(pb; 1978: movie tie-in novel, based on Stanley Mann and Mike Hodges’s screenplay. Second book in The Omen pentalogy.)
From the back cover
Little by little, one of the world’s most powerful families is close to being destroyed. And no one seems to know why. Those who suspect the truth do not live to reveal it.
“Only thirteen-year-old Damien Thorn seems immune from the bizarre accidents claiming the lives of those around him. Damien, whose own father tried to kill him seven years ago. . . Damien, whose loving foster family is learning the meaning of hellish fear. . . Damien, who is leaving behind the seeming innocence of youth to fulfill the terrifying prophecy foretold long ages ago. . . Damien, who is discovering that it is not, after all the meek but the master of ultimate evil who shall inherit the earth!”
Review
Damien is a solid, less dread-atmospheric follow-up to David Seltzer's The Omen. The writing is good, the characters and their relationships are well-sketched, the pacing of the book is an entertaining balance of backstory, characterization, action and kill scenes. Having said that, this first sequel is not as heady a B-movie thrill as its predecessor, a movie novelization that does little, if anything, to expand on the screenplay on which it’s based.
Damien is a fun, blast-through read, one that does not transcend its movie tie-in genre, but is still mildly entertaining─just don’t expect the over-the-top, beyond-its-source-flick thrills that Omen, a high-mark for movie tie-ins, trafficked in. Followed by another movie tie-in novel, Gordon McGill’s The Final Conflict (1981).
Additional note: In Damien (book and film) Richard Thorn’s brother is called “Richard,” the name given Damien’s human father in the film version of Omen. The book version of Omen calls Damien’s human father “Jeremy.”
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The film version of Damien was released stateside on June 9, 1978. Don Taylor and an uncredited Mike Hodges directed the film, from a screenplay by Hodges and Stanley Mann.
William Holden played Richard Thorn. Lee Grant played Ann Thorn. Jonathan-Scott Taylor played Damien Thorn. Lucas Donat played Mark Thorn.
An uncredited Ian Hendry played Michael Morgan. An uncredited Leo McKern reprised his role of Carl Bugenhagen. Sylvia Sidney played Aunt Marion. Elizabeth Shepherd played Joan Hart. Allan Arbus, billed as Alan Arbus, played Pasarian. Meshach Taylor played Dr. Kane. Nicholas Pryor played Charles Warren. Lew Ayres played Paul Atherton.
Robert Foxworth played Paul Buher. Lance Henriksen played Sgt. Neff.
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