmith, but neglects to add: “Used despite his objections.” (I’m only kidding: Maybe Jerry Goldsmith enjoyed bad movies too.)
