Film / The Omega Code

The Omega Code is a 1999 thriller film directed by Robert Marcarelli, and produced by Matthew Crouch for Code Productions and Gener8xion Entertainment. In the movie's story, Dr. Gillen Lane, a self-help guru and Bible Code expert, is hired by political upstart Stone Alexander (Michael York) to help with his campaign. It is then ever-so-subtly revealed to us that Stone is The Antichrist, looking to bring about the Tribulation and Armageddon.

It was followed by a Continuity Reboot marketed as a sequel, Megiddo: The Omega Code 2, which follows Stone from his childhood to his eventual end.

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This movie contains examples of:

• Absurdly Bright Light: In the first movie, right before Stone/Satan finishes the countdown to command the attack on Jerusalem (and by extension, World War III), a flash of blinding light shines forth and expands to the Earth. When it reaches Stone's castle, it blows a strong wind that ejects Satan from Stone's body, with the former hopelessly clinging to the latter's shoulders until he is blown out of sight.
• All There in the Script: While Udo Kier's character in Megiddo is never named in the movie proper, the credits list him as "The Guardian"
• The Antichrist: Stone Alexander, chosen from childhood to play this role after he tried to murder his baby brother.
• Back from the Dead: Stone/Satan resurrects his fallen armies as he summons his demonic forces.
• Because Destiny Says So: In the second movie a few of Stone's actions are explicitly for no reason other than that he is prophesied to do them, and he's so arrogant he thinks he can win even when following his enemy's script. The biggest is gathering all of the armies of the world together at Armageddon, which has no strategic benefit whatsoever and is just to show off his control of the world. The decision ultimately bites him by allowing a final attack by his remaining enemies and leaves his loyalists conveniently all gathered in one spot when God starts in with the orbital bombardment.
• Big "NO!": Stone/Satan's reaction upon being chained in the Lake of Fire.
• Blasphemous Boast: As expected from the Antichrist Stone Alexander, he says this as his demon-powered armies are gaining the upper hand, right before God turns the tides again.
  Stone/Satan: No one can defeat me! I am the Power! I AM LORD!
• Cain and Abel: David Alexander is the Abel to Stone's Cain. Stone even invokes the old story after capturing David by declaring he is indeed his brother's keeper. Fortunately, it is the Cain of this pairing that gets killed or rather sent to the Lake of Fire.
• Chewing the Scenery: Stone is in his palace in Rome, looks to the sky and starts mocking God and claiming there's nothing he can do to stop him. On cue, a meteor falls from the sky and blows up the Colosseum. How does Stone react to this? By raising his fists above his head and shouting "BRING IT ON!"
  • Stone giving a speech to a crowd of Africans berating them for not believing in him before killing many of them with lightning and demanding the survivors worship him:
    Stone: I cannot help you because YOU HAVE TURNED YOUR BACKS ON ME! OOOOOON MEEEEEEEEEEEE!
• The Chosen One: The movie Megiddo makes a big deal about David seemingly being this, but he ultimately gets his ass kicked and has nothing to do with the final victory, which God just does Himself.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Dominic, Cassandra, and Lane, despite aiding Stone at various points in the first movie, are nowhere to be found in the sequel.
• Continuity Snarl: There are no points of continuity between either movie, save for one scene where Stone kills his father (an event referenced in the first movie, and played out in the second). The timelines don't even jibe—the first movie is quite clearly set in 1998-99, yet the second movie, which didn't get to play with pre-millennial fears, sets the bulk of the story in 2011.
  • The endings of each movie are also an example of this: The first movie ends up with flash of blinding light interrupting Stone's command to attack and casting a strong wind that blows Satan away from the former's body, while the second movie has Stone having his armies killed by God and then he is sent into the Lake of Fire under the Earth, where he is chained.
• Curse Cut Short: Prior to the scene where Stone is shot; upon seeing Gillen looking for evidence to use to expose Stone as The Antichrist; Dominic can be heard muttering "Son of a..."
• Deal with the Devil: Stone doesn't give people things in exchange for their soul, he lets them keep their souls if they give him what he wants. It isn't clear if he can actually back this up.
• Deus ex Machina: God, naturally, does this in both films.
• The Dragon: Dominic in the first film, the Guardian in the second film.
• DVD Bonus Content: The first film comes with your average "Making Of" feature, which told us exactly what the Second Unit does. The second film comes with a speech from Hal Lindsey, some trailers, and a bit of info on how they did the effects.

• Evil Sounds Deep: Stone/Satan's voice is quite deep and profound.
• Evil Tastes Good: That bit in Megiddo where Stone and David talk about Stone's chances of getting what he wants...

  Stone: I'll always have a chance in Hell, David.

• Face–Heel Turn: Cassandra chooses to take Stone's side in the final confrontation.
• Five-Second Foreshadowing: Rostenberg at the start of the first movie dies of a gunshot after the last code he deciphered foretold his death.
• Gainax Ending: The sudden and rather abstract Deus ex Machina ending of the first film.
• The General's Daughter: In Megiddo, Stone manages to get the approval of his marriage to Gabriella by her father (in addition to not getting kicked out of military school) as a result of the Commandant selling his soul.
• Gosh Darn It to Heck!: Seeing as these are Christian films, this was to be expected. Gets really noticeable in Megiddo once you see R. Lee Ermey, a guy whose best known role was Cluster F-Bomb incarnate, talking about "blowing smoke up your hind quarters" and the "United BLESSED States of America".
• Gratuitous Spanish: In Megiddo, General Garcia says, "¡AL ATAQUE!" (ATTACK!) when attacking Stone's forces in the first round. After that line he communicates speak English, possibly directing the American forces as well.
• Hearing Voices: It's revealed that Stone hears voices, but the context of the story implies that these are real voices, and not auditory hallucinations as would occur in mental illness. After his resurrection, Stone reveals what appears on the surface to be thought insertion, a delusion where you believe some of your thoughts are not your own but come from the outside, but considering that he was resurrected after having been dead with no heartbeat in a room temperature place for quite a while, the context implies that these actually are somebody else's thoughts, namely the devil. Of course, Stone proclaims himself to be God, but this would be more conceit, shared with the devil, than delusion.
• Hellhound: When Young Stone enters an abandoned church in his time at the Military School, two horrific wolf-like hounds watch Stone enter and follow him to the Guardian. Later, when the Commandant is about to expel and have him investigated for the case of one of the students choking on paintball liquid when Stone shot him, he uses these hounds to threaten him with damnation.
• Historical Rap Sheet: In the first movie, Satan claims to have been Judas Iscariot, Hitler, and the drunk driver that killed the protagonist's mother.
• Hope Spot: When the Chinese, American, and Latin Americans thought that they finished Stone and by extension, are about to end his reign of terror, David found out that Stone survived the attack completely unscathed, much to his horror.
• How We Got Here: Megiddo begins at the Battle of Armageddon, and the rest of the movie is a flashback to how it reached that point in the story.
• I Lied: In the first movie, Dr. Lane gives Stone the final code on the promise that the latter will desist from his attack on Jerusalem. However, after completing the codes he decides to order the attack anyway.
  Stone: Thank you. Commence the attack on my mark!
  Dr. Lane: What?
  Stone: They're already in position, why waste the trip?
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: In the second movie, the Guardian gets two swords of light run through him by God after all of Satan's armies are dead, revealing his demonic appearance in the process.
• Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: In the first movie, Dominic interrogates Dr. Lane in this fashion after the final code written in a paper held by Stone started to melt away.
• Jesus Taboo: In Megiddo once near-victorious Stone/Satan's armies are killed by a literal Deus ex Machina, God's light shines down on him, forcing him to repeatedly shout "NAZARENE!". After he kneels and admits with the line "YOU... ARE... LORD!", God punches a hole through the earth where Stone stands, throwing him into a pit of fire where he's chained after shouting "NAZARENE!" for the last time.
• Kill the Lights: Stone/Satan does this by darkening the sun as he summons his demonic forces.
  Stone/Satan: I summon the powers of darkness. Rise up, forces of evil! Rise up and destroy all who stand against you. Arise, it is I your lord who commands you, ARISE!
• Large Ham: Stone/Satan in the sequel. In the first one he was more a collected one.
• Leeroy Jenkins: In the second movie, David Alexander ventures alone into the camp of Stone's army in Megiddo to confront him, only for a soldier to knock him down.
• Maternal Death? Blame the Child!: At the beginning of Megiddo, we see a young Stone blaming his baby brother David for the death of their mother and declaring how he hates the latter.
  Young Stone: [...] I hate you. You killed my mother.
• Meaningful Name: The newsreader/talk show host is named Cassandra. However, she is explicitly not The Cassandra.
• Military School: Young Stone is sent to one in Italy after he tried to burn his baby brother to death.
• Mind Rape: After Dr. Lane is left alone in his prison cell near the end, several demons (in the form of clouds) start assaulting him with visions of (supposedly) Stone's past.
• Missing Mom: Stone's mother died giving birth to younger brother David.
• Monster Clown: Stone's False Prophet/enforcer Dominic hired one at some point to assassinate an informant who tried to warn Dr. Gillen Lane about Stone's true intentions.
• No Immortal Inertia: After having Satan forcibly ejected from his body in the first movie, Stone's head wound is restored, killing him again.
• One World Order: Stone Alexander's World Union which controls every part of the globe except three holdouts; the United States, China, and Latin America. A coup installs a pro-Stone government in the US and, deprived of their third leg, the other two powers grudgingly kneel as well.
• Poe's Law: The second movie especially departs heavily from the standard script for End Times movies, has the villain following the Book of Revelation as a script just to feed his vanity, introduces a "chosen one" plot for the brother of the Antichrist which goes nowhere, features some rather bizarre theology for a Pentecostal film, and is topped by delightfully hammy performances. It still gets considerable play on Christian TV stations, though. The director has more-or-less admitted to playing this up for his own amusement when making it.
• Prophecy Twist: In the second movie, Stone relies on the "Kings of the East" passage from Revelations in assuming that the Chinese will appear at Megiddo to submit to him, even though the President of China has done nothing except state his opposition to Stone. A plague courtesy of Stone's demonic powers seemingly forces the Chinese to bend, but it's implied they have other plans in mind. A secret alliance with the US and Latin America is the ultimate twist, as what Stone had assumed to be the final jewel in his crown ends up being the first to stab him in the back.
• Psychic Strangle: The resurrected two prophets use their God-given powers to strangle Dominic in this fashion when he is about to off Dr. Lane, prior to the final confrontation with Stone.
• Putting on the Reich: In the second movie, Stone and his army are wearing Nazi-esque uniforms, with Stone even doing the Hitler salute.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: Stone/Satan's armies are dressed like this to emphasize the evilness of their side.
• Satan: What Stone really is. Actually in the first movie he was initially an human agent of him before getting possessed after being killed. In the second he was possessed by the Devil since he was a kid.
• Sickly Green Glow: After Stone's command center gets blown up in the second movie, the site glows green (actually invokedwhite under a green filter) to indicate Satan's demonic power.
• Spiteful Spit: Dr. Lane gives one to Stone in his prison cell when the latter cleans his faces after the former was punched by Dominic in the first movie.
• Tempting Fate: Stone challenges God from his palace in Rome.
  Stone: They believe in me now, ME! Yes. Test them. Give them tribulation. Spill out Your Bowls of Wrath, unleash Your blades, I CHALLENGE YOU!
  • This happens again in Megiddo.
  Stone/Satan: YOU SEE? The tide has turned! No one can defeat me! I am the power! I! AM! LORD!
  (cue God's Light appearing in the sky and utterly annihilating Stone's army)
• Time Skip: As the Commandant teaches the students on the use of a spear, Stone walks around and when a horse armory blocks the view, we see him now as an adult 10 years later after the view is clear.
• Transformation of the Possessed: As he walked unflinchingly after having his headquarters blown up by Latin American troops, Stone reveals his true form as Satan.
• Villains Want Mercy: In the sequel, Stone/Satan cries out for David to save him as he is thrown into a pit of lava, before completely falling.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: At the start of the first film, we're introduced to a rabbi named Rostenberg, deciphering code from the Torah in his computer in a software he himself made. When the code he deciphers reads, "ROSTENBERG FINDER OF THE KEY GONE TO GOD SUNRISE 4TH OF AV," he takes it as a sign he will die soon and rips off the page in which he wrote down the final code to hide under his shirt before being shortly assassinated.
• Where Is Your X Now?: In the second movie, when the Chinese troops arrive to Megiddo, Stone asks David, "Where's your God now?"
• You Have Failed Me: In Megiddo, a mook-to-boss variant is shown through the Guardian's last line to Satan after his armies are killed by God.
  Guardian: You have failed us! We have lost! WE HAVE LOST!
• Zerg Rush: Tanks and jets from Stone/Satan's armies overwhelm the coalition's armies in massive droves when the former starts summoning his demonic forces into battle.
  Stone/Satan: YOU SEE? The tide has turned!

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