Omen IV: The Awakening

The final chapter in the original Omen trilogy seemed to be pretty clear in its intentions; The Final Conflict sounds like a title suggesting resolution to me. Indeed, the death of Damien in that film did bring the story arc to a close. Of course, Hollywood always wants more and with the law of diminishing returns in evidence, this sequel seemed to be way off base with the daughter of the son of Satan (that would be one curious family reunion) attempting to take over the world. Jerry Goldsmith evidently passed or the budget meant they didn't even contemplate asking him and so Jonathan Sheffer, who has worked with Danny Elfman on many occasions, co-composing the score for Pure Luck, was brought in to pen the score.

The album starts in a low key, but fairly promising way with a pleasant (in an Omen film?!) Main Title and a gentle, slightly old fashioned sounding more romantic theme. Perhaps the biggest problem is evident in the next few tracks and I don't know quite how to put this. Essentially, Sheffer's music reminds me of not, at the very least I might expect, a low budget Jerry Goldsmith rip off, but Bruce Broughton's Honey I Blew Up the Kid. Yes, I know it sounds crazy, but where Sheffer seems to be mimicking every (I would assume) slightly creep event, it comes across more like a comedy score. Matching each pratfall with the same musical movement. Even if Jerry Goldsmith's first three efforts hadn't been so brilliant, surely something a little more horrific would have been suitable. Take Jo's Death which features some choral chanting, albeit with more traditional Latin texts as opposed to Goldsmith's demonic version. I could perhaps accept that the film started lightly, but when a supposedly horrible event is occurring there are little descending phrases that sound they should accompany someone falling down the stairs in a Loony Tunes animated short. The end of this cue has a short lullaby type thing that, while a bit of a cliché is a quite effectively chilling musical device if deployed properly, but here it just sounds cute and unlikely to bother even the most evil of little tykes.

Information features one of those impressive crescendos where all hell (as it were) breaks loose, but little comedic musical touches seem to sabotage the potential horror of the situation. The fact that it breaks into a little laid back jazz toward the end of the cue doesn't seem quite right either. Further chanting in Jerome's Ladder also seems sabotaged by the orchestra playing Carl Stalling music. Lunch Boxing contains a short and fun circus march which, like the lullaby, could be twisted to great effect, but it's played as straight comedy and ends up being far too likeable for its own good. Same goes for The Clowns, which as Stephen King has suggested, have quite impressive demonic potential, but here seems to be just playful and not in the least bit threatening. The final few tracks are a little less playful, but still don't exactly exude intense horror, even if Karen's Baby has some pleasingly Herrmann-esque touches added in.

This score does at least highlight an interesting film music reviewing dilemma. As an album, the music is actually enjoyable, which isn't something that's often easy to say about Goldsmith's crushing and terrifying music. Had this been for a Tim Burton fantasy then I suspect it would have been ideal. It doesn't actually sound much like Danny Elfman, but the dark side of Bruce Broughton (if there is one!) seems closer to the truth. The overall tone is vaguely tongue in cheek, but the little chanting chorus could quite happily go with something like The Nightmare Before Christmas, but for a film such as this seems entirely underwhelming. I am quite happy to try my hardest not to rate it against Goldsmith's, but comparing them would be like comparing King of Kings to Monty Python's Life of Brian; same subject, different approach. The problem is whether to rate it lower because it seems so unsuitable for the subject matter it is supposed to be musically portraying, or do I simply ignore any context at all and rate it as pure music?! I suppose there are few reviews without feeling and my feeling is that it's essentially a decent album with some nice moments. In some ways it is more enjoyable for not being much of a horror score simply because so few young composers these days are able to write anything approaching decent, listenable and frightening horror scores. However, taken in context, the effect is somewhere approaching Disney's: The Omen. All it needs are a few songs... shudder.