Movies - Omen III: The Final Conflict

Home > Listing Index > Movies > Omen III: The Final Conflict

	Movies - Omen III: The Final Conflict

Omen III: The Final Conflict is the third installment in a cycle of horror movies documenting the rise and eventual fall of the Antichrist. It follows The Omen
and Damien: Omen II
.

Released in 1981, the film charts the progress of the now-adult Damien Thorn to a position of earthly power (becoming United States ambassador to the United Kingdom with an eye on the U.S. Presidency) as a springboard for triggering the Apocalypse.

The movie was directed by Graham Baker. It stars Sam Neill as Thorn, with Lisa Harrow as journalist Kate Reynolds, and Rossano Brazzi as the priest Father DeCarlo, charged with the divine task of killing the Antichrist.

The movie tells two simultaneous stories: the rise of Thorn and his hold over his increasing flock of worshippers and the work of DeCarlo to kill Thorn, set against the countdown to the second coming of Christ and the showdown between good and evil.

Story

Damien Thorn (Sam Neill) is appointed Ambassador to the Court of St James, the same position his adoptive father held in The Omen, the first film in the Omen cycle. Unlike the two incarnations of Damien portrayed in previous Omen films, the adult Damien is entirely aware of his unholy lineage, and his destiny.

An alignment of the stars in the Cassiopeia region of the night sky (the traditional location of the stellar signal of the second coming) causes the creation of a super "star", described in the film as a second Star of Bethlehem.

Thorn realises it is a sign of the second coming of Jesus and he orders all male children in England born on the morning of March 24, 1981 (the morning when, in the story, the Cassiopeia alignment occurred) to be killed in order to prevent the Christ-child's return to power, as predicted in the Book of Revelation.

Thorn has also become involved with journalist Kate Reynolds (Lisa Harrow), a complex relationship which undermines his plans to dominate the world. Initially the pair become romantically involved, but later, as Reynolds begins to understand Damien's nature, he focuses his attention on her teenaged son Peter (Barnaby Holm), whom he takes as a disciple.

Ultimately the relationship is his undoing.

Meanwhile, Father DeCarlo (Rossano Brazzi) and six other priests armed with the Seven Daggers of Meggido - ancient holy weapons; the only earthly weapons which can harm the Antichrist - hunt Thorn in the hope of killing him before he can destroy the "Christ child".

Retconning

In order for the story to be enacted in the then-contemporary 1981, the series timeline required substantial editing, moving events from the first two movies back in time. This allowed Thorn, a child in 1976 and a teen in 1978, to be an adult by 1981.

Though not commonly used, this is an example of retconning, where the "retrospective continuity" of an earlier story is changed in order to make a subsequent story consistent with the overall mythology.

Alternative Title

When first released in 1981, the film's original official title was simply The Final Conflict. Later, as often happens with video and DVD releases, the title was adjusted to Omen III: The Final Conflict in order to accentuate its link to the other two films in The Omen cycle.

Today it is better known by its second title.

The Omen cycle

There were three original Omen films, of which The Final Conflict is the third and last. The Omen
(1976), Damien: Omen II
(1978) and Omen III: The Final Conflict
(1981).

A fourth film, Omen IV: The Awakening
(1991), was made for television and was part of a failed attempt by the 20th Century Fox studio to revive the films as a horror franchise in the style of Halloween
and A Nightmare on Elm Street
.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Omen III: The Final Conflict ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article Omen III: The Final Conflict; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.

Searches on eBay