Omen: Unholy Conception

Omen: Unholy Conception is a 2005 American Psychological Supernatural Horror film written by Adam Armus and directed by Stephen Hopkins. A midquel and in part prequel to the original 1976 Richard Donner and David Seltzer's The Omen. It stars Simon Abkarian, Robin Wright, Ester Hazan, Gabriela Kongstad, Taika Waititi and Linda Cardellini. It chronicles the story of Father Spiletto the priest who handed over the antichrist Damien to the Thorn family, during the period of time leading to the hospital fire that ultimately disfigured him.  Released theatrically on October 11th, 2005 to mixed reception, it has since become a cult classic, garnering specific praise for it's atmosphere, themes and Waititi's performance. The original was then remade the following October with John Moore's The Omen.

Plot

In 1941 Rome, Italy Massimo Spiletto, an investor who has just authorised the development of an active Church operated orphanage returns home to his wife American-Italian wife Helen and young 12 year old son Tommaso, physically and verbally abusing them both. Attempting to adjust the heating overnight of their home via the basement furnace he encounters an unseen figure in the dark. He responds to unheard dialogue and heads upstairs to off-screen stab Helen to death in the bedroom with a ceremonial dagger.

Tommaso enters and discovers his father cleaning up afterwards and runs to the kitchen, calling for the police until his father disconnects the phone line. Tommaso unable to escape the house ultimately locks himself in the basement where he also hears unheard to the audience dialogue. Gunshots then sound and Tommaso is rescued by authorities from the basement passing his father's bullet riddled corpse on the way out.

In present day 1975 now Father Tommaso Spiletto is leaving the Roman Catholic Mass in Sussex, England superior Father Rossellini the final task before his retirement, to pursue medicine. The task of briefly seeing to rundown Roman church Basilica of Saint Ava, along with two Sussex based disciples: former London nurse turned Novitiate nun Irene and young closeted homosexual priest Kauri are sent to accompany him back to Saint Ava in Rome.

After hiring a renovation crew, which are of a division of the development Father Spiletto's father supervised he encounters a fugitive single mother Giorgia, and her two young daughters Martina and Giulia. Giorgia is wanted for questioning in relation to the murder of her husband Antonio. Irene and Kauri offer Giorgia and her children secret sanctuary in Saint Ava and Spiletto agrees on account of her innocent children.

The next day a renovations worker Leo after having Martina brush against him is impaled on a loose ceramic pole, falling from a high rise in a freak accident. Father Spiletto then begins to encounter his bullet ridden father, as well as in a day incident at the church coming across a man Cain, with a strange scar on his forehead. Kauri's secret Italian boyfriend Gabe is found murdered, drained of blood which was used in his art studio to paint his clothes and artwork with 666.

Kauri comes under questioning warranting Rossellini to remove Spiletto, Irene and Kauri from the care of Saint Ava, instead sending in rival priest Giancarlo, and Sister Golino and Ferilli. Giorgia goes into hiding with her daughters at Spiletto's apartment but is ultimately found by Giancarlo and arrested. Martina and Giulia are handed over Giancarlo, Golino and Ferilli for the mean time at the church and Martina influences Giancarlo, Golino and Ferilli to engage in a threesome at the altar while Giulia succumbs to a fatal asthma attack and dies, neglected of help. Golino and Giancarlo with ceremonial daggers murder Ferilli and Golino turns on Giancarlo stabbing him in the heart.

Golino and Martina come to the police station and Martina using telekinetic powers massacres the station in combustion releasing Giorgia from her holding cell. Kauri in the other cell witnesses this as his cell breaks loose and he then escapes to get in touch with Father Spiletto and Irene. Spiletto already has returned to the church and seeing the previous apparitions of the film realises their meaning, and them to be real beyond his possible genetic schizophrenia: the visitor Cain who had confessed to murdering his brother is in fact the biblical Cain and Abel.

The strange four colored horses encounter at the stable of the barn he had sleptwalked to are the horse of the four horsemen, their riders previously encountered in symbolic manifestations. The woman Lily who had committed infanticide is Lillith the devourer of children, and his father following his death after murder and offering his soul to Lucifer, culminates in the breaking of the seven seals to bring about the devil's son, and the Armageddon of man.

Kauri comes to Ilene and the two race to Saint Ava realising themselves that Martina is a manifestation of the sacrifical lamb and final seal to bring about the antichrist, Giorgia's real daughter Martina was a stillborn, switched at birth with a sudden newborn child. Spiletto realises the importance of the daggers, utilised, the daggers of the archangel Michael that can destroy the antichrist upon it's conception. Kauri gathers the daggers and flees as the final seal is broken, Martina revealing herself to Giorgia and Giulia's corpse prompts her to stab her with a broken piece of ceramic pole and with her blood spilled. Saint Ava's last remaining minister of the film Belial emerges revealing he is the essence of the child of Satan and emerges from the half of the altar is left submerged in pitch black darkness.

His true demonic visage is shown to Spiletto while Irene is trapped in crumbling debris, Giorgia horrifically morphs into a jackal and Belial tells Spiletto that Giorgia Bianchi was in fact a descendant of Judah and therefore the destined foster mother to spill the blood of the sacrificial lamb, bringing about the reign of the antichrist and apocalypse. Wiping the blood from Giancarlo and Ferilli upon the now jackal Giorgia induces pregnancy. Massimo appears a final time to followed by the damned souls of the Tribe of Judah, responsible for Gabe's murder. Irene escapes and is confronted by Golino, gaining the upper hand and at an opportune moment performing coup de grace upon her with a rock.

As Saint Ava suddenly catches fire Irene and Spiletto look forward at each as the jackal leaps forward. Kauri takes the daggers to Morocco and hears word from Rossellini back to Rome that the fire of Saint Ava claimed the lives of Spiletto and Irene. At a cemetery Spiletto buries a now dead jackal Giorgia and with a bundled up human child he departs.

1976 during the stillborn delivery of Robert and Kate Thorn's child, Spiletto a now acting doctor after a moment in the hospital basement with a darkened half of the room returns to switch the babies. Months after Kauri arrives at the hospital to confront Spiletto discovering he was still alive and after seeing a glimpse of a little boy in a darkened half of the hospital corridor, flames suddenly surround Kauri and Spiletto as trumpet horns sound, Spiletto sees his mother and father and the two share a staring moment, like he and Irene in Saint Ava.

Cast

• Simon Abkarian as Father Tommaso Spiletto

• Robin Wright as Irene McGuinness

• Taika Waititi as Kauri Waikato

• Linda Cardellini as Giorgia Bianchi

• Ester Hazan as Martina Bianchi

• Gabriela Kongstad as Giulia Bianchi

• Asia Argento as Claudia Golino

• Caterino Murino as Alida Ferilli

• Doug Jones as Belial Matanbuchus

• Roberto Benigni as Giancarlo Du Sica

• Terence Hill as Father Ugo Rossellini

• Enrico Lo Verso as Policia Bernatti

• Elio Grmano as Gabe Antias

• John Turturro as Crazed Napoleon

• Burt Young as Capitano Rizza
• Giancarlo Giannini as Massimo Spiletto
• Betty Aberlin as Helen Grazer-Spiletto
• Mark Ivanir as Visitor Cain
• Yousef Sweid as Dead Abel
• Sarab Kamoo as Visitor Lily
• Alexis Georgoulis as Yellow Horse Jockey/Bank Teller
• Moritz Bleibtreau as Red Horse Jockey/General
• Santiago Segura as Green Horse Jockey/Patient
• Sergio Castellitto as Skeletal Horse Jockey/Executioner