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[[Image:Omen_III_The_Final_Conflict.jpg|right|thumb|Omen III: The Final Conflict movie poster]]
'''''Omen III: The Final Conflict''''' is the third installment in a cycle of horror movies documenting the rise and eventual fall of the [[Antichrist]].
Released in [[1981]], the film charts the progress of the now-adult Damien Thorn to a position of earthly power (becoming [[United States of America|United States]] [[ambassador]] to the [[United Kingdom]] with an eye on the U.S. Presidency) as a springboard for triggering the Apocalypse.
The movie was directed by [[Graham Baker]]. It stars [[Sam Neill]] as Thorn, with [[Lisa Harrow]] as journalist Kate Reynolds, and [[Rossano Brazzi]] as the priest Father DeCarlo, charged with the divine task of killing the [[Antichrist]].
The movie tells two simultaneous stories: the rise of Thorn and his hold over his increasing flock of worshippers
==Story==
From the alignment of the stars in the Cassiopeia region of the night sky (the traditional ___location of the stellar signal of the Second Coming), Thorn knows that the [[second coming]] of [[Jesus]] is due and he senses when it occurs. Thus, he orders all male children in England born on the morning of March 24, 1981 (the morning when the Cassiopeia alignment occurred) to be killed in order to prevent Jesus' return to power, as predicted in the [[Book of Revelation]]. Along the way, Damien falls in love with Reynolds, which may prove to be his undoing.▼
Damien Thorn ([[Sam Neill]] is appointed Ambassador to the Court of St James, the same position his adoptive father held in [[The Omen]], the first film in the Omen cycle. Unlike the two incarnations of Damien portrayed in previous Omen films, the adult Damien is entirely aware of his unholy lineage, and his destiny.
An alignment of the stars in the Cassiopeia region of the night sky (the traditional ___location of the stellar signal of the second coming) causes the creation of a super "star", described in the film as a second Star of Bethlehem.
▲
Thorn has also become involved with journalist Kate Reynolds [[Lisa Harrow]], a complex relationship which undermines his plans to dominate the world. Initially the pair become romantically involved, but later, as Reynolds begins to understand Damien's nature, he focuses his attention on her teenaged son Peter [[Barnaby Holm]], whom he takes as a disciple.
Ultimately the relationship is his undoing.
Meanwhile, Father DeCarlo [[Rossano Brazzi]] and six other priests armed with the Seven Daggers of Meggido - ancient holy weapons; the only earthly weapons which can harm the [[Antichrist]] - hunt Thorn in the hope of killing him before he can destroy the "Christ child".
==Analysis==
Like the two previous movies in the Omen series, ''The Final Conflict'' it is largely dependent on showpiece effects sequences and stunt-centred deaths for its horror impact, in particular a montage showing babies being brutally murdered in progressively unsettling ways, including a baptismal drowning and a car accident which is quite similar to the famous pram sequence in Sergei Eisenstein's [[Battleship Potemkin]].▼
The film's plot re-uses the series [[McGuffin]] - the Seven Daggers of Megiddo - introduced in [[The Omen]].
According to the story they are the only earthly weapon which can harm Damien. In [[The Omen]] it is explained that the first blade must be used to strike the heart (thus extinguishing physical life) and the remaining six daggers are used to form a cross (extinguishing spiritual life) with the first as a centrepoint.
The use of the Seven Daggers of Meggido in the film is inconsistent with the manner in which [[The Omen]] explained they had to be used. In [[The Omen]] all seven were required in a specific arrangement (see above) to kill the [[Antichrist]]. In ''The Final Conflict'', however, the priests arm themselves with one dagger each.
It is unclear in the movie if the one-dagger approach is a deliberate plot ploy to allow further sequels (the tack used in Gordon McGill's sequel novels and in the TV-movie sequel ''[[Omen IV: The Awakening]]'', which largely retells the storyline of the first movie) or simply an oversight by the writer.
==Retconning==
In order for the story to be enacted in the then-contemporary 1981, the series timeline required substantial editing, moving events from the first two movies back in time. This allowed Thorn, a child in 1976 and a teen in 1978, to be an adult by 1981.
Though not commonly used, this is an example of retconning, where a film director will change the "retrospective continuity" of an earlier story in order to make a subsequent story consistent with the overall mythology.
▲Like the two previous movies in the Omen series, it is largely dependent on showpiece effects sequences and stunt-centred deaths for its horror impact, in particular a montage showing babies being brutally murdered in progressively unsettling ways, including a baptismal drowning and a car accident which is quite similar to the famous pram sequence in Sergei Eisenstein's [[Battleship Potemkin]].
==Alternative Title==
Today it is better known by its second title.
▲The film's original official title was simply ''The Final Conflict''. However, often (as in video and DVD re-releases) the movie title is given as ''Omen III: The Final Conflict'' in order to accentuate its links to the earlier Omen movies, and thus today the movie is more well-known by this title.
==External links==
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