The Final Conflict (film)

Did You Know?

• In Germany and Hungary, the film was released as Barbara's Baby, a play on the title Rosemary's Baby.
• A planned sequel, Omen IV: Armageddon, was cancelled after director Graham Baker's scheduling conflicts and the death of replacement director Horace D. Burton.
• The opening title sequence still shows the original title The Final Conflict without 'Omen III'.

Plot

Damien Thorn, now 32 and CEO of an international conglomerate, is appointed U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom following his predecessor's suicide. Embracing his unholy lineage, he attempts to halt the Second Coming of Christ. Father DeCarlo, a priest from the Subiaco monastery, acquires the Seven Daggers of Megiddo and joins six other priests to kill Damien while locating the Christ child. Damien becomes romantically involved with journalist Kate Reynolds and manipulates her young son Peter into a disciple.

After the alignment of stars in Cassiopeia on March 24, 1981, signals the Second Coming, Damien orders the killing of all boys born in the UK that morning. Thirty-one infants die. Reynolds learns Damien's true identity from DeCarlo and later discovers Damien's birthmark after a brutal sexual encounter. Damien uses Peter to track DeCarlo, learning that his adviser Harvey Dean concealed his son's birth date. Dean refuses to kill his son, but his wife, under demonic influence, kills their son and then Dean with a burning iron.

Production

The evening party scene and Damien's residence were both set at Brocket Hall near London. The Moors sequence used Cornwall locations like Luxulyan Valley and Roche Rock, with lightning added later. The Disciples of the Watch sequence was shot in a single night around 4–5 am in the North York Moors. The finale took place at Fountains Abbey in North Yorkshire, where director Graham Baker recalled the shoot as very cold and eerie.

The monastery exterior reused footage from the first film, as did the ambassador's walk to the embassy. White House shots came from Superman II with its visual effects removed. Lisa Harrow said the television studio death of the first priest, where her character interviews Damien, was one of the hardest sequences, requiring over two weeks to film. Stuntman Vic Armstrong performed a backward one-hundred-foot fall from a bridge, which he later described in Guinness World Records 2005 as the most frightening stunt of his career, noting most of his falls were under seventy feet.

Music

Jerry Goldsmith composed the score, performed by the National Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Lionel Newman. Goldsmith used an orchestral/choral blend with light electronic elements, but unlike the previous scores, The Final Conflict makes no pronounced reference to the original theme 'Ave Satani'. Instead, Goldsmith composed a new theme for Damien emphasizing robust tragedy, and a new theme for the rebirth of Christ. The score was released twice by Varèse Sarabande: a 1986 album with thirteen tracks running just over forty-eight minutes, and an expanded 2001 version with fifteen tracks running just under sixty-three minutes. The 1986 album includes tracks such as 'Main Title', 'The Ambassador', and 'The Final Conflict'. The 2001 album adds tracks like 'The Statue', '666', and extends 'The Final Conflict' to 9:22.

Reception

The Final Conflict received mixed to negative reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, it holds a 29% approval rating from 21 reviews, with an average rating of 4.4/10. Roger Ebert gave 2 out of 4 stars, criticizing the reduction of the apocalyptic confrontation to 'a bunch of guys with Italian accents running around trying to stab Damien in the back.' Ebert and Gene Siskel gave the film 'No' ratings on their TV show, finding it boring and small-scale.

Variety called it 'the funniest one yet' in the series, noting Sam Neill's limited emotional range. Sheila Benson of the Los Angeles Times praised the film for avoiding 'tacky, splashy deaths' and credited Baker with 'intelligence and elegant visual style.' Gary Arnold of The Washington Post wrote that the film 'makes no case for prolonging the saga.' Larry Kart of the Chicago Tribune gave 1.5 out of 4 stars, praising Neill's performance but criticizing the plot as 'barren of suspense.'

Richard Combs of The Monthly Film Bulletin described it as 'a hell-and-brimstone version of Whitehall farce.' John Marrone of Bloody Disgusting noted some gore and darkness but found Jerry Goldsmith's soundtrack 'awkward' and 'overdone.'