Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Bradley James, Megalyn Echikunwoke, Omid Abtahi, Barbara Hershey, David Meunier, Robin Weigert, Melanie Scrofano, Viv Moore, Scott Wilson, Brody Bover, Michael Therriault, Daniel Kash, Madison Oldroyd, Juan Carlos Velis, Sandrine Holt, Joe Doyle, Bola Aiyeola, James Cade, Fulvio Cecere, Sara Garcia, Bess Armstrong.
We are forever vigilant it seems against the pulse of evil, its persuasion, its power in rhetoric and belief, that we forget how some can be swayed, seduced into following the path that others fear to tread, how the blinding light of what appears to be reasonable at face value, has the potential to turn humanity into baseless creatures of the night.
Yet somehow the argument remains, and it is not about class, politics, gender, race or age, it’s what is perceived as the continual fight within religion, the absolute conviction of whose God is the right one to follow and how would they deal with the Devil and his disciples.
Following on from the events that were brought together in the 1976 film starring Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, David Warner and Billie Whitelaw, The Omen’s natural successor of Damien is a series that was not given the justice required to see it renewed to a second season and has gone down in recent television history amongst its fans as the one that got away.
Perhaps it was down to the subject matter, possibly that it dismissed the events of both sequels and created a different time-line for The Antichrist that demanded the one series existence of The Omen spin-off, but it cannot be down to the sense of panic and fear that it managed to install into the viewer, the underlying concern for the soul as the terror unfolds, for that is as good as any programme of the same genre has managed in the last forty years.
Every person arguably believes themselves to be decent, if not religious, then at least holding a high sense of morals which would include do not harm, and a basic level of kindness; however to find out that you are the one designated to bring the end of times for humanity, the question of whether you would rebel against nature and fate is more pressing than immediate acceptance, and to Bradley James as war photographer Damien Thorn’s impressive fight against the powers behind The Antichrist’s appearance on Earth, the sense of dismay is compelling and heart-wrenching, and one that drives the point of the fall of man.
With superb support from the likes of Barbara Hershey as the conniving Anne Rutledge, David Meunier as sceptic Detective James Shay and Omid Abtahi as fellow photographer and friend Amani Golkar, Damien should have been a series that went beyond that one season wonder. Deeply unsettling, one that pulls on the nerves, one that is terrifyingly superb, Damien is a testament to the psychological aspect of the power of religious zealotry and its counterpart of faith in the darker arts.
Ian D. Hall