Unlike its predecessor, the campy gore-strewn 666 THE CHILD, this Asylum-made sequel plays its apocalyptic good against evil scenario straight and forgets to contrive the kind of juicy creative “accidents” that made the original fun. Which kinda poses the question “Why did they bother?” and, during the film itself, provokes questions like “Wouldn’t it be more fun for me if I turned this off and started whacking off to images of bad Catholic school girls?”

With its sub-Jerry Goldsmith choral themes, prominent talk of ancient prophecies, grown up Anti-Christ and the imminent Second Coming of Christ, this movie clearly riffs on THE FINAL CONFLICT. A Deacon with a dodgy Brit accent is sent from the Vatican to stop the rise of Eeeeeeeeevilllllllll in Los Angeles. Said Evil is Anti-Christ Donald (Chad Mathews), now a Harvard graduate with no memory of the horrors he perpetrated as a child.

Against a backdrop of ominous portents (rising corpses, crucified nurses, low production values), he becomes junior V.P. of major worldwide company “Global Corp”. This gets him a remarkably lo-tech office and a hot assistant who figures in over-extended soft-core bits and fantasy interludes solely designed to inject some boobs into the flick. Donald’s wife - pregnant with the Christ child, no less - has fast cut visions of snarling demons and is enlisted by the Deacon to help combat the inevitable rise of Donald as the leader of a grim “new world”.

Although less amateurish than the worst of Asylum’s product, this is a talky and boringly sincere movie, with a glum, miscast lead actor who looks like he should be shooting down postal workers rather than commanding the masses. The tiny budget doesn’t stretch to the spectacular climax the story seems to promise, though to be fair the finale is no more anti-climactic than the famously ho-hum end of THE FINAL CONFLICT.

Ultimately, it would have been more fun if they’d retained the jokey tone of THE CHILD and ripped off DAMIEN OMEN II instead, with an adolescent Donald offing adults with stair lifts and portable commodes in between squeezing zits and masturbating to Hannah Montana.