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Amityville II: The Possession

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4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

"Amityville II: Possession" is actually one impressively repulsive little flick, trafficking as it does in a massively dysfunctional family, incest, bloody murder, demonic possession, priests neglecting needy parishioners to go romping off on a hunting expedition, heads exploding like rotten melons, and lots of nasty creepy slimy things factory designed to go bump in the night.

And yet for all this slick, heavy, oily coating of sleaze, Italian director Damiano Damiani (who had directed absolutely nothing outside of Italy until he took the helm of this "Amityville Horror" sequel---and would never director another English feature again) has served up a bracingly disturbing little ode to the noxious, infectious power of evil and the strength of the Dark. Bravo, Maestro Damiani, Bravo!

Let's sprinkle our Holy Water over the plot quickly: Amityville 2 is a prequel to the horrific events of "The Amityville Horror", in which the hapless Montellis play surrogates for the real-life DeFeos, snuffed out via high-powered rifle by their loving son "Butch" in 1974 in their idyllic 18th century manor on the Amityville river---complete with boathouse!

I wasn't expecting anything at all from Amityville 2, so imagine my surprise when I found a full-bore, absolutely relentless, tastily atmospheric little horror flick that practically exuded evil through its pores: "Amityville 2: Possession" is certainly not for the fainthearted. And let's have full disclosure up-front: whereas 1979's "Amityville Horror" was a fairly original take on the classic haunted house, #2 is a fairly obvious rip-off of "The Exorcist", whereas #3 (The Demon---in 3-D!) is a rip-off of Poultergeist.

With that in mind, "Amityville 2" comes across as "The Exorcist" if that film had been written by a serial killer. The House, funky evil-window eyes and all, gets right down to business, aided and abetted by Franco Da Giacomo's dark and stylish camera-work. Walls bleed, floor ooze black goop, closets stink, windows slam shut---the usual. A workman summoned to the cellar says "there's dirt and gunk and slime and all kinds of stuff under there---I advise you guys to just leave it alone". Funny how in horror movies the second most common mistake---second only to shouting "hello? Hello, anyone there?"---is ignoring sound advice.

Second, unlike the relatively happy Lutzes, the Montelli clan is deranged and dysfunctional from the beginning: from shouting, oafish, leering patriarch Tony Montelli (the oafish, leering veteran character actor Burt Young, actually in his early forties at the time but looking all of a road-worn 59), the alternately shrieking and bawling wife Dolores (Rutanya Alda)who convincingly freaked me out; and the glowering Sonny Montelli (played with amazing presence and poise by the young Jack Magner, and who looked for all the world like Luke Skywalker), who wants to spend far too much quality time with lovely, innocent sister Patrica (Diane Franklin, precocious, quirky, and horribly naive). Daddy Montelli starts out by glowering and threatening his son, even in a good mood, so it's obvious the Monelli family is putty in the Evil House's hands. Does it help matters to add that said House is built over an Indian burial ground?

I've said "Amityville 2" is a blatant rip-off of "The Exorcist", and it is: but it sets the stage elegantly. It is brutal, actually very scary, boasts some stylish camera angles and a masterful handling of light and darkness woefully absent from the first outing, and its eager leap into incest just heightens he film's sleaziness and evil. Sadly, the last third of the film spends its time with guilt-ridden Father Adamsky (James Olson, who has solid acting chops) battling fitfully to save poor Sonny, at which point we get the obligatory green pea-soup vomit and nasty repartee. Really, if you've got dishes to do, you can leave at this point---the serious fun is over.

When all is said and done, "Amityville 2" is a sick, wicked, twisted wreck of a film, tied up in ribbons and stylish bows and sincerely, honestly terrifying at points. Yes it drags, in the end; and yes, it ransacks Blatty's far more successful "Exorcist"---but I guarantee you it will give you nightmares. Isn't that what hauntings, and the movies that adore them, are all about?

I know that many horror fans hold this movie in low regard, but I found it gritty, disturbing, and genuinely scary. It's not perfect, but I think it deserves five stars. For me, the whole fact or fiction debate is unimportant; I am judging this movie solely on its own merits. The makers of the film may have had a limited budget, but they doggedly pulled out all of the stops; maybe they went overboard once or twice, but that is quite OK with me, given what they did achieve. Naturally, the house itself with its baleful eye-like windows, does much to set the table for a feast of fright, but the makers were not content to depend on the house alone. The point-of-view shots from the viewpoint of the evil essence work wonderfully; the use of unusual, oddly-angled perspectives was highly effective; and the supernatural manifestations were never allowed to overshadow the real story of the family's tragedy. The acting was not particularly accomplished in general, with the mother in particular guilty of overacting, but Jack Magner as Sonny and Diane Franklin as Patricia give outstanding performances in very different roles. Sonny's evolution from wholesome yet troubled young man to demonic mass murderer is a little rushed and was necessarily trying both physically and mentally on the young actor, but Magner keeps this movie from becoming wholly unbelievable and laughable. Franklin also deserves much credit for her portrayal of the wholesome yet haunted younger sister of Sonny; she alone invites sympathy from the viewer and makes the events of the fateful night of horror truly disturbing.

Apparently, the makeup artists for this picture were told to just go crazy. For the most part, the special effects are very good, although the extent of physical transformations we witness in Sonny are probably somewhat excessive. This only becomes problematic toward the exorcism scenes at the end. The music is also an important and effective part of this movie experience, although at times it reminded me of Star Trek music.

Much has been made of the incest storyline, but I feel it is important to note that there is no graphic exploitation of this controversial theme. In fact, that aspect of the movie makes the tragedy all the more dramatic and compelling. The key to this movie's winning me over was the concentration on family issues; to call this family dysfunctional is perhaps an understatement. The gore is there at times, but it is not the focus of the storyline-if anything, it takes away from rather than adds to the impact of the film on the viewer. It is also unfortunate but perfectly understandable that this film is compared so closely to The Exorcist. Certainly, the latter parts of the movie are weaker than the first half, and it is pretty obvious that the whole exorcism storyline reflected an attempt by the filmmakers to somewhat selfishly usurp the notoriety of The Exorcist. There are, however, many differences between this film and The Exorcist, and taken on its own merits I found the relevant scenes powerful and effective. I agree that the movie goes downhill somewhat after the pivotal murders actually take place, but I can honestly say that the first hour of this movie represents some of the most creepiest, spine-tingling moments in the annals of cinematic horror.

Is this a great film? Hell no (pun intended). But I enjoyed it a whole lot more than its predecessor. Amityville II embodies the kind of over-the-top horror that thousands of lousy drive-in flicks have tried unsuccessfully to achieve.

This time around, there's no beating around the bush (burning or otherwise). The house is haunted-- VERY haunted. A tiny door in the kitchen leads down to the cellar, where evil spirits squirm in the cold, dripping muck. The DeFeo family-- consisting of an abusive father, frigid mother, two perfect young kids and two horny teenagers-- moves into the house, expecting to find a new stress-and-devil free lifestyle out in this homey small town community. Instead, they encounter an invisible evil that doesn't stop until the entire family has been defiled and murdered.

This film has tons of fun stuff, including the "I'll be the famous photographer" incest seduction scene, the devil-gets-the-kids-in-trouble scene, the devil-jumps-on-Ronnie's-stomach scene, and my personal favorite, the 'you know you want it, priest!' scene in which the demons pose as the sultry teenaged daughter and try to seduce the priest with flickering tongue and [a lot] makeup. Even if you don't respect this film, you have to love it, if you love horror.

It's my understanding that the soundtrack was originally written for 'The Exorcist,' but was rejected because it was too over the top. I guarantee that if you watch this film, you'll find yourself humming the theme music at all kinds of inappropriate times.

By the way, if you believe this was a true story, Email me; I have an Iraqi oil well I want to sell you.

This film has a very special and original horror-plot even if its a cind of classical story. A big old house with deep and horrible secrets shows its anger by filling a families minds with pure madness and evil. The attic,where some children were killed and the basement widh a secret room where satanistic rituales were hold many years ago really gived the movie some intensive,deep, hair-rising and psychological scenes that you only can compare with your most scary nightmares. This film,unlike from some other horrormovies,is really creapy! Its suspense at its best! Better then The amityville horror 1. A masterpiece. See it!

"Amityville II: The Possession" is essentially a prequel to "The Amityville Horror" in that it tells why the home in the Long Island community was available for sale for that the Lutz family could move in and end up running fleeing for their lives. This time it is the Montelli family that moves into the accursed house, which is not good because they are an unhappy family in the grand tradition of Tolstoy that is heading for trouble no matter where they live. The main tension is between the father, Anthony (Burt Young), and his eldest song, Sonny (Jack Magner), and if it were not for the fact that anyone who saw the original movie knows what is going to happen at the end of this one, you might be wondering which one of these guys is going to lose it first.

Surprisingly, this 1982 film goes through a lot of the same things as the original, which is not surprising for a sequel but more so because there was never a notion that every time somebody moves into this house rooms are covered with flies, blood comes out in strange places, and unseen presences are running around making people feel uneasy. In another move that makes sense only in terms of the movies rather than the "history" of the house, the unseen beings start covering the walls of the children's bedroom with evil pictures and phrases. At this point the film convinces you that there is something really evil in that house, and it would be Anthony Montelli. Even when the local priest (James Olson) comes by to bless the house and sees Anthony going after his family, he walks away (which would seem to be good advice with regards to this film).

On some levels this film is better than the original, but only in the sense that if there never had been an original this one might work better. The flaw with the film version of "The Amityville Horror" was that whereas the novel told a "true" story in a rather documentary style, which was abandoned for cheesy horror film effects. The simple idea of possession that was implied to be the reason the son went off one night and killed his family is now adorned with a whole host of tacky "Exorcist" like ideas. The irony, as I understand it, is that the killing of this family was the one bit of the hoax that really was true. The names are changed because this film would have been the target for a lawsuit otherwise. If director Damiano Damiani had stuck to the true story and forgot about all this other nonsense he would have had a better film. In fact, the only part of "Amityville II: The Possession" that really works is the night of the murders.

After 80 reviews here you would think there was nothing left of the plot to be given away. But wait.

I am not a fan of horror movies and can't make comments from the perspective of someone who follows the genre. But every so often I drop in to see what is going on. It can be fun in small doses. That said, this is one that I found to be predictably corny and yet it was really interesting because of something about the plot that I could not put my finger on as the story unfolded.

Now here is the PLOT SPOILER. In the end the demon tricks the priest who wants to exorcise the demon from the boy into giving the demon permission to take over the priest's own body and soul.

The ending was really disturbing if you think about it. The boy is now free of the demon, but he has no way of proving that he was not responsible for his own actions and that his freed-up self is quite innocent. Thus the innocent boy will certainly end up paying for the murder of his family and will wallow in guilt and sorrow. A sickening thought. The efforts to save him by priest and cop simply ended up creating a situation that was destined to play out as a terrible injustice.

At the same time the priest had gotten so involved in trying to save the boy and thinking he could do it himself that he invited the demon to take over his own body in place of the boy's. This may be Christ-like, to be the sacrificial lamb, but it would not save the boy, and it would only give the demon an entry into the Church. The priest was loaded with pride on the inside even though he seemed like a nice enough guy.

With the end in mind I realized that much of the story had been the demon setting up the priest. It had been a cat and mouse game all along. The demon was always two steps ahead of the priest. I had not thought about it this way as I watched the film, but I think I sensed that there was something more going on than meets the eye and probably that is why I did not fast-forward through a lot of basically corny stuff.

The priest lets himself get all involved with the family and gets frustrated that he can't help them. He has no humility in this regard. The demon apparently predicted that the girl would go to the priest with her story of incest and get him to imagining sexual things about her. The priest has absolute faith that he can exorcise the demon and will go to any lengths, do stupid things, to exorcise the thing. In the end he has been tricked and the demon has found a way into the priest's body and presumably the Church.

A lot of people might say, "but the demon can't really go into the Church, can he?" Well, that belief is shattered because there he is in the priest's robes and beneath his crucifix as the film ends. So why not into the Church buildings and community? I think that was his main objective, while having fun spewing evil along the way.

If you are inclined to think of the story as a set-up cat and mouse game strategically, perhaps you will not find it so boring as some people here did, or even as I found much of it to be not anticipating the twist at the end. So I am not sure that my PLOT SPOILER will literally spoil it for you. Maybe the suggestion will make it a little more interesting.

PS: As long as I am giving things away -- you might wonder what did the demon represent? I suppose there could be another level here. Usually we think in Western mythology of a war between good and evil, with the Church standing for good and the Devil standing for evil. In this case it might not be so clear. The house is haunted because it was built over an old Indian burial ground. The demon was presumably sent for revenge against the arrogant Christians from Europe who just saw their sacred land as real estate and disturbed their spirits. This is not good against evil in the usual sense that we have learned to expect in such films. It is not in your face, but if you think about it this is about revenge not simply evil. The arrogance or pride of the priest and of his Church represents the arrogance of the civilization that violated the Indians. This would sound a bit cheap or trite moralistic-trendy if it were more in your face in the film, but it is not a bad point if you work it out on your own. This is a rare horror film (in my limited exposure) because if you are inclined, it actually gives you psychological and moralistic things to think about.

THE AMITYVILLE HORROR was released to a worldwide audience back in 1979, and it pretty much scared the living daylights out of moviegoers all over. But the story was not about to end there. In 1982, AMITYVILLE II: THE POSSESSION was then released. This sequel is actualy a prequel, showing you what had happened where the evil had originated. This film shows us what had happened to the DeFeo's and what they had experience, up to their tragic death. You see, the Lutz's have escaped with their lives, but the house's previous tenants were not so lucky.

The Montelli family (the name was changed from DeFeo to Montelli in order to keep Ronald DeFeo, Jr. from getting any kind of pay from this movie) were not exactly the perfect family, but they figured they could try to become the perfect family after they bought the perfect house in Amityville, New York: 112 Ocean Avenue to be exact. The Montelli consists of ANTHONY (played by Burt Young, who I can only see as good ole Paulie from ROCKY), his wife DELORES (played by R utanya Alda), and their four children, SONNY (played by Jack Magner), PATRICIA "TRICIA" (played by Diane Franklin), JAN (played by Erika Katz), and Mark (played by Brent Katz). While helping Delores unpack some of things that belong in the basement, one of the movers finds another room that is the back of the basement, but he discovers the room to be to messy and muddy, and advises that Delores and her family stay away from that part of the basement.

Later that night as the family sits down to their first dinner in their new home, the mirror suddenly falls off the wall as Delores begins to say Grace over their meal. While everyone is getting ready for bed, Mark and Jan witness two or three paint brushes paint a hideous picture of a demon on their wall. This was done by an unseen force, leading into an unseen force wrecking havoc in the room. Anthony yells at the children and is ready to whip them with his belt, until Delores steps in and fights with Anthony. He continues to hit Delores until Sonny, without thinking, suddenly pulls the gun on his own father. That night, while listening to his headphones, Sonny's cassette player stops, where a deep and horrifying voice comes in saying, "...Why didn't you pull the trigger? Why didn't you kill that pig?"

The next afternoon, Delores has FATHER ADAMSKY (played by James Olson) to stop by and bless the family's home, but as Mark and Jan are getting a glass of water for Father Adamsky, everything in the kitchen breaks and crashes to the floor by unseen force. This happens as Father Adamsky is introduced to Sonny. Anthony yells out the children terribly, where Father Adamsky leaves. He approaches his car to find that just about every page in his copy of The Bible is ripped to shreds. What is going on? Well, sit tight, because there is more to tell.

Delores informs Anthony to drive down to the Church to apologize to Father Adamsky in front of both his wife and children. Sonny stays behind, for Sonny is not feeling well. As he sits around doing nothing, he hears some noises that don't belong. He heads down to the basment, with a rifle in hand, and heads into that small room the mover had discovered. What Sonny finds is not pretty, for it is an evil spirit, which suddenly possesses Sonny. Sonny approaches Tricia's room, hours after the family has returned. Sonny begins...flirting with his own sister, where the two distgustingly go "all the way" (Ewwww!!!! give me a bottle pepto, will ya?)

They next day, while Anthony is not around, Delores has Father Adamsky come by again to bless the house. All seems well until he blesses the Montelli's bed, where blood begins pouring out. But Delores and Father Adamski have only hallucinated...or did they? That afternoon, the family throws a party for Sonny, all seems well, until Sonny stands there looking at his parents, and two sisters and brother, where he then hears that same voice again, "Look at them. Their pathetic. It'll be better when you kill them". Shivering yet?

That night, it finally happens...Sonny, fully possessed, kills his entire family with a shotgun rifle. The next morning, after dreaming something terrible, Father Adamsky races to the house, and finds the entire family dead, with Sonny still alive, as well as being the obvious suspect. But this is not his fault, for Sonny is under demonic possession. Weeks go by, where Father Adamsky, who already knows that something evil is in that house, finds out about the evil that is in the house, and does all he can to save Sonny. He pulls Sonny out of the psychiatric ward and tries to bring him to the Church, but Sonny bashes Father Adamsky over the head and disappears. Father Adamsky knows that Sonny will only go to one place: 112 Ocean Ave. He heads there and finds Sonny, with the Demon's full face in view. Without the approval from the Church, Father Adamsky performs an exorcism, where the exorcism goes off successfully, for Sonny is free of the unclean spirit, but Father Adamsky is now infected with the Demon.

Just like the first film, this sequel scared the ever-loving crap out of me. I pretty much slept with the covers over my head. And just like its predecessor, AMITYVILLE II: THE POSSESSION is a film that no horror fan wants to miss. This is the second installment to the AMITYVILLE films, and you better watch out for the next six films that will be around for my reviewing.

Posession is on the plate for Amityville this time you say? An attempt to best the Excorcist you say? Well bring it on, I say.
The Amityville house had a history long before the Lutz's moved in, and thats what the posession tries to tell of. It tells the story of a teen possessed by the spirit or spirits that dwell in the house, picking up the story of the original true slaying before the Lutz's took possession (no pun intended) of the now infamous ominous windowed house.
As stated in previous reviews, the performances by anyone other than the priest are questionable at times, but this film is an homage to unknown evil, not unknown actors.
The pace is similar to the first for 3/4ths of the movie, but more twisted elements are thrown in for good measure. The walls being graffiti tagged by the ghosts and a blood spewing holy water sprinkler were some effective early story tools. Some clever camera techniques help to scare up the scene leading up to Sonny's possesion. The end is quite over the top, but that's fine because the filmmakers did manage to make a ghastly, gory image laden finale that is a must see for any fans of the genre. Is the movie up to the greatness set by Excorcist standards? No, clearly not, but it definitely is worth a watch and is one of the best sequels in the Amityville series.

I've seen all of the Amityville movies that have come out on either VHS or DVD,but this particular movie is by far the best one from the series. Mostly because of the interesting characters in it. The best part in this movie was the "close" relationship between the brother and sister. It was shocking to say the least. Still,the only faults that this movie has are the special effects. Other than that,"Amityville II:The Possession" stands out as a surprisingly good horror movie.

Ok, this movie came out in 1982 right? What did we have back in the 80s? Friday the 13th, Holloween, etc. etc. etc.
I saw this movie a couple of years after it came out and I thought it blew all the others away on the scare-o-meter.
Now, lets think about this for a moment... This is a movie about a family who moves in to a house, wich by the way has a face to it, that is already inhabited by who knows what and the oldest son is the one who gets possessed,(this guy truly looks possessed), and the worst happens.
There are some verry disturbing happenings before and after the facts and the only disgusting part is at the end when the priest is trying to save the the boy.
Now, I'm not saying, for example, that Friday the 13th wasn't scarry (I didn't sleep for a week), but the whole movie was just about who was gonna get killed next, where and how.
In Amityville The Possession, the killings happen all at once and the rest of it is true horror.
Even though a lot was added to the movie to make it more interesting the fact that it is bassed on a true story is what makes it a verry scarry movie and is what did it for me. I mean, this kid realy did kill all his family and claimed he doesn't remember anything but the voices. I can actually see something this weird happening in real everyday life. Who in real life would stay in Camp Crystal Lake after someone dissapearred right next to you, or go back there after a group of kids were murdered??? Well, I guess some crazy people might.
On the other hand, if I was moving into a new house and someone told me the house was haunted I would say "Yea. Right. Youre crazy!" and move right in. And if weird things would start hapening I would probably pay no attention to them. At first.
My point is, this movie Amytiville 2 The Possession (not to be confused with any of the other Amytiville movies) deserves much more credit and recognition than it got for doing so much with so little. Very few movie have! Damiano Damiani was brilliant!
By the way, I drove by this house a few years ago and by "coinsidence" the people living there were moving out.......?