Omen 3: The Final Conflict (1981)

Director: Graham Baker

Starring: Sam Neill, Rossano Brazzi, Don Gordon

The now adult Antichrist plots to eliminate his future divine opponent while a cabal of monks plot to stop him.

In ‘The Omen’ there was something sinister and disturbing about a 6-year old boy being the personification of evil. In ‘Damien: Omen 2’ not so much so with the evil being a teenager. In ‘Omen 3: The Final Conflict’ even less so with that boy now being a 32-year old adult.

The film starts with the discovery of the daggers with which Damien was to be killed in the first and second films – the only objects that can kill Damien. The daggers are auctioned and find their way to a monastery in Italy.

Damien now owns Thorn Industries and is a powerful man. For the Devil’s son, he sure is a successful and dedicated businessman. A handful of priests plan to kill Damien, and Damien realizes this after a failed attempt on his life. The final countdown is about to start with the alignment of three stars. Damien fears this to be a sign of the Second Coming, and that a Christ child was born the very moment the stars aligned. He therefore orders all children born that moment to be killed.

The film becomes a race against time for Damien. There’s also a romantic interest here in the form of a TV reporter, Kate (Lisa Harrow) who becomes involved with Damien. Unfortunately the film pretty much follows the same pattern as ‘Damien: Omen 2’ and doesn’t offer anything new. The film (and the Omen Trilogy in general) ends on an anti-climatic note, and by the time the film ends, it is nothing more than a vessel to promote Christianity.

When the ending is followed by selected Bible verses to substantiate the film’s premise, no doubt all the Christians went “Hallelujah, Amen!”. Yawn… The first film was still by far the best, and the only film in the series that was somewhat creepy and suspenseful.

‘Omen 3: The Final Conflict’ earned $20.4 million on a $5 million budget.

Would I watch it again? No.