The Amityville franchise is beyond repair. Just to fill in the uninitiated, Amityville is a town in New York and thus the title, “Amityville” cannot be copyrighted. What this means is that any slob with a camera can film anything, call it “Amityville BLANK”, and people will watch it. Why? Morbid curiosity? Absolutely. Then again, I think it can be said the original story of the Amityville Horror still resonates with people today.
Again, for the uninitiated, in 1977 author Jay Anson wrote a nonfiction book about the Lutz family who in 1975 moved to 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, New York and claimed to have been terrorized by a paranormal evil. The reason was that just a year before, Ronald DeFeo Jr. killed six members of his own family in the same very house before being incarcerated until his death in 2021.
The Lutz’s claims made national headlines, only further embellished by famous hoaxsters the Warrens (the couple from The Conjuring movies), and people have been fascinated by the Amityville book, movie, and all its endless sequels ever since.
Honestly, I don’t get it. The Lutz’s are liars, the Warrens are liars, the original 1979 movie sucks, I mean, DeFeo’s crime barely makes for a good ghost story. Why? Because he lived! There’s not even that layer of mystery to why he killed his family. He just claims he heard his family plotting against him. Sounds like a paranoid schizophrenic not someone who believed spirits told him to kill. It’s all been blown way out of proportion… All that being said… I liked Amityville II: The Possession.
I’m trying to separate my thoughts and feelings about the actual events and original film and judge todays film on its own merit. Which actually isn’t that hard considering most Amityville sequels seem to operate as standalones. At least, the few I have seen. Amityville II: The Possession could have easily just been called “The Possession” and they wouldn’t have to change anything. It was just good marketing to add in “Amityville”.
The film follows the Montelli family, an Italian American family who’s just moved into 112 Ocean Avenue. As a longtime Rocky fan, you can imagine my excitement when I realized that Burt “Paulie” Young was the loudmouthed patriarch, Anthony Montelli. What a treat to see one of my favorite movie shlubs shouting and swearing at ghosts with his unkempt hair and cigar dangling from his mouth. The character is abusive which isn’t fun, but just the presence of Burt Young gives this film so much personality. Casting matters.
Rutanya Alda plays Anthony’s defeated wife, Dolores, who discovers within the first five minutes of the film that the house is haunted when blood runs from the kitchen faucet. There are two nondescript preteen Montelli children but more important there is Sonny (Jack Magner) and Patricia (Diane Franklin), teenage siblings who have one of the weirdest onscreen sibling dynamics I’ve witnessed. Right from the get go, Sonny and Patricia are flirtatious with each other. At first, I thought they were boyfriend and girlfriend. I was wrong, and if you’re wondering if it gets weirder… it does.
Sonny is soon possessed by an evil spirit in the house and torments his family. In particular, he seduces his own sister and they go all the way. Jesus Christ. Like seriously, Jesus, can you please step in here? The family’s salvation lies in the hands of the local town priest, Father Adamsky (James Olson), who tries to work around the politics of his Church to exorcise the demon living inside of Sonny.
The film takes a turn a little over halfway through that really threw me for a loop (in a good way), when Sonny (much like Ronald DeFeo) kills his entire family. The film shifts into a bit of a legal thriller as Father Adamsky tries to work with Sonny to free him from his demon while also helping him with his homicide case. The case bears a striking resemblance to the real-life 1981 Trial of Arne Johnson, wherein his legal team claimed demonic possession was why he killed his landlord. This case was the basis of the 2021 film The Conjuring 3: The Devil Made Me Do It–which Colin will be reviewing later this month on our site. The funny thing is they even say, “The Devil made me do it” in Amityville II, so there’s some kind of connection.
The final battle is your typical, “the power of Christ Compels You!” bullshit we’ve seen a thousand times. Fortunately, there is just enough solid visuals, makeup, music, and performances to make Amityville II a fun piece of shlock. I’d actually recommend this to anyone in the mood for a good possession movie. Regardless if you’ve seen all 61 Amityvilles or not.
This relationship is #awkward