"Amityville II: The Possession"

Amityville II: The Possession

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, loosly based on the murders that ocoured 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 blatent 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 relativly 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.