THE FINAL CONFLICT

JERRY GOLDSMITH

Rating:

Original Review: Jerry Goldsmith won his first and, so far, only Oscar for his score for the 1976 horror classic The Omen, a film which introduced the world to Damien, the anti-Christ, and the significance of the number 666. The Final Conflict is the third and final instalment of the cinematic trilogy (a fourth movie for TV was released in 1987), directed by Graham Baker and featuring a then-unknown Sam Neill as the grown-up Damien, now the American ambassador to the UK. Unfortunately, the film was fashioned as being "for devotees of the series", and failed to set the box office alight. In contrast, Jerry Goldsmith's massive, thunderous score was a success with soundtrack fans, and has built up a reputation as one of Jerry's finest ever horror scores, confidently sitting alongside efforts such as Poltergeist and original The Omen.

But whereas The Omen was a celebration of all that is evil, teeming with dark passages and massive choral sections singing the praises of the devil, The Final Conflict brings together the malevolent and the benign in a musical battle to the death - with good ending in triumph. Throughout The Final Conflict, the choir is a prominent feature. In many of the cues, the vocal work of the Choir of the National Philharmonic Orchestra is completely dominant, resulting in a piece of music that comes across more like a dark Catholic mass than a conventional film score. It has stylistic similarities to the immense biblical works of the 1950s and 60s, and owes a great debt of gratitude to composers such as Miklós Rózsa and Alfred Newman, who really knew how to raise the hairs on the back of an audience's neck.

The 'Main Title' announces Goldsmith's musical intentions right away with a massive Latin hymn accompanied by the new brass fanfare for Damien (adapted from a motif from Prokofiev's Alexander Nevsky) and a staccato percussion march. Further recapitulations, such as the unnervingly soft 'The Monastery' and the driving 'The Hunt', further increase its potency, but it is afforded its finest reprisal in 'The Second Coming', a cue which bears some similarities to the netherworld music of Poltergeist, but with a more "heavenly" touch and an appropriately imposing demeanour. As Jeff Bond points out in his review of The Final Conflict in VideoHound's Soundtracks, how often does a composer get to write music to underscore the second coming of Christ?

The entire 15-minute finale, from 'The Blooding Reel' through 'The Iron', makes for simply awe-inspiring listening, majestically underscoring the climactic encounter between the powers of darkness and light. When the music eventually explodes into the conclusive cue, 'The Final Conflict', it makes me realise why I spend so much time and money collecting and writing about film scores. Moments such as these, moments of unadulterated musical glory and might, are rare indeed. Bravo, Maestro Goldsmith. In counterbalance, some quieter moments do occasionally punctuate the chaos - 'Trial Run' is eerily still and calm, while 'A TV First' and 'Electric Storm' include some agitated, dissonant interludes and unusual orchestrations, some of which incorporate Goldsmith's trademark electronic effects.

Interestingly, The Final Conflict was the first ever film score released by Robert Townson's then-fledgling record label Varése Sarabande in 1986, and it is a testament to the enduring popularity of Jerry Goldsmith's work that he would entrust the release of what many consider to be one of his finest scores to a group of comparative novices. The fact that, nearly fifteen years later, the score is still held up as one of the finest examples of contemporary horror writing, makes their collaboration a truly worthy one.

Track Listing: Running Time: 49 minutes 01 seconds

Varése Sarabande VCD-47242 (1981)

Music composed by Jerry Goldsmith. Conducted by Lionel Newman. Performed by The National Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus. Recorded and mixed by Len Engel. Album produced by Jerry Goldsmith.


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