Movie Review: Amityville II: The Possession (1982)By Tucker Battrell
The original Amityville Horror starring James Brolin and Margot Kidder was a faithful, if lackluster depiction of the famous haunted house that terrorized the Lutz family for twenty-eight days until they abruptly abandoned the joint along with all their belongings. To some, this is one of the most terrifying ghost stories ever recorded, to others it's a load of malarkey. I was always of the school of thought that the real-life horror story that took place in the house before the Lutz family moved in, was by far more terrifying than any supernatural mumbo-jumbo.
As his mother, father and siblings slept, Ronald Defeo Jr. loaded his shotgun and brutally murdered every last one of them. He claimed a spirit in the house possessed him and made him kill his family. I don't know about all that demonic possession garbage, but the murders are scary enough without any help from ghosts. Amityville II: The Possession sets out to tell this story and claims no relation to the first film even though it is called Amityville II, so we know how sincere this attempt will be to tell the real story of this tragedy.
Hailed by the fat drummer from metal band Necrophagia some sort of second coming of terror, I was incredibly excited to see this horrifying movie. That guy from Necrophagia is kind of stupid. Not Anselmo stupid, but stupid. Okay, so it really has no basis in reality and bears only a superficial resemblance to the crimes. I can forgive all that. What bothers me is the complete lack of horror produced. That having been said, Amityville II: The Possession is pretty unintentionally funny.
The comedy starts in the first ten minutes an actress, given the role of a lifetime as Burt Young's wife, turns on the faucet in the kitchen of her new dream house. Instead of water, thick red blood pours out into the sink. She screams (reasonable). The blood slowly thins to water. She's relieved (not so much). I guess if blood stops coming out of the water pipes it's cool that it happened in the first place. And, thankfully, her reactions continue to amuse.
Amityville II's greatest weakness is that it takes no time to ease into its scares. There is no reason for us to be scared when there has been no example of not being scared. The family moves in and within the first twenty minutes of the film, the house is going crazy, and the family is at each other's throats. This lack of patience sweeps the leg of the movie's intention, and turns screams of horror into screams of laughter.
It is a stupid movie. I guess that's all I'm really trying to say. It's a stupid story told in a stupid, clunky way. It's almost as stupid as that goddamn drummer from Necrophagia, who in turn is almost as stupid as Phil Anselmo, and that is why I liked this movie. But I didn't love it. And it's not scary. For genuine goosebumps get the box set and watch The History Channel documentary; it's terrifying. Okay, maybe I'm being stupid now, but not as stupid as the Amityville Horror remake of 2005, but that's for another time.
As his mother, father and siblings slept, Ronald Defeo Jr. loaded his shotgun and brutally murdered every last one of them. He claimed a spirit in the house possessed him and made him kill his family. I don't know about all that demonic possession garbage, but the murders are scary enough without any help from ghosts. Amityville II: The Possession sets out to tell this story and claims no relation to the first film even though it is called Amityville II, so we know how sincere this attempt will be to tell the real story of this tragedy.
Hailed by the fat drummer from metal band Necrophagia some sort of second coming of terror, I was incredibly excited to see this horrifying movie. That guy from Necrophagia is kind of stupid. Not Anselmo stupid, but stupid. Okay, so it really has no basis in reality and bears only a superficial resemblance to the crimes. I can forgive all that. What bothers me is the complete lack of horror produced. That having been said, Amityville II: The Possession is pretty unintentionally funny.
The comedy starts in the first ten minutes an actress, given the role of a lifetime as Burt Young's wife, turns on the faucet in the kitchen of her new dream house. Instead of water, thick red blood pours out into the sink. She screams (reasonable). The blood slowly thins to water. She's relieved (not so much). I guess if blood stops coming out of the water pipes it's cool that it happened in the first place. And, thankfully, her reactions continue to amuse.
Amityville II's greatest weakness is that it takes no time to ease into its scares. There is no reason for us to be scared when there has been no example of not being scared. The family moves in and within the first twenty minutes of the film, the house is going crazy, and the family is at each other's throats. This lack of patience sweeps the leg of the movie's intention, and turns screams of horror into screams of laughter.
It is a stupid movie. I guess that's all I'm really trying to say. It's a stupid story told in a stupid, clunky way. It's almost as stupid as that goddamn drummer from Necrophagia, who in turn is almost as stupid as Phil Anselmo, and that is why I liked this movie. But I didn't love it. And it's not scary. For genuine goosebumps get the box set and watch The History Channel documentary; it's terrifying. Okay, maybe I'm being stupid now, but not as stupid as the Amityville Horror remake of 2005, but that's for another time.
Grade: F
Entertainment Value: B
Entertainment Value: B
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