Dom Robinson reviews
Omen III: The Final Conflict
Distributed by
Encore Entertainment
- Cat.no: EE 1136
- Cert: 18
- Running time: 104 minutes
- Sides: 2 (CLV)
- Year: 1981
- Pressing: 1998
- Chapters: 23 (12/11+1)
- Sound: Dolby Surround
- Widescreen: 2.35:1 (Panavision)
- Price: £14.99
- Extras : Original Theatrical Trailer
Director:
Producer:
Screenplay:
Music:
Cast:
Damien Thorn: Sam Neill (Dead Calm, Death In Brunswick, Enigma, Event Horizon, The Hunt For Red October, In The Mouth Of Madness, The Jungle Book (live action), Jurassic Park, Memoirs Of An Invisible Man, The Piano, Sirens, Until The End Of
The World)
Father DeCarlo: Rossano Brazzi (The Barefoot Contessa, Krakatoa: East Of Java, Legend Of The Lost, South Pacific, Three Coins In The Fountain)
Dean: Don Gordon (Codename Vengeance)
Kate Reynolds: Lisa Harrow (The Last Days Of Chez Nous, TV: "Inspector Morse", "Kavanagh Q.C.", "Nonni", "The Professionals", "Space 1999")
Peter: Barnaby Holm
President: Mason Adams (Jonathon - The Boy Nobody Wanted, Life Among The Cannibals)
Barbara: Leueen Willoughby
American Ambassador: Robert Arden (Confidential Report)
American Ambassador's Secretary: Ruby Wax (TV: "Absolutely Fabulous", "Girls On Top", "Ruby")
Astronomer: Arnold Diamond
Astronomer's Assistant: Eric Richard (TV: "The Bill")
Omen III: The Final Conflict
- The third segment of the Omen trilogy
sees the satanic Damien, now a grown man of 32, as head of the gigantic Thorn
Corporation, Ambassador to the Court of St. James in England and, as advisor
to the President Of The United States, just one step away from the most powerful
position on earth.
Set in an eerie future, The Great Recession has arrived. As worldwide starvation
and economic doom prevail, so does Damien who relentlessly continues his
sinister plot to control the world.
Only a priest, Father DeCarlo, whose sacred mission is to destroy the
Antichrist, stands between Damien and his diabolical ambition to
bring the world to the brink of global chaos. One by one, the seven Italian
monks who carry the seven sacred daggers of Megiddo attempt to rid the world
of Damien's evil; and one by one their valiant efforts are brutally and
horrifically thwarted. Will Father DeCarlo succeed, or will the Antichrist
claim the souls of all mankind?
The third part in the Omen trilogy also contains a number of shocking deaths
which made the series so popular. In this part, two of the most violent come
firstly during the scene featuring the American Ambassador who ends up looking
a little unwell and not quite in the right attire for his press conference;
and secondly in a scene pointing out the wrong way to doing the ironing...
A great film is certainly helped by a good cast which this one has, as well
as a fine lead in Sam Neill as the most evil man on the planet. There's
also a couple of interesting cameos from two stars of British television
who frequent the screen most often, namely Eric Richard, aka Sgt. Bob
Cryer in The Bill who appears as the Astronomer's Technician; and the
ubiquitous Ruby Wax as secretary to the American Ambassador.
The picture quality is almost perfect, the only anomolies being a few flecks
dropouts on the original print, so a great mastering job has been done on this
film which is now 17 years old. It's been a while since I've seen this film
so I was a bit surprised at first when one part early on featured footage
in a dreadful condition. A few seconds later all was revealed as the characters
were watching a film about the state of the world 50,000 years ago being played
on an age-old projector.
Presumably, the print used comes from the same digitally remastered master for
which the 1996 video re-releases were struck from. It is also presented in its
correct widescreen aspect ratio of 2.35:1 - unlike the video releases which
were pan-and-scan. The cover artwork remains the same.
The sound quality is very clear and in Dolby Surround which brings home Jerry
Goldsmith's score very well, not to mention the famed choral music, although
there's not much in the way of directional sound effects.
The laserdisc contains just 22 chapters spread throughout the 104 minutes of the
film, although it does cover all the major scenes. The package is rounded off
with the original theatrical trailer.
In the summer of 1996, Fox Video dropped a clanger when they re-released the
trilogy on 6.6.96 on video, but only in pan-and-scan versions. Gladly, Encore
have redressed the balance, having released the entire trilogy in widescreen
format, just as Fox have got round to putting only the first one out in this
way on video.
Overall, the Omen trilogy (forget about the TV movie Omen IV: The
Awakening) is one of the best suspense trilogies of all time, with part
one now available for £19.99 and the sequels costing a fiver less apiece.
FILM : ****½
PICTURE QUALITY : ****½
SOUND QUALITY : ****
EXTRAS : *
-------------------------------
OVERALL : ***½
Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1998.
[Up to the top of this page]
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
