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Amityville 2
Supposedly a prequel (there have been some arguments due to the presence of more modern day items, but that's a common goof with many movies taking place longer back) to the first one, this movie is based on another true story... with the names changed, about the Montelli family. They move into a house which seems nice at first glance, but very shortly they start to notice some curricular activities going on. Objects suddenly moving by themselves, creepy drawings appearing on the wall, a cold wind and the sense of an unknown hand on your shoulder... It doesn't take long before it starts to get a little crazy. Okay, REALLY crazy.
Wow. What a sequel. Of course from the set-up you know something's bad is going to happen, but when inside the house I started to really get the shivers! The overwhelming supernatural power makes for some excellent classic scares. And it's even spookier when you look at how the father is starting to behave.
Right from the start, he's not a very nice person in general. So when weird things start to happen, what does he do? He blames it on the kids! Seriously, in some instances you want to scream at him because of how irrationally upset and angry he gets. When he takes out his belt getting ready to punish his two youngest kids you're disturbed. This man is sick. It then leads to his wife trying to strangle him (ghosts trying to make her) and the oldest son (Sonny) almost shooting him. Now, this is an interesting difference. In the movie he's close to but doesn't pull the trigger, while in reality he did but there were no bullets. I think what he did in real life is creepier, but what they went for in the movie still gives me the chills.
What I admire a lot is how they showed even more this time what influence this house has on the inhabitants. Sonny has a walkman he usually listens to music to, which becomes a mechanism for the demon to speak to him, telling him to murder his entire family. He resists the urge as much as he can, but when he gets possessed he starts acting creepier than ever. If someone deserves to be commended for best acting it's Jack Magner. Holy crap! He scared the hell out of me. He always stares in the way like he's just ready to kill you, and speaks in a slow, syrupy manner which makes you tremulant over what's on his mind. The most effective scene is when he goes into his sister's bedroom and asks her to pose for him. And let's just say what happens next... isn't pleasant. In the original cut it was more graphic, but I think what they left it at was enough to do the job. And as it goes on, he will only get eerier. You feel really bad for Patricia, and acting wise Diane Franklin does a fantastic job too. Burt Young is impressive as the abusive and impatient father and husband. I think it was smart of them to go a different route. Seeing someone initially friendly go insane might not be as effective twice, so they made him just about but not quite decent enough at the beginning, then had him go all-out nuts. And even though the focus is later switched to Sonny, it's not like he just goes back to normal, he continues behaving like an abusive maniac. Hearing him yell at his wife Dolores from the bedroom when forcing himself upon her is very unsettling.
The priest has a larger role in this movie. While the priest in the first movie did try to help out, he was too affected by the house to do anything. There are some inconsistencies here with what we've seen before, being that the priest can go back several times and try to give the house his blessing again (granted he's failing, but he doesn't become sick), while the previous priest couldn't even talk on the phone after a while since it was having so much influence on him. I'm not sure this is really a problem though, since the last thing you'd want is retreads of the original. I liked that Father Adamsky was an important character, and James Olson turned out a very memorable performance. He gets to show a lot of different emotions, and does it very believably. Andrew Prine is good as his assistant and friend Father Tom as well.
So for the first hour and 20-odd minutes, it's possibly the scariest film I've seen in a while. The subtle creepy moments and all the objects moving really builds up the tension in classic manner. I was about to rate it the same as the original, until...
Despite that, I still stand by what a great sequel this is. Damiano Damiani's directing was excellent, and gave his own unique spin on the series with a more demonic bite this time. I can't wait to for, uuuuh... Amityville 3-D? Oh well, I'm sure it will be fun.
P.S. Even though it didn't really result in anything bad, I actually got creeped out when Jan put a plastic bag over her brother's (Mark) head. This was actually not supposed to be the worst thing we see Jan do, since one of the unreleased deleted scenes include Jan holding Mark's head underwater trying to drown him. It's perhaps best it didn't make the final cut since God, at least don't make the two youngest kids have to become evil! Still, I kinda wish it was available since I'm curious over how disturbing that would've looked.
Supposedly a prequel (there have been some arguments due to the presence of more modern day items, but that's a common goof with many movies taking place longer back) to the first one, this movie is based on another true story... with the names changed, about the Montelli family. They move into a house which seems nice at first glance, but very shortly they start to notice some curricular activities going on. Objects suddenly moving by themselves, creepy drawings appearing on the wall, a cold wind and the sense of an unknown hand on your shoulder... It doesn't take long before it starts to get a little crazy. Okay, REALLY crazy.
Wow. What a sequel. Of course from the set-up you know something's bad is going to happen, but when inside the house I started to really get the shivers! The overwhelming supernatural power makes for some excellent classic scares. And it's even spookier when you look at how the father is starting to behave.
Right from the start, he's not a very nice person in general. So when weird things start to happen, what does he do? He blames it on the kids! Seriously, in some instances you want to scream at him because of how irrationally upset and angry he gets. When he takes out his belt getting ready to punish his two youngest kids you're disturbed. This man is sick. It then leads to his wife trying to strangle him (ghosts trying to make her) and the oldest son (Sonny) almost shooting him. Now, this is an interesting difference. In the movie he's close to but doesn't pull the trigger, while in reality he did but there were no bullets. I think what he did in real life is creepier, but what they went for in the movie still gives me the chills.
What I admire a lot is how they showed even more this time what influence this house has on the inhabitants. Sonny has a walkman he usually listens to music to, which becomes a mechanism for the demon to speak to him, telling him to murder his entire family. He resists the urge as much as he can, but when he gets possessed he starts acting creepier than ever. If someone deserves to be commended for best acting it's Jack Magner. Holy crap! He scared the hell out of me. He always stares in the way like he's just ready to kill you, and speaks in a slow, syrupy manner which makes you tremulant over what's on his mind. The most effective scene is when he goes into his sister's bedroom and asks her to pose for him. And let's just say what happens next... isn't pleasant. In the original cut it was more graphic, but I think what they left it at was enough to do the job. And as it goes on, he will only get eerier. You feel really bad for Patricia, and acting wise Diane Franklin does a fantastic job too. Burt Young is impressive as the abusive and impatient father and husband. I think it was smart of them to go a different route. Seeing someone initially friendly go insane might not be as effective twice, so they made him just about but not quite decent enough at the beginning, then had him go all-out nuts. And even though the focus is later switched to Sonny, it's not like he just goes back to normal, he continues behaving like an abusive maniac. Hearing him yell at his wife Dolores from the bedroom when forcing himself upon her is very unsettling.
The priest has a larger role in this movie. While the priest in the first movie did try to help out, he was too affected by the house to do anything. There are some inconsistencies here with what we've seen before, being that the priest can go back several times and try to give the house his blessing again (granted he's failing, but he doesn't become sick), while the previous priest couldn't even talk on the phone after a while since it was having so much influence on him. I'm not sure this is really a problem though, since the last thing you'd want is retreads of the original. I liked that Father Adamsky was an important character, and James Olson turned out a very memorable performance. He gets to show a lot of different emotions, and does it very believably. Andrew Prine is good as his assistant and friend Father Tom as well.
So for the first hour and 20-odd minutes, it's possibly the scariest film I've seen in a while. The subtle creepy moments and all the objects moving really builds up the tension in classic manner. I was about to rate it the same as the original, until...
WARNING: spoilers below
The ending. The ending is very disappointing. Adamsky goes back to the Amityville house again, and he's ready to give his final shot at saving Sonny's soul. It's pretty well-executed (with some top-hole special effects), but is it really the most haunting and appropriate manner to end this movie? No. In fact, it's even a bit ridiculous with how much they seem to copy The Exorcist, so much that I was almost expecting him to say "The power of Christ compells you!". It just feels almost completely out of place, and doesn't live up to the scares we had seen before. I feel like they could've ended it in a smarter way.
Despite that, I still stand by what a great sequel this is. Damiano Damiani's directing was excellent, and gave his own unique spin on the series with a more demonic bite this time. I can't wait to for, uuuuh... Amityville 3-D? Oh well, I'm sure it will be fun.
P.S. Even though it didn't really result in anything bad, I actually got creeped out when Jan put a plastic bag over her brother's (Mark) head. This was actually not supposed to be the worst thing we see Jan do, since one of the unreleased deleted scenes include Jan holding Mark's head underwater trying to drown him. It's perhaps best it didn't make the final cut since God, at least don't make the two youngest kids have to become evil! Still, I kinda wish it was available since I'm curious over how disturbing that would've looked.