Damien - The Omen II (1978)

Director: Don Taylor

Cast: William Holden, Lee Grant, Jonathan Scott-Taylor, Robert Foxworth

Have I Seen it Before: Never. The series has a real reputation of not being even worth much of a look after the original. One quick deal on the Apple movie store, and here I am. Telling that I’d probably never be able to see my way clear to watch it on disc. I don’t even know if it would go in my review, but the audio-mix on this streaming copy was one of the worst I’ve ever heard. Did that exist in the original film? No way to tell, I suppose, if for no other reason than I’m probably not going to watch the film again.

Did I Like It: I’m almost tempted to write a handful of reviews for this movie. There’s one that expresses sufficient relief that this is, in fact, nowhere near as bad as Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), which is at least something. That review would probably hit something of a brick wall when it drifts into a meditation on how much The Exorcist (1973) is better than The Omen (1976).

There’s the standard sequel review that laments the label-only sequel. The director is gone, the cast is gone, the writer is gone. All we have is some vague memories, essentially the same plot (with a useless plot twist thrown in an half-baked attempt to avoid accusations of stealing people’s money with exactly the same movie.

Also, there’s the score. The only creative behind the original to return for this film was composer Jerry Goldsmith. I love Jerry Goldsmith. I’m on the record saying that certain Jerry Goldsmith scores are my club jam. The score for Damien - Omen II (1978) is nothing more than a few weird orchestral grunts* aimed at goosing jump scares that couldn’t stand on their own.

*A thing I didn’t know existed until watching this film, but that is indeed the only way to describe them.

The Librarian: Return to King Solomon’s Mines (2006)

Director: Jonathan Frakes

Cast: Noah Wyle, Gabrielle Anwar, Robert Foxworth, Bob Newhart

Have I Seen it Before: Nah, just as with The Librarian: Quest for the Spear (2004), the adventures of Flynn Carsen (Wyle) have flown outside of my radar all of these years. As Lora watches the eventual series, I tend to be in the room while these films are happening around me.

Did I Like It: It’s clear almost immediately that this movie is far superior to the original. Wyle sheds at least some of that “aww, shucks” quality that made him a TV star in the first place, which goes some of the way to giving the pacing of the adventure a less halting quality.

What’s more, this feels far more like an actual movie than an above average weekend weather report, what with all of the preposterous green screen material that fueled the proceedings in the last go around. Maybe it’s a product of the first film’s marginal success, but there appears to be more of a budget here. At any rate, the production value is infinitely higher. All credit should be given to Jonathan Frakes’ influence, a clearly gifted director who should definitely be allowed to keep making features, even if two of his efforts twenty years ago failed to make a dime. It wasn’t his fault! The man made Star Trek: First Contact (1996). Show some respect!

Now, before we go thinking that my praise for this second Librarian film knows no bounds, let’s keep in mind that it’s not like the film has any surprises in it, even if all of the elements presented work a little bit better here. The twist in the plot is so obvious, I knew from where every new character was coming the moment they appeared on screen. And while the special effects are certainly better, this is still at its core a film designed for the sole purpose of filling time between cable broadcasts of NBA games.