Although flawed at times, this is nevertheless a truly great sequel of the original cult movie.Admittedly, the movie lacks the surprise momentum of the original as the audience - unlike the actors - knows from the very beginning, who Damien Thorn really is. Furthermore, the movie's formula is quite simple: Whoever either finds out Damien's real origin, or stands in his way from rising to his power as the sole heir and leader of the Thorn fortune and company, dies a gruesome death - in the first half of the movie brought about by Damien's subconsciousness personified by an evil <more> raven - but still his foster "father" Richard Thorn is stubbornly denying any warnings of well-meaning, soon- to- be- demised persons that the devil's son is among them and everybody standing in its way is in grave danger - until it is too late. So, in this sense, there is nothing "new" compared to the original, and the movie is indeed predictable.Nevertheless, the appearance of the raven as foreboding of near death, accompanied by Jerry Goldsmith's creepy score, builds up horror as you know that the poor victim just cannot escape its faith.And in my opinion, Jonathan Scott-Taylor as Damien does wonders for the role and he is perfectly cast. He manages, as far as the script allows, to give his persona depth and a kind of child-like innocence at first, up to a point where you even feel sympathy for him when he is being treated meanly by his aunt. When he finds out about his origin he struggles heavily with it and despairs of his fate, breaking down and screaming "Why me". Due to bad writing, in the very next scene he though seems to have come to terms with his fate which seems a little too rushed. He "is OK now" being who he is, and starting to like his newly-found powers, and is certainly starting to like being quasi-invincible and bringing about the end of people around him, with one exception: When his cousin Mark fails to join him rising to power and is consequently killed by Damien, angry and hurt to be rejected by the only person he "loves" and not being able to help it, Damien seems to be struck by grief and shock of what he has done with his devilish trance like stare. Here, the last "human" part of him dies with Mark, and from thereon, the impassive, cold, power-driven and creepy kid entirely wins over for good.The ending is of course a nod to the ending of the original movie; the movie itself is meant to be a filler episode and a preparation for the weak!!! third part of the trilogy.I though like it at least as much if not better than the original, as I like the focus on the development of Damien and the - unfortunately only hinted - inner conflict his heritage imposes on him at first. Here, there would have been great stuff to explore deeper.Furthermore, the end seems a little rushed and abrupt; it would have done the movie better if it would have lasted another half hour to smoothly bring all the plot threads together.Nevertheless, this movie is - for a 70s movie- very scary and technically well done the lake scene!!!! and certainly makes a lasting impact on the viewer with its creative deaths, fantastic music and a great cast. This outweighs, in my opinion, its flaws, and makes it an underrated horror classic very enjoyable to watch. <less> |