Omen III: The Final Conflict (1981)
Directed by Graham Barker
Written by Andrew Birkin

There's very little of value in the final episode of Damien's travels on Earth, save a couple decently horrible deaths and Sam Neill's laser-sharp performance as Damien, now the CEO of Thorn Corporation.

To stop the Messiah from destroying him, Damien orders all male babies born on a given day murdered. Unfortunately, 99% of this carnage (and what lovely carnage it would be) is left off-screen. The film instead focuses largely on Damien's romance with a female reporter, and an ongoing series of one-sided conversations Damien has with a bizarrely reconfigured crucifix.

You'd think a 33 year-old AntiChrist would have a lot more fun, fuck a lot more women and kill a lot more people just for the pleasure of it. But Damien is depressingly one-note, caring only that all the political stars align so he can become the US Ambassador to England.

The cast is way beneath the previous Omen films, and aside from Neill, the only recognizable face is Mason Adams, the voice of Cadbury Crème Eggs ("Every egg has creeeeeammmmm"). Neill is excellent, far transcending his material, but generally when you walk in poop, you smell like poop.

You can basically fast forward all the talking parts for the death scenes and brief nudity. The climax is totally ridiculous, as Jesus himself appears to destroy Damien. I wish I could say this moment made me laugh (as did the appearance of God in The Apple), but I really just kind of smirked and rolled my eyes, praying to the Dark Lord to deliver me from apathetic boredom.

Review by Crimedog