Last November I reviewed Amityville II: The Possession here at RJ Battles. Around that time, over at Final Girl, there was a discussion about the movie in the comments section. She hates Burt Young and had been avoiding the movie, but, everyone- including me- tried to talk her into giving it a chance. Now Amityville II is the May selection for the Final Girl Film Club. There is a link to the Final Girl blog at the bottom of this post. I've tacked my original review onto today's post, following this introduction-
I love horror movies and being scared. I'm easy- even the worst Friday The 13ths can scare me.
There are three movies, however, that terrified me: Candyman, The Blair Witch Project, and Amityville II: The Possession. The first two effected me- I'll still go camping, but only in real campgrounds with other people around, and I'll never say 'Candyman', even once, in front of a mirror.
Amityville II had me scared for at least six months after I first saw it. I was raised by Catholic parents but my brothers and I had no religion in our lives aside from our nightly, abbreviated prayers: "Now I lay me down to sleep. God bless everyone I love".
I never thought much about God, then or now, but, after seeing this movie around the age of 7 or 8, I thought a lot about the Devil.
I don't remember now if my mother mentioned that Amityville II was based on a true story but she did say that there had been cases of possession reported in the newspaper. I came to believe that it could happen, not only that someone could be possessed but that they could be forced to kill people. I'd lay in bed thinking about how horrible it would be, and I wondered if the Devil tried to possess me would I be able to fight it. I believed I could, but still, I wasn't 100% sure.
When I watched Amityville II recently, I was surprised by how horrific the murder sequence is, still, after all these years. The thunder & lightning. The drugged-up zombie walk. His evil face.
The first half of the movie holds up very well. The atmospere- really the most important aspect of any horror movie- is right there. It's still scary, unlike The Amityville Horror, which I didn't think was that scary the first time around. (The Lutzs were just potheads who bought a house that they couldn't afford.)
RJ Battles, May 11, 2009
The following is the original RJ Battles review of Amityville II: The Possession from Sunday, November 16, 2008.
I was over at Final Girl this afternoon reading her post about the Amityville series. She mentioned that she was avoiding Part II because she can't stand Burt Young-"he looks like he smells like armpits and motoroil".
I couldn't agree more.
In the comments section, at least three readers pointed out what I wanted to: yes, he's a scumbag, but he dies a 1/2 an hour into it. They also said what an excellent movie it is and, again, I couldn't agree more.
Amityville II: The Possession might be the scariest movie I've ever seen.
The Possession is really a prequel, loosely based on the murders that happened before the Lutzs moved in. In 1974 Ronald DeFeo murdered his entire family. He later claimed that he had been possessed by a demon.
The film follows the oldest son, Sonny, as he is taken over by a demon in his family's new home. While listening to his walkman voices command him to "kill them all". His family sings "Happy Birthday" to him as a voice in his head calls them pathetic and says they deserve to die. One night he is home alone and an evil force follows him from the basement to his attic bedroom (the attic with those windows) and pushes him onto his bed where the spirit pounces on him, the camera rising and falling repeatedly. When his family comes home, Sonny sleeps with his sister and afterwards the mother suspects.
Anyone who has seen the movie will tell you that the second half of the movie is a blatant rip-off of The Exorcist. The DVD box may even admit that, I don't know. But before that is one of the creepiest sequences ever put on film.
It's bedtime on a stormy night and Burt Young is smacking the mother around. With relatively subtle make-up, the son looks evil and dead; he moves mechanically down from the attic and shoots his parents with a shotgun; then he goes after his siblings till there are only two left: his 7 year-old brother and his sister/girlfriend. He stalks his brother before creeping up behind and shooting him. Then he closes in on his sister while she begs for her life. He just grins.
It was incredibly upsetting to watch when I was eight. By then I'd already seen Halloween I & II plus a couple Friday the 13ths but they were nothing compared to this. For months after I'd lay in bed terrified that it could happen to me, that I might be possessed by a demon and forced to murder my family- watching it happen and unable to stop myself.
I was home alone one winter night about 12 years later. My roommates were away for the weekend and The Possession came on TV. It didn't keep me awake that night, but I found that it was still a highly effective movie. It fell apart at the end but the first half still makes Amityville II one scary movie.
Final Girl http://finalgirl.blogspot.com/
3 comments:
I really like this review -- and you've made me so grateful I didn't see this movie as a little kid. Seeing it at 32 was unsettling enough!
It's funny, because I reviewed this film back in November last year as well.
I just re-posted my original review, however, with a couple of added thoughts.
Way to go the extra mile, and great review(s)!
Thank you, this was a lot of fun, I liked reading everyones' posts, I can't wait till the next movie.
Post a Comment