Movie Info
Movie Name: Omen IV: The Awakening
Studio: FNM Films/Harvey Bernhard Productions/Mace Neufeld Productions
Genre(s): Horror
Release Date(s): May 20, 1991
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
What do you get for Antichristmas?
Karen and Gene York (Faye Grant and Michael Woods) are trying to have a child. When it fails, adoption seems like the only option, and they get a baby girl that they name Delia. Delia (Asia Vieira) is different from other children. She seems to emit evil and not everyone can see it. As Karen slowly realizes that something is wrong with her child, a miracle happens when she becomes pregnant. With Delia watching, will Karen’s child live to see its birth…or does Delia have other plans?
Directed by Jorge Montesi and Dominique Othenin-Girard, Omen IV: The Awakening a good-vs-evil horror movie. The film was a made-for-TV movie which aired on May 20, 1991 on FOX and was a sequel to the 1981 film Omen III: The Final Conflict. The movie was generally panned by critics but did receive some theatrical releases overseas.
I remember being excited and watching The Omen IV when it premiered…any horror movie was a movie I would watch. The Omen IV was meant to be something bigger. With the ever weakening Omen series, Omen IV: The Awakening was made to be a spin-off for a new series of made-for-TV movies based on the popular franchise. With not much positive spin on the film, the plans were scrapped leaving Delia and her brother on a straight path to the White House. Due to aspects of the story, a ******spoiler alert****** is in effect for the rest of the review.
Delia loves her…brother?
Past the original movie, the Omen series plots have been pretty weak (and the third movie’s story is just odd with Damien’s rise to power). Here, a new beginning is launched but the writers decided to do it in the most confusing way possible. Switching the sex of the Antichrist to a girl would have been one thing, but the story actually has Delia (the true daughter of Damien) being sister to the true Antichrist who she had absorbed and carried in the womb…which is implanted in Karen. Confused yet? It was so unnecessary and so out of left field…but not in a good way.
The acting is also so-so. Faye Grant was a staple of ’70s and ’80s TV shows and is fine here, but the movie just doesn’t develop in a way that any of the characters seem very rounded. The rest of the crew also feels under developed and Delia just doesn’t have the creep factor of the original Damien actor Harvey Spencer, and she seems more bratty than dangerous. The hippy nanny and the evil nanny really do not stick around long, and the friends of Grant and Woods are around enough to have personality. I do give some credit to Michael Lerner who plays the detective trying to piece all the elements together and despite not having as much screen time, he might be the most real character.
No one happened to notice this on the child’s hand…
The visuals of the original Omen series were always a high point. The manner of deaths was crazy, but here due to TV’s toned down nature, they aren’t as graphic. The beheading of the man near the beginning was almost like Warner’s beheading in The Omen, but less powerful. The only death I can say was good was Lerner which in style and shooting did match up with other deaths in the series…if the movie had been a bit more like that, it would have been better (of course with TV we had have his death by wrecking ball implied).
Omen IV: The Awakening ended the franchise…thankfully. It isn’t a very good movie, but if you want even more conclusion to the series, you should check it out. Damien did not stay dead however and a remake of The Omen was released in 2006 (on 06/06/06 of course).
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