: (Jerry Goldsmith) Immediately upon
the unexpected fiscal success of Richard Donner's
two
years prior, producer Harvey Bernhard began work on assembling a crew
for Fox's 1978 sequel,
. While Donner was
unavailable (and the director's chair would be inhabited by two men
after the start of filming due to artistic disagreements), Bernhard made
sure to retain Jerry Goldsmith as the musical voice of the franchise to
compensate for the lack of returning principle characters, all of whom
were killed off in the previous film. For the composer, now an Academy
Award winner because of
was far less daunting than the first, for the
film's plot was so similar to that of its predecessor that Goldsmith was
presented with the opportunity to twist and manipulate his existing
idea into an arguably more ambitious form. The fact that
didn't deter success (or another sequel). The Antichrist, now
12 years old and living in America, slaughters his family along with
representatives of the Church that are aware of his existence and are
seeking to kill him with sacred daggers (once again). The sudden scenes
of violent death are different, as is the boy's realization of his true
identity, but the film's basic formula is exactly the same. As such,
there really wasn't much reason for Goldsmith to vary his output for the
picture either, relying heavily upon the material he wrote for the
character of Damien in the previous score. The recording of the music
would be different, however; due to scheduling conflicts, Goldsmith
recorded the film version of
in Los Angeles
before later heading off to London to record an altered album version
with his familiar National Philharmonic Orchestra, the sole performers
of the other two scores in the series. Also unique to
is the incorporation of electronics into both recordings of the
score. The integration of synthesizers directly into Goldsmith's
orchestral ensembles was becoming a regular occurrence by 1978, and the
tone of the keyboarded electronics here is similar to what Goldsmith
collectors will have heard elsewhere. Returning at the forefront, of
course, is a mixed chorus that for a second time is taxed heavily and in
creative ways.
On the whole, the music for
Damien: Omen II is
really not much more than a simplified version of what audiences heard
(and rewarded) in
The Omen. The "Ave Satani" theme returns for
more straight forward and frequent employment, defining the whole of
this score's identity without any hindrance from the family theme from
the previous score or any equivalent for the newer context. In fact,
there aren't any significantly new secondary ideas developed in
Damien: Omen II, making it a rare Goldsmith score that does
nothing to define itself outside of the shadow of another work. Some of
the techniques in conveying "Ave Satani" and its related rhythmic
churning are extended in different directions, but none of this
expansion ever yields a new melodic concept. The domination of this
score by "Ave Satani" is so thorough that only one cue in the entire
work exists without some form of it, and only three proceed without a
full choral rendition. In this regard,
Damien: Omen II is largely
a one-dimensional score, devoid of all the intelligently intriguing
foreshadowing and aural combat between good and evil that made
The
Omen so accomplished. Some of this problem is inherent in the script
and the music's spotting; by this point, everyone knew what was going to
happen in the story and, by Goldsmith's choice, only 35 minutes of music
was recorded for the film, causing most of the conversational and bridge
scenes (along with some of the terror itself) without any music. That
decision translates into a score that, when heard on album, is exposed
as not much more than a series of explosive "Ave Satani" variants.
Luckily, those variations are quite satisfying, extended into
increasingly fluid and harmonically propulsive performances that are
arguably more resounding in their impact. Where the shock and horror
factor of this theme is somewhat marginalized, the satisfaction gained
from its expression of evil is enhanced. With a faster tempo in some
performances, Goldsmith conveys a sense of enthusiasm and devious joy in
this score, likely to acknowledge the self-awareness that Damien now
enjoys. This heightened pace is especially evident in the opening and
closing title sequences, for which Goldsmith strips the brooding aspect
of "Ave Satani" and gives it an even more obvious, victorious edge. Some
listeners will appreciate the more consistently relentless result of
this forceful application, though it does lead to some redundancy as
well, despite the short running time. Only "Snowmobiles" is a break from
the consistent oppression, a surprisingly positive string-led piece that
unfortunately totally avoids the previous family theme.
While the majority of Goldsmith's work for
Damien:
Omen II owes to its predecessor, there are a handful of unique
elements that do merit some attention. First are the vocal techniques.
To accompany the merciless minions of the Antichrist in the animal
kingdom, the composer pushes the male singers to produce awkward throat
sounds that jab at the listener in the deepest ranges. In a comical
sense, these sounds, as heard at the start of "Aunt Marion's Visitor,"
are the lowest and most sinister possible versions of Goldsmith's cute
female "doo-op" choral sounds from the ridiculous 1994 comedy
I.Q. Another alteration comes in the half of "Ave Satani" that
dwelled on the bass strings and tuba in
The Omen. This aspect of
the theme, which was what resembled John Barry's
The Lion in
Winter the most, has been replaced with an almost entirely new
emphasis that does shift the tone of the theme to one of easier rhythmic
motion. The other and most obvious change in
Damien: Omen II is
the incorporation of the electronics, which are a distinct negative.
Their most bizarre use comes in the opening and closing performances of
"Ave Satani," in which Goldsmith chose a low, bouncing "splat" noise
that makes it seem as though Damien is enjoying himself in the process
of squishing insects. Since the tone of that sound is pushed to its
lowest regions, it isn't completely distracting in this sense. But with
the voices effectively producing the tonal distortion that the
synthesizers might otherwise handle in the middle of the score, there
really was no reason to add them here. They do seem to help the bass
region when an organ performs, however, which is a small plus. These
effects differ quite a bit between the two recordings of the score, but
both are somewhat awkward in their all-too-cute effect. On the whole,
despite these minor efforts by Goldsmith to push his music from
The
Omen into new territory, it's ultimately redundant material after
just ten minutes of the accelerated "Ave Satani" interpretations. The LP
record contents were pressed onto an identical CD in 1988 by Silva
Screen, though availability of the score was not widespread until
Varèse Sarabande offered expanded and remastered editions of all
three scores in 2001. This "Deluxe Edition" presents both the film and
album recordings of
Damien: Omen II, as well as the short but
pretty "Snowmobiles." A 2005 repackaging of all three "Deluxe Editions"
together for a retail price of less than $30 made them very affordable,
not to mention a compensation for more difficult retail availability of
the 2001 albums by then. In the end,
Damien: Omen II is the
weakest of the three, but it ironically translates into the most
consistent album.
**** @Amazon.com: CD or
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For Jerry Goldsmith reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.26
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