A Tribute to Sam Neill

The great actor Sam Neill passed away a few weeks ago. I added him to the comic book death list, as his “likeness” in Jurassic Park was adapted into a comic book with art by Gil Kane and George Perez. I love his movies, so I thought I’d talk about some of my favorite Neill films. As a special honorable mention, I just wanted to remind you how excited I was to see Neill back, as he co-starred in the television show Alcatraz in 2012. I don’t remember if the show was actually any good… I just remember it was so cool to have Neill back on the screen.

The Final Conflict (1981)

The first film that I can remember seeing Sam Neill was in the third Omen film, The Final Conflict. I had already seen the previous two, both on television. Even though it was heavily edited on TV, these Omen films were brutal and psychologically scarring. In the final (or at least I consider it the final) Omen film, Damien is now a grown man in a position of power. When I first saw the film, because I was still a child, I thought Damien was the President of the United States. It was only years later when I bought the Omen DVD and later the Bluray Boxset from Shout Factory, did I realize that he was the US Ambassador.

I remember there were all the gruesome deaths to the apostles trying to stop the Anti-Christ … all of them failed. The rabbit hunt deaths were especially memorable.

The rest of the plot of the movie (sorry I’m recounting all this from memory), is Damien murdering every child born on a certain day so he can destroy the rebirth of Christ. Man, what can be worst than a man who slaughters babies? Omen III is possibly my favorite of the Omen Trilogy.

Incidentally, the Omen was so successful that they made a not-so-great Omen IV, which is about a girl Anti-Christ. I honestly don’t even remember the plot of that fourth film. I just know it wasn’t good.

Of course there was Omen 666. I remember going to the theaters on June 6, 2006, to “celebrate” the 666 film… Despite being more modern, that film really didn’t add much to the overall Omen saga.

I think the most interesting Omen film was released in 2024 called The First Omen. The supernatural elements in the film is mostly psychological. You’re not quite sure if the Devil is there, you just get a sense of evil. I didn’t know what the film was about, so when it was revealed at the very end of the film… you realized this film was the prequel to the Damien saga.

Possession (1981)

My all-time favorite Sam Neill film is Possession. I discovered this film kind of late in life. I own over 5,000 DVDs, and this was just one of the films that was included in a two-pack. The other film in this Anchor Bay package was some mental Italian film (I forgot the name because it had a generic name), that was also very good.

I had NO IDEA what I was getting myself into when I was watching Possession. The film is in English, but it was clearly some sort of European or Italian production. I just looked it up, it was filmed in Germany.

What is really memorable is the beautiful French actress, Isabelle Adjani, who gave the performance of a lifetime. Wow, when she’s in her possession mode and jerking around and her moments … it was like she’s dancing. It’s nothing you’ve ever seen. That famous famous subway scene is the stuff of legends. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but I think the French Irreversible film, or perhaps even Suspiria (2018), took some inspiration.

I had to do the math, but Adjani would have been 26 years old in 1981. However, when I listened to the director (or maybe it was a critic?) audio commentary and I distinctively remember that he said she was 18 or 19 and this was her first acting job. I could be misremembering. She did go on to win an award for best actress for Possession.

If you haven’t seen this cult-classic film, I suggest you track it down. Since the film is so old, I feel like I can tell you the plot… but without revealing the WACKINESS when you discovered what it is. Anyway, the film is about this married couple, with Neill as a paranoid man with his beautiful young wife. It seemed like they’re on the verge of breaking up, and she would leave mysteriously. He suspects she’s having an affair. He follows her and the discovery is just insane. I really love this film. I have been meaning to get a deluxe Bluray by Mondo Vision, but it was really expensive and it sold out immediately. Hopefully, they can re-release a special deluxe uncut version in the future.

Event Horizon (1997)

I really like Event Horizon. I think maybe, for the first time, I realized that this was part of a Sci-Fi and Horror genre mashup, that really started with the original Alien. Of course, I love both genre, so mixing them together is, as far as I’m concern, is just perfect. Other sci-fi/horror films I enjoyed are Lifeforce (1985), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) and its remake Body Snatchers (1993), as well as John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982).

Speaking of John Carpenter, when I saw him in concert in November 2017, he played a In the Mouth of Madness song. I had no idea that Carpenter directed that film, which starred Sam Neill! I’ve always assumed it was a Stephen King story or something.

Anyway, if you haven’t seen Event Horizon, it’s about Sam Neill’s theorical warp engine… which was designed to fold space for faster travel. There is a great scene where Neill explains how his engine works. He took a piece of paper and asked, what’s the quickest way to get from point A to point B. When someone answered a straight line, he said no… the fastest way is to not move at all as he folds the paper and match point A and B together. That was such a cool scene. My little young brain was blown. Science!

Anyway, the Event Horizon’s ship was sent to investigate what happened to the first ship. It seemed the ship was lost. As the film progress, you find out that maybe folding space wasn’t something we should be doing. It’s pretty ghastly what happens to the Event Horizon’s crew and its creator, Sam Neill.

Dead Calm (1989)

Just a brief honorable mention, but when I was pulling up Neill’s filmography, I saw that he’s in Dead Calm. I honestly don’t remember him being in the film, because I only remember Nicole Kidman and her cat and mouse struggle with Billy “insane in the membrane” Zane (the guy who played The Phantom). It’s terror on the sea… Where does Neill fit in? It’s been a long time since I saw that film, but I guess he’s also on the boat. It’s funny how my memory blocked him out of the picture.

I rented this film, based on the cover artwork. It looks like a horror film… but it’s more like a thriller. No supernatural monsters from the deep… and it felt like really low budget. I mean how much does it cost to employee Kidman and Zane (and I guess Neill)? Just a couple of actors in a confined space of a ship.

Trivia: apparently George Miller, who is famous for Mad Max, directed some sequence in Dead Calm.

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