"This way." "Fifty thousand years ago mankind faced its first major threat of extinction, ...a devastation wrought by nature, the Ice Age." "It lasted 5,000 years rendered four-fifths of the Earth's surface uninhabitable and wiped out all but the hardiest of nature's creations." "One of these few was man." "From that devastation dawned a new age and a new hope." "Phoenix-like, man arose from the frozen wilderness and set forth upon his dream." "Mankind has endured many catastrophes since then but none so grave as the one which faces him today." "The economic crisis of the past decade has brought inflation, famine and chaos to every corner of the globe." "Some label it "The Great Recession."" "Others are calling it "Armageddon" that final upheaval of the world foretold by the prophets of old." "But amid all the pessimism, one voice rings out its faith in the future:" "Thorn, the world's leading light in building a new tomorrow." "Trite, rhetorical cliched, inane." "I don't think viewers pay too much attention to that kind of thing, Damien." "No, you're right." "And they won't pay much attention to that bullshit, either." "I said I wanted action, not words." "I wanna see Thorn at work." "A thousand starving kids clamoring for a bellyful of Thorn soya." "Thorn medical teams at work, Thorn construction, Thorn engineering." "Instead of which, you spent half the commercial giving us a third-grade version of the history of the Ice Age." "Shit." "Do we have any footage of the Australian drought relief?" "Sure." "But nothing new, and most of it's been seen on TV already." "All right, we'll find you something." "In the meantime, go with the old commercial." "I don't want that one used." "What do we got coming up?" "Botswana next week, and the Aswan Dam at the end of the month." "Can we get a film unit to Botswana in time?" "Sure, but we can't put our relief unit in till after the coup." "No one's too sure how long that's gonna take." "All right, then, it'll have to be the Aswan Darn." "Have a film unit there when it goes." "Make sure they give our relief units plenty of coverage." "Don't let the Red Cross beat them to it." "Why don't you go?" "Now that would be a real coup." "Damien Thorn supervising relief work in person." "No, I've got to stay here." "What for?" "To be on hand when the president calls me." "He's, uh, gonna offer me the post of Ambassador to Great Britain." "I beg your pardon?" "Are you familiar with the Book of Hebron?" "I don't know anything about the Book of Hebron." "It's in the Apocrypha, one of the more obscure backwaters of the Septuagint Bible." ""And it shall come to pass that in the end days the beast shall reign one hundred score and thirty days and nights." "And the faithful shall cry unto the Lord 'Wherefore art Thou in the day of evil?" "'" "And the Lord shall hear their prayers." "And out of the angel isle He shall bring forth a deliverer the Holy Lamb of God who shall do battle with the beast and shall destroy him."" ""The beast shall reign one hundred score and thirty days and nights" is another way of saying seven years." "That's the time I've been head of Thorn." ""And out of the angel isle, He shall bring forth a deliverer."" "The "angel isle," the original Latin has Ex Insula Anglorum:" "England." "The Second Coming." "Only it won't be the beast that is destroyed." "It'll be the Nazarene." "Damien, you said you were gonna be offered the post of Ambassador to Great Britain." "What about our present ambassador?" "Afternoon, sir." "Good afternoon, Mr. Ambassador." "Good afternoon, Mr. Ambassador." "I just had Mr. Sears on the line." " No calls." " But he said it was urgent." "I was to remind you to phone him." " Press office." " This is the Ambassador." "I want a press conference, 3:00." "My office." "Come in." "Oh, my God." "I know that." "No, I'm not giving out any statements to him or anyone else." "It'd only make matters worse." "Make sure that the cable is noncommittal as well." "Yeah." "Let me see it before you send it." "Sheesh." "Can you believe that?" "Some sons-of-bitches..." "The Egyptian opposition party wants us to endorse their condemnation of Israel for blowing up the Aswan Darn." "How the hell do we know Israel's responsible?" " My guess is it's the work of the N.L.F." " Who?" "The Nubian Liberation Front." "They're a quasi-Marxist outfit." "They've had a gripe against Cairo ever since the '60s when the Aswan Dam was built." "They claim that it submerged 50% of their homeland, which, of course, it did until now." "How'd you get this information?" "One of our Thorn relief teams." "They were on the scene ahead of the Egyptians." "I want to take a look at that." "It's quite, uh, unofficial, of course." "I don't have to point out to you that if we can prove it had nothing to do with Israel we could be averting one mother of a major flare-up." "Well, I'll have to check it myself, of course." "I wouldn't want to feed the White House false information." "As to the other matter I'm afraid I can't accept the post." "See, if I were Ambassador to Great Britain I'd have to relinquish my control over Thorn." "Hell, no." "We can take care of that for you." "It is against the law." "Then we'll just have to bend it a little." " There are two other conditions." " What?" "Well, first it could only be for two years, because I'm running for the Senate in '84." "And second, I'd want the presidency of the Youth Council." "I've already promised that to Foster." "I realize it's a problem." "The N.L. what?" "The Nubian Liberation Front." " Craig." " Yes, Mr. President?" "I've just appointed Mr. Damien Thorn as our new Ambassador to the Court of St. James." "Have Eisenberg prepare a press release to that effect." "Right away, Mr. President." " Craig?" " Yes, Mr. President?" "Add to that that I've also appointed Mr. Thorn as president of the United Nations Youth Council." " But I thought..." " Just do it." "Well, Damien your father would've been very proud of you." "I appreciate your sentiments, sir." "Cassiopeia right ascension one hour 16 minutes 12." "Select declination at 22 degrees on an eight-by-four ratio." " Super grid R-3 at eight diagonal." " Eight diagonal." "Increase focal length to max." " Hold." "Okay, Tony, hard copy." " Right." "May I see the cell from June 1953?" "June 1953." "Right here." "And December 1928." "Well, what would you say?" "I'd say I was dreaming." "The rate of acceleration?" "Well, a couple of thousand parsecs minimum." "I'd say we're in for one hell of a bang." "No." "An alignment, not a collision." "Okay, let's transfer to the simulator see if we can't get an accurate schedule predicted." "Right." "Whenever you're ready." "Amen." "O Blessed Savior who has, through the confession of Thy departed servant Father Spiletto revealed unto us the identity of the Antichrist here on earth." "Grant us Thy strength and guidance in our holy mission that we may rid the world of Damien Thorn and thus ensure the safety of Thy Second Coming." "O Lord bless these seven sacred knives from Meggido which Thou hast seen fit to return unto us that they may serve their holy purpose and destroy the Prince of Darkness even as he seeketh to destroy..." "Thy Child of Light." "I call upon each of you to come forward and arm yourselves in the name of the Lord." "Brother Martin." "Brother Paolo." "Each of us must pray to our Lord in the silence of his own soul." "Since we are prepared to lay down our lives in the pursuit of this enterprise we must seek final absolution from God now lest we be denied the redemption of the blessed last sacrament at the moment of death." "Above all, we must ask God to grant us courage, guidance and strength as we prepare to do battle with Satan and his son, the Antichrist." "The exact hour of our Lord's Second Coming for which centuries have wept has now been revealed to us by signs in the heavens." "It is imperative that the destruction of the Antichrist takes place before then." "And we have but a short time in which to carry it out." "My brothers, remember that these seven daggers and ourselves are all that stand between the son of Satan and the Son of God for they alone can destroy him." " Can't quite place it." "Can you?" " No." "Waiter, let me have a look at the label on the bottle of wine we're drinking." "Of course, sir." "Is he really only 32?" "No idea." "You shouldn't be surprised." "Americans always seem to think they can run before they can walk." "Like their wine, what?" "The answer is yes, he's the youngest ambassador ever appointed by the president." "Are you part of his staff?" "I'm his private secretary, Harvey Dean." " Kate Reynolds, British television." " Kate, this is my wife Barbara." " How do you do?" " We're fine." " "Lafite Thorn."" " Must have bought the bugger out." "Hmm." "Amazing what they can make with soybeans these days." "Would you like to meet the Ambassador?" "Oh, yes." "Yes, I would." "Thank you." "Be back." " Good evening, Mrs. Dean." " Oh, hello." " When is the happy event?" " Next week, I hope." "Damien, I'd like you to meet Kate Reynolds." "Miss Reynolds works for British television." "She has her own weekly news show." " It's called, uh, The World in Vision." " In Focus." "Oh, excuse me." "The World in Focus." "Or out of focus, as the case may be." "How do you do, Miss Reynolds?" " The Barbara Walters of British television?" " On my salary?" "They don't call us the British Broadcasting Charity for nothing." "Well, that makes two of us." "I'm in the charity business as well." "What can I do for you?" "Well, actually, um I'd like to talk about doing an interview with you sometime concentrating on your views on youth." "I've heard a lot about them from my son Peter." "He's only 12, but your ideas have certainly made a big impression on him." "Excuse me." "The Israeli Ambassador has to go." "Okay." "Of course I'd be pleased to talk to you." "Give Harvey a call." "He'll arrange a time." "How about Sunday?" "Ah, well, Sundays I usually spend with Peter." "Fine." "Bring Peter along too." "Excuse me." "Come on, you two." "You'll get wet." "Mommy, look what Damien's given me." " No, you can't." " He can." "He just did." "Well, I think it's safer with him." "If I have a collision out there we might have some sort of international crisis on our hands." "I'm not sure you should spoil him quite so much." "Well, to tell you the truth, he's the one that's been spoiling me." "It's not every day I get the chance to be a boy again." "Well" "English weather." "Go, dog." "Go get it." "Tell me about Peter's father." "He died just after Peter was born." " Have you never thought of getting married?" " No." " I'm too much of a skeptic." " Oh, yes." "Besides, I've never really had the time." "Peter's always wanted me to buy him a dog." "Well, you should." "Dogs and boys go great together." "We've had one of these clogs in the family ever since I was a kid." "They used to march with the Roman army 2,000 years ago." "Did they?" "They're as old as sin." " Feel like some lunch?" " Good idea." "You've probably realized my favorite subject is me, because I'm very beautiful." "I am beautiful!" "People from all over the world came for our actors." "Where are the new ones gonna train if we haven't got any stages?" "And the reason we haven't got stages is 'cause people are not going to the theater." "They're sitting at home watching television." "You realize you're sitting in a bar and at 11:00 they say to you, "You have ten minutes to drink that up."" "You paid a fortune for that drink and they throw you out in the streets." ""The Day of Christ is at hand" wrote Saint Paul in his second letter to the Thessalonians." ""Yet let no man be deceived, for that day shall not come until the man of sins is revealed the son of perdition, the Antichrist." "And be not deceived by him for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light."" "The hour of Christ's Second Coming draws nigh." "The prophecies fulfilled one by one." "Right now, my friends in the constellation of Cassiopeia a Holy Trinity of stars is converging to herald our Lord's Second Coming." ""Rejoice then, you heavens and you that dwell in them"..." ""But woe to you, sea and earth for the devil hath come down to you in great fury, knowing that his time is short." "And the Prince of Darkness shall be mighty." "And he shall flourish and destroy the mighty." "And he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand." "And by peace shall he destroy many!"" "I followed them through the crowd, but couldn't get close enough." "He was with a woman and a boy of about 11." "Who was the woman?" "She's a television interviewer." "I asked someone who went up to her for an autograph." "Kate Reynolds." "She apparently is quite some celebrity." " And the boy?" " Probably her son." "Please, Father, let it be me." "Let me be the bait to flush him out and destroy him." "Thorn and I have made contact eye-to-eye..." "That's exactly why it cannot be you." "We have to strike him off-guard." "Yet the target must be still for the marksman to be sure of his aim." "A sitting target." "A sleeping target." "No." "His residence is guarded day and night." " How about the embassy?" " Impossible." "There's our sitting target." "Where?" "The Israeli government has consistently denied any responsibility for the Aswan Darn disaster which has so far claimed the lives of over 50,000 Egyptians." "Though many fear that the final death toll may reach twice that number." "Already, typhoid has broken out among the countless thousands of homeless refugees..." "It's okay." "I'll do it myself." "And a major epidemic now seems unavoidable." "The Egyptian government has revealed that Thorn is supplying..." "At the center of Thorn's global operations is a man who's become a legend in his time:" "Damien." "Did you see that woman?" "It's not a woman." "It's a guy, a faggot." "Dressed up like a woman." "It's a faggot!" "They're all God's children, Harvey." "...a career that's already being compared to that of the late John F. Kennedy." "After majoring at Yale University Damien Thorn came to Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar where he captained the Oxford Eight to victory and won the Westchester Cup at polo in the same year." "In 1971, he took over his uncle's business, Thorn Industries and within seven years has turned it into the world's largest multinational corporation, producing everything from nuclear armaments to soybean food products." "Now, at the age of 32, Damien Thorn..." "Are you lost?" "You're not connected with this program, are you?" "This is Stage Eight, isn't it?" "Four." "Studio Eight's the next one along." "Oh, yes." "Thank you." "A brilliant career for one so young, Mr. Ambassador." "Well, not really." "Not when you remember that, uh..." "Alexander the Great was commanding the Macedonian army at 16." "Of course, that's how many people view you as a sort of 20th century Alexander leading the world out of the present doldrums of recession into the golden era of prosperity." "You've been watching too many of our commercials." "It's the image you've managed to put across." "The image of Thorn is a corporation, not a personal image of myself." "But yes, it's true, I certainly have tremendous optimism for the future and I want to see Thorn play a major part." "I understand you have a great interest in young people." "What are your plans now that you've become president of the United Nations Youth Council?" "A great many things." "But I think the most important task I have is to help young people gain a more prominent role in world affairs than the one we currently afford them, or rather deny them." "I mean, what is this arrogance?" "What makes us think that we know better than them?" "We call them immature and naive." ""Wait till you've grown up, and then we'll listen to you."" "Now, what we really mean is..." ""Wait till you've grown old, and then you'll think the way that we do."" "And so youth stands aside because it has no other choice and we set to work." "We ply them with our values we indoctrinate them with our mediocrity until finally they emerge from their brainwashing education as so-called fully-fledged citizens, ...clipped, impotent, and above all, safe." "Damien!" "Grab one of these extinguishers!" "Come on!" "God!" "I need a drink." "I keep seeing that face." "How about you?" "You want one?" "That was an assassination attempt." "What?" "I found this on the studio floor." "This is one of the seven knives of Meggido the only thing on earth that can kill me." "They were discovered in Israel when I was a child." "An archaeologist called Bugenhagen found them." "He gave them to my father to destroy me." "I had the love of my true father to protect me." "You said there were seven of those." "Where are the other six?" "That's what we have to find out." "Someone must've dug them up from the old Thorn Museum in Chicago and now they've found their way into the hands of someone who knows who I am." "Whoever knows who you are must also know the prophecy." "Get a hold of Buher right away." "Tell him to get to Chicago as soon as he can." "Excuse me, sir, but the Holly St. Hospital has just telephoned for Mr. Dean." "Oh, Barbara." "She went into labor this afternoon." "C..." "Can I borrow your car?" "Call by the embassy first." "Get a hold of Buher right away." "Are you okay, Damien?" ""In a statement issued from the American embassy, Ambassador Thorn stated that he was satisfied that there was no connection between himself and the unfortunate victim."" "Thorn knows it was no accident." "Our priority now is to locate the Holy Child as soon as He's born." "Brother Simeon and Brother Antonio I want you to make ready to come with me tonight to ascertain his birthplace for the hour draws near." "The rest of you must wait until we return before deciding how we proceed." "Our efforts must be strictly coordinated next time." "We can't afford to make a second mistake." " George." " Yes, Mr. Ambassador?" "I won't be needing anything else tonight." "Right you are, sir." "Good night." "O my father lord of silence, supreme god of desolation though mankind reviles, it aches to embrace." "Strengthen my purpose to save the world from a second ordeal of Jesus Christ and his grubby, mundane creed." "Two thousand years have been enough." "Show man instead the raptures of thy kingdom." "Infuse in him the grandeur of melancholy the divinity of loneliness the purity of evil the paradise of pain." "What perverted imagination has fed man the lie that hell festers in the bowels of the earth?" "There is only one hell:" "The leaden monotony of human existence." "There is only one heaven:" "The ecstasy of my father's kingdom." "Nazarene charlatan, what can you offer humanity?" "Since the hour you vomited forth from a gaping wound of a woman you've done nothing but drown man's soaring desires in a deluge of sanctimonious morality." "You've inflamed the puberal mind of youth with your appellant dogma of original sin." "And now you're resolved on denying them ultimate joy beyond death by destroying me!" "But you will fail, Nazarene as you have always failed." "We were both created in man's image." "But while you were born of an impotent God I was conceived of a jackal, ...born of Satan the desolate one." "The nail." "Your pain on the cross was but a splinter cast out from heaven, ...the fallen angel, ...banished, reviled." "I will drive deeper the thorns into your rancid carcass you profaner of vices." "Cursed Nazarene." "Satan, I will avenge thy torment by destroying the Christ forever." "Father De Carlo, welcome." "Gentlemen." "The prediction simulator has established the approximate location over which the three stars are to converge." "How accurate is that?" "To about 50 square kilometers." "But once the alignment has taken place we can narrow that down to the nearest square meter." "Excuse me, sir." "We're at T minus 500." "The final countdown is about to start." "There, gentlemen, are your three stars." "The waiting of 2,000 years is at an end." "Mr. Ambassador!" " How do you feel, Mr. Ambassador?" " I'm fine." "Do you feel there's any connection between the accident at the BBC and today's news?" " Not at all." " What's your comment on Schroeder's revelation... that the Israelis were responsible for the Aswan Dam disaster?" "Well, if it's true, it's a sad blow to world peace." "Is that an official condemnation?" "I condemn all violence, but it's a little early to be specific." "The Soviet Union has offered its full support to Egypt for immediate retaliation." " How do you react to that?" " Gentlemen, I have nothing else to say." "Oh, Mr. Ambassador I tried calling you last night, but there was no reply." "Isn't there something we can do to make up for what happened?" " Like what?" " Well, like, um..." " Like finishing the interview?" " Well, yes." "All right." "But I'd sooner we did it at my place than yours." "Yours is a little..." "dramatic for my taste." "Why not stay on for dinner afterwards?" " I'd love to." " All right." "I'll have Harvey fix it." "Fine." "No." "A boy!" "Yeah, he sure is ugly." "Yeah." "All right." "Thanks, Paul." "Yeah, I'll..." "Yeah, I'll talk to you later." "That was Buher." "He just sent over the N.L.F. report to the White House." "He said it's so full of holes, you can drive a truck through it." " Oh, and thanks for the flowers." "Barbara really appreciated them." " And the daggers?" "Well, apparently, all seven came up for auction a few months back." "They were bought by a priest, and he passed them on to a monastery in Italy." " A, uh, Subi..." " Subiaco." " The monastery of San Benedetto." " That's it, Subiaco." "We've got our people in Italy working on it." " Unless something happens, they should..." " It's too late." "They're here in England for the birth of the Nazarene." "Trying to destroy me before I destroy them." "He was born last night." "I feel His presence like a virus, a parasite feeding on my energy trying to drain me of power." "For every day that He lives and grows my force will weaken." "Hide if you must, Nazarene but I will hunt you down." "Why is he just sitting there?" "Waiting for me to follow him." "He must be an idiot if he thinks you're gonna do something like that." "He knows that's exactly what I intend to do." "What if he's got one of those daggers?" "I'll be wasting my time if he hasn't." "Matteus here." "I'm ten minutes away." "Thorn's about 500 yards behind me." "Enough!" "Enough." "It's done." "But it was him!" "I saw him!" "I saw him!" " Sweet Savior, spare our minds." " We're possessed!" "Spare our minds." "He's taking us." "Get down there." "It's our only way out!" " It's been locked!" " It's closed here, too." "There is no way out!" "We're trapped!" "There are still three daggers left." "I can't afford to waste any more time." "The only way to be rid of the Nazarene is to kill every male child in the country born between midnight and dawn on March 24." "How can we be sure He's still in the country?" ""He shall come forth out of the angel isle."" "That's what the prophecy says." "And if there's one thing these pedantic Christians believe in it's sticking to the letter of their prophecies." " How's Barbara?" " Fine." " And your son?" " Fine." "He's fine." "He was born on March 23, wasn't he?" "Yeah, yeah, sure." "He was born, uh, ten minutes before midnight, March 23." "Whenever you're ready, Mr. Ambassador." "Liquidate the Nazarene." "Me?" "How?" "That's what our people are for." "Now call a meeting for Sunday." "I'll make my own way there after the hunt." "Chin up, old boy." "Oh, thank you, my dear." "I've been waiting for this." "Yes, I know." "Now, stay close to Susan at the back of the hunt, and don't go showing off to Damien." " Don't worry." "You'll still get blooded." " What does "blooded" mean?" "You know perfectly well what it means." "If it's your first hunt, and they catch a fox they smear blood all over your cheeks." "Satisfied?" "Take care." "Well, Mr. Ambassador, you've got the fastest horse in the hunt and it's a lovely morning for you." "Okay, boys." "Take him." "Damien!" "Damien, did you catch one?" "The hounds didn't leave too many souvenirs but I saved you some of the blood." "Can you blood me?" "Does it count?" "It does with me." "Disciples of the Watch I stand before you in the name of the one true god who was cast out from heaven but is alive in me." "Do you hear me?" "We hear and obey." "We hear and obey." "I now command you to seek out and destroy the Nazarene child." "Slay the Nazarene and I shall reign forever." "Fail and I perish." "Slay the Nazarene and you, my disciples shall truly inherit this earth." "Fail and you will perish without trace." "Slay the Nazarene and you will know the violent raptures of my father's kingdom." "Fail and you will be condemned to a numbing eternity in the flaccid bosom of Christ." "Do you hear me?" "We hear and obey." "Disciples of the Watch there must be no delay." "Slay the Nazarene and the victory will be ours now and forevermore." "Do you hear me?" "We hear." "We hear." "We hear." "We hear." "We hear." "We hear." "We hear." "We hear." "We hear." "We hear." "We hear." "We hear." "We hear." "We hear." "We hear." "We hear." "We're gonna go out for a walk now, aren't we?" "We're gonna take you out." "Ready?" " Barbara?" " Oh, hi." "I'll be with you in a minute." "There you go." "Get you all wrapped up." " Harvey?" " Yeah?" "I'm just going shopping with Carol." "I'm gonna take junior with me, okay?" "Yeah." "Listen, don't forget to pick up my stuff from the cleaners." " I won't." "I'll see you later." " Bye." "Peterson?" "Harvey Dean." "I said, "I'm not paying you that much." "You've only been here for two hours."" "The Brookman family at 23 Ormsby Road Sefton Park, Liverpool." "Listen, Peterson, I don't give a shit how you feel about this just do the job!" "Okay." "Now..." "Sefton Park, Liverpool, and the boy's name is Christopher." "Kirkby Towers, Kirkby 14." "Boy's name is Alexander David." "Okay?" "By Tuesday night." "Right." "Blake?" "Dean." "Okay." "I'll call you later." "Okay." "Bye." "Won't be long now, darling." "We'll soon be home and have something nice to eat." "Are you hungry?" "Who's a good boy?" "Can you hear me?" "Oh, no!" " Name this child." " Alexander David." "I baptize you Alexander David in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." "We receive this child into the congregation of Christ's flock and sign him with the sign of the cross." "Good morning, missus." "We've come to do our good deed for the day." "Good evening." "Tonight we're devoting the first part of our program to a disturbing phenomenon that's been puzzling doctors and police over the last week:" "The mysterious deaths of numbers of babies in the kind of circumstances that coroners are fond of terming "misadventure."" "At the turn of the century, the infant mortality rate stood at a staggering 34%." "In 1945, it dropped to 16%, and nowadays it's been cut back to under two percent." "That is, until last week." "In greater London, 17 babies have died in the last seven days... with a further 14 deaths reported from Glasgow, Birmingham, Manchester Leeds and Liverpool." "These may not sound unduly high figures, but nationwide they represent a chilling 15 to 20% increase in the infant mortality rate." " Harvey..." " Details are still sketchy at the moment..." " ...and no clear pattern has emerged..." " It's just a coincidence." "...except one:" "In every case, the victim has been a baby boy." "To throw further light on the subject, I have in the studio Dr. Richard Philmore from the Ministry of Health and Social Security." " Tell me, Dr. Philmore, what explanation do you have at this stage?" " Barbara?" "Well, of course, it's too soon for us to make any statement but I'd like to correct you on a point you just made." "It really is quite inaccurate to speak of a 20% rise in the infant mortality rate index." "Our statistics are based on annual averages and not on weekly fluctuations." "Surely you admit there's been a totally unexplained increase in the deaths among baby boys over the last week." "Oh, a rise, indeed, but nothing compared to the rise during, say, a flu epidemic." "Surely, Dr. Philmore, we're not talking about a flu epidemic." "We're talking about household burns, drownings, car accidents suffocation, food poisonings, electrocutions." "Scotland Yard has assured us that in their opinion there is no question of foul play in any of the mortalities reported." "Forgive me if I speak bluntly, but your kind of scaremonger reporting is exactly the kind of behavior that brings the media into bad repute." " Good night, Miss Reynolds." " Good night, Bill." "Miss Reynolds I need to talk to you urgently." "It's about your program about the deaths." "A protest march of one." "How disappointing." "On the contrary." "I congratulate you on your perceptiveness." "Well?" " May we go inside?" " Oh, I'm sorry, um" " Father De Carlo." " I've had a long day, Father." "If you call my secretary, she'll be happy to make an appointment" "I told you, I need to talk to you urgently!" "Okay, but please keep your voice down." "My son's asleep." "Then Herod sent forth and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem and in all the courts thereof according to the time of the birth of Jesus which he had diligently inquired of the wise men." "What are you talking about?" "You stated that the common factor about these killings is that all the victims have been baby boys." "But there is another common factor." "All the boys were born between midnight and 6:00 a.m. on the morning of March 24." "Every child that's still living born between those hours is in mortal danger if indeed he has not already been killed." " Are you suggesting they've been murdered?" " No, no, lam not." "I am stating it as a fact." "But who on earth would do such a thing?" "He's born again, Miss Reynolds and so is the Antichrist, the son of Satan as foretold in the Book of Revelation." "I'm sorry, Father." "Look, I do respect your faith, but I don't share it." " You are not a practicing Christian?" " No." "I'm a practicing journalist and one of the first rules of journalism is to be a doubting Thomas." "I need to see evidence with my own two eyes." "All right." "Here is your evidence." "Check that for yourself." "Copies of the dead boys' birth certificates from the central registry office." "In every case, the child was born on the morning of March 24." "Even if I can't appeal to your faith I appeal to your logic." "Why else would someone want to destroy all children born on that date were it not in an effort to destroy one child in particular?" "That child is our Blessed Savior Jesus Christ reborn thus fulfilling His promise that at the end of times He shall come again to deliver the world from the Antichrist." "And who exactly is this..." ""Antichrist"?" "The American Ambassador, Damien Thorn." "That's ridiculous!" "I know Damien Thorn." "You may know the man." "Do you know his soul?" "Miss Reynolds, I am a religious man, not a fanatic." "One of the commandments of my faith is that we shall not bear false witness against any man." "If I had one shred of doubt about Damien Thorn my faith would command me to remain silent." "But I've watched him now for 27 years ever since his father came to our monastery to seek help in destroying him." "I watched him grow from a boy into a man seen him exterminate all those who stood in his way." "Very well." "You know Thorn the man." "I leave you with our research on him but you must satisfy yourself before reaching your opinion." "When you've done so, I would urge that you contact me as soon as possible at this address here day or night." "I, um" "I can't promise you anything, Father." "You say I..." "I know only Thorn the man, not his soul." "But if I don't even know my own soul, how can I see into his?" "Well, only God can show you that." "There is, however, one sign that identifies him as the Antichrist." "You will find it in the Book of Revelation as I told you." "You will also find it on Thorn himself under his hair here, ...the birthmark of the devil six, six, six." "I'll let myself out." "Good night, Miss Reynolds and may God guide your decision." "The Israelis are onto Schroeder." "We've got to eliminate him, now before they have a chance to make him talk." "Then do it." "But we can't get close to him." "They've got him in Tel Aviv." " Damien, you're the only one that can do it." " You can handle it." " I just told you, we can't..." " And I told you that every day the Nazarene lives my force would weaken." "Now, how many boys are left?" " Three or four." " Including your son?" "Now, wait a minute." "I've already told you, he was born March 23!" " Now, you gotta believe me." " I'll believe you when the Nazarene is dead." "Yes?" "Who is this?" "It's Kate Reynolds' son." "He's calling from a coin box." " But how did he get this number?" " I gave it to him." "Hello, Peter." "Good." "Now, listen carefully." "I want you to follow him wherever he goes and make sure he doesn't see you okay?" "Yeah, and call me as soon as you find out." "All right." "Be careful, Damien." "His mother was on the phone earlier this morning." " She wants to see you." " Why didn't you tell me?" "I want to talk to her." " Because she's dangerous!" " I decide who's dangerous and who isn't!" "Now, get her on the phone, and tell her I want to see her tomorrow at the house." "And don't mention Peter." "Hi, honey, I'm home!" "What are you doing in here?" "Don't you come anywhere near him, you murderer." ""Murderer"?" "What are you talking about?" "You lay one finger on him, and I'll butcher you just like you butchered all these other children." "A priest came by today." "He came to warn me that Damien Thorn is the Antichrist and he'll murder my baby just like he's killed all these others that were born on the same day." "You believe some religious maniac?" "No!" "I found the proof myself!" "You don't know what you've done." "You know, I once hosted a TV program called And Now for the Good News..." " ...which won an R.T.A. award." " Really?" "For the lowest audience-viewing figure of the year." "Yet here I am reporting death and destruction, and my show's gone to the top of the ratings." " Everyone loves a mystery." " I think it goes deeper than that." "We might aspire after good, but our real fascination lies with evil." " Don't you agree?" " Not really." "Most people confuse evil with their own trivial lusts and perversions." "Now, true evil is as pure as innocence." "Then what is evil?" "Come on." "I'll show you the pool where Old Nick hangs out." " Old who?" " Old Nick." "He's down there somewhere, lurking in the shadows, ready to pounce." "He must be at least 40 by now." "We first met when I was about four." "We've been old friends ever since." "Do you know that "Old Nick" is the name for the devil in England?" "Of course I know, but it's a great name for a pike." "Do you believe in God?" "I think you know the answer to that question already." " Look!" "There he goes." "Down there." " Where?" "Damien, help me!" "Damien, I can't..." "Help me!" "Help!" "Well, that should fit you." "I feel like a..." "a moth that's flown too close to the flame." "But who is the moth and who's the flame?" "Oh, don't stop, Damien." "Oh, don't stop." "Please, don't stop." "What's the matter?" "What's the matter?" "Hey." "Hey." "Hey." "Do you wanna see what I see?" "I want you, Damien." "You're hurting me." "Birth is pain." "Death is pain." "Beauty is pain." "Let me... up." "Let me up." "Damien?" "Damien?" "Damien?" "Damien." "Is Schroeder on the Thorn payola or not?" " No statement." " Why can't we talk to Ambassador Thorn?" "Because the ambassador is unavailable at the present time." " He's not even here at the embassy." " Yeah, where is he?" "Ladies and gentlemen, when he's ready to make a statement, we will let you know." "Damien." "I thought you were up at the house." "You know, the press are goin' crazy for a statement on Schroeder." "I mean, I guess I can hold 'em off until I've talked to Buher..." " ...but you 're gonna have to..." " What was De Carlo doing at your house yesterday?" "Who?" "Now, come on, Dean, just give me the truth." "I'm telling the truth." "I never heard of De Carlo before in my life." "Peter." "Go ahead, Peter." ""At half past 3:00 yesterday afternoon, I saw the priest called De Carlo go to 144 Abbey Crescent where he spent an hour and 22 minutes talking to the wife of Mr. Dean."" "Damien, look, I..." "I didn't know he was a priest." " I didn't know Barbara was..." " Kill your son." "What?" "There's only one boy left, and that's your son." "Destroy him... or be destroyed." "Damien, for the love of God..." ""And God said unto Abraham..."" ""..." "Take now thy son, thine only Isaac whom thou lovest..."" ""...and offer him for a burnt offering?"" "Now, if Abraham was willing to slay his own son for the love of his God why won't you do the same for mine?" "You're all crazy." "Crazy." "Aren't you gonna stop him?" "There's no need." "Go on." "Go away!" "Go on!" "There now." "It's okay, honey..." "Barbara?" "Barbara, start packing!" "Barbara?" "Barbara?" "Barbara!" "Barbara?" "10:00 Miss Reynolds." "Locking up in five minutes." "Coming." "Miss Reynolds." " What are you doing here?" " You saw him, didn't you?" "You know Thorn is the Antichrist so why are you protecting him?" "Either you get out of here or I'll call security." "Your son, where is he?" "He's in bed and asleep, of course." "He's not." "Your son is with Damien Thorn in body and soul." "Your son has become an apostle of the Antichrist." "You think Peter's been in school for the past two or three days?" "Check with the school if you don't believe me." "He's been working for Thorn, conspiring to murder the Holy Child." "They won't succeed." "The Holy Child is beyond his powers now." "He's safe." "But your child is not." "There is only one way to save your son, Miss Reynolds and that's by destroying the Antichrist." "Are you asking me?" "No." "No, Miss Reynolds." "That is to be my sacred task." "But if you value your son's immortal soul you must help me to carry it out." "Hurry along, Miss Reynolds." "We're locking up." "I'll be out in a moment." " I'm going home to my son." " Then I beg you to let me come with you." "There will be no time to lose when you find he's not there." "Please." "You think you've won, do you?" "You watched me slay a hundred children in your place and never lifted a finger to save them." ""Suffer the little children to come unto me."" "Your words, Nazarene, not mine." "O Satan, the victory is thine." "All praise to thee for thou hast delivered this child unto me that I may be brought face-to-face with the Nazarene at last." "Now, Peter, listen to me, and listen carefully." "The Christian faith has ten commandments." "I have only one." "Say it now, and we two shall become as one." " I love you." " Beyond all others." " Beyond all others." " Beyond life itself." "No, Peter, don't say it." "Give me back my son..." " ...and I'll lead you to the Christ child." " Where is he?" "Give me back Peter first, and I'll take you to him." "Very well." "You shall lead us both to the Nazarene, and then Peter shall be yours." " No, Damien, it's a trick!" " Not if she wants her son back, it isn't." "All right." "If you can help me, help me now." "No!" " Peter!" " What?" "What is all this?" "Peter?" "Oh, Peter, dearest." " No." " Where's your God now, priest?" "I'm here, Nazarene!" "Where are you?" "You hear me?" "Face me." "Face me!" "It's time!" "Show yourself." "I know you're here!" "Come out and face me!" "You bastard!" "Nazarene you have won..." "Nothing."