Omen IV: The Awakening (1991)

Directors: Jorge Montesi, Dominique Othenin-Girard

Writers: Brian Taggert, Harvey Bernhard

Composer: Jonathan Sheffer

Starring: Faye Grant, Michael Woods, Michael Lerner, Madison Mason, Ann Hearn, Jim Byrnes, Don S. Davis, Asia Vieira, Megan Leitch, Joy Coghill, David Cameron, Duncan Fraser, Susan Chapple

More info: IMDb

Tagline: The terror continues.

Plot: Damien Thorn is dead, but his prophecy is reborn in a mysterious girl named Delia, who is adopted by two attorneys, Gene & Karen York. When Karen realizes her baby was born under suspicious circumstances, she hires a private investigator to find Delia's real parents. A series of bizarre accidents occur, and Karen begins to suspect everyone of conspiring against her as she unravels the truth about her baby.

My rating: 5/10

Will I watch it again? No.

I had a hunch this wasn't going to be good.  There's not much to like.  One neat little bit was when Earl (Michael Lerner who stands out the most in the acting department) starts to lose his shit and the carolers turn into demon carolers singing Ave Satani (Jerry Goldsmith's amazing main title tune from the first picture)...and then he gets, uh, swept off his feet and...breaking eggs.  Best moment of the film.  The rest of it is half rehash of THE OMEN (1976) and some new business.  At least they tried?  Maybe but not enough.  I find it hard to believe they couldn't find a better child actor to fill the important role of Satan's spawn, Delia.  She plays it squinty-eyed menacing and her acting chops aren't up to snuff.  Composer Jonathan Sheffer had the unenviable job of following Jerry Goldsmith's outstanding scores for the previous three films.  What's worse (or better for us) is that the film utilizes Goldsmith's music from the first and third films.  That means Sheffer's score has to blend with it as much as possible and that's not an easy thing.  Sometimes it works and it's really obvious when it doesn't.  Hearing Goldsmith's music is nice but the scenes can't live up to the greatness of the music and it suffers from it.  And the ending?  Jesus.  They try for a ballsy finale but it ends up largely aping the first film, leading the path to the next film that never came.  It's hardly a spoiler as there wasn't much else they could've done and it'll be obvious as hell.  Seriously, pass this one up.  The only reason this exists is because of money.  Don't let them have any more.  For those who care about this one, the 20th Century Fox DVD is widescreen with a slew of trailers (non are anamorphic) including the first three OMEN films (the first two are fullscreen (!)), THE ABYSS (fullscreen), THE BEACH, COMMANDO (fullscreen), DIE HARD (fullscreen), FIGHT CLUB, INDEPENDENCE DAY, LAKE PLACID, MARKED FOR DEATH (fullscreen), PLANET OF THE APES collection (fullscreen), THE TOWERING INFERNO (fullscreen), and X-FILES: FIGHT THE FUTURE.  The quality of most of them is poor considering this is a major studio but it's more than what you'd probably expect for a title like this.