Amityville II: The Possession

1982 "If these walls could talk... they would shriek!"
5.6| 1h44m| R| en| More Info
Released: 24 September 1982 Released
Producted By: Orion Pictures
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Synopsis

A local priest tries to rid 112 Ocean Avenue of unclean spirits, but what he doesn't yet suspect is that teen Sonny Montelli has been possessed, body and soul, by a murderous demon bent on total destruction.

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Reviews

Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!
Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes
Donald Seymour This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.
Roman Sampson One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.
nmn34 This movie is ably acted and the scenery is iconic, yet still this movie can't help but fall on its face. A precursor to the original Amityville Horror, Amityville II takes the franchise in a new direction by telling an evil house story rather than a haunted one. It tells of the Montelli family and the ensuing possession of their eldest son resulting in their murder. Then there is an hour left to fill before the credits roll.This is the ultimate sin of Amityville II, they start to hot then don't have anything to fill time. It takes five minutes to see the first sign the house is evil. Without any build up, the water turns to blood and the mother is being stalked by the specter. From there on, the movie just floors the gas pedal. It could be understandable since this is a prequel, but it doesn't really give you much time to process what is going on. Had they taken the time to slow down and built to just what the evil was, it would have done the rest of the plot a better service.Then the family is killed and the break neck pace runs headlong into a wall. The priest who had tried to help them earlier has to try to help the surviving son now about to be tried by sequestering an exorcism. No longer is the movie an evil house story and has changed gears into a possession movie. Only, its all the stuff that's not that interesting about a possession. It delves into the politics of the Catholic church and slows the movie to a crawl in doing it. Why this couldn't have started earlier when there was more going on I can't for the life of me figure out.The conclusion is ripped right out of the Exorcist almost verbatim. After the priest failed to get the possessed boy into a church, I don't know why he thought it would be a good idea to walk him through the front doors unbound,h confronts him at the Amityville house and tries to exorcise him there. The effects are pretty good, bleeding walls and the boy's head splitting open to revel his demon face, looks like a CHUD, are done well. But the demon proves too strong and so the priest takes the demon unto himself. It took him roughly six minutes to come to this conclusion however, the exorcism is too short and kind of undermines the seriousness of the ordeal.
Realrockerhalloween The legacy continued in the chilling prequel that follows the Defao (Montelli) family who lived in the house before the Luzs.The poltergeists prey on the family's already shaky history from the overbearing father to the close relationship between the siblings until the night of the horrific murder shocking the world over.While the first movie is a classic slow burner, this is a more fast paced roller coaster ride in the vain of the exorcist, setting us the events shown at the beginning of the first. Yet, the flashback showed the family asleep when shot, Ronnie is now Sonny and The surname that almost seems like an altered history of past events.Now a priest must who blessed the house must perform an exorcism and release the trapped souls within the walls.The scares aren't all that special from other haunting pictures we've seen before with the causal moans, ground and creepy voices until the last thirty minutes during the shooting spree.Using rain storms, shadows and pov shots added great mystery and atmosphere to who or what lurks the residence at night.Sure the effects look cheap for the demon face but was able to pull out the delights and scare factor.An 80s classic that will thrill you, chill you and question the boundaries between the realms.10/10
Shawn Watson Wow, what a surprise! I'll be honest, I went into Amityville II with expectations so low they were through the floorboards and down the core of the Earth. To my shock not only is it a very well done film but it is probably one of the best haunted house movies I have ever seen. There is so much to admire about this sequel/prequel.First of all I need to get the inconsistencies out of the way. Since this is a prequel it should logically take place in 1974, but it's clearly the 80s. The Defeos are not named as such but instead called the Montellis (why exactly is not clear but I assume it is so Ronald Defeo didn't sue, though he did claim that demons made him murder his family). The interior of the house looks very different, especially the basement. The troubled teenage son doesn't look anything George Lutz either (he actually looks like a cross between Mark Wahlberg and Dennis Quaid), which was a big deal in the first film, but since that plot line made no sense and went nowhere I can forgive that. I also don't mind any of the other retconning that Amityville II does since it overrides the 1979 bore.When the Montellis move into 112 Ocean Avenue (or High Hopes as it ironically called, to this day, in real life) they immediately begin to experience supernatural phenomena (although the Defeos lived there for about a decade before the massacre) and call in a heroic priest (played by General Franklin Kirby himself) to save the day. General Kirby postpones the blessing when he witnesses family patriarch Burt Young brutalising the children in that stereotypical, old-fashioned Italian dominant father way. Older siblings Sonny and Patricia push their incestuous relationship all the way while a sinister force haunts around the family and toys with their fragility. The stage is set for a perfect psychic storm and anti-Christ director Damiano Damiani (yeah, for real) delivers absolutely everything that Stuart Rosenberg before him hopelessly failed to.The camera-work, atmosphere, tension, sound design, believable performances, and occasional hysteria make Amityville II the single shining moment in an otherwise pathetic series. Damiani brings a texture of Italian Giallo (exploitation) and knows when to restrain himself and when to simply go nuts. Lalo Shifrin also returns to score this entry with another lush orchestral effort that enhances the spooky atmosphere.I can't imagine this film inspiring anyone as it is part of a laughably awful series and isn't likely to get the respect it deserves, but the tricks, wit, and intelligence that Damiani has up his sleeve will certainly entertain. James Olsen is a strong lead and blows away Rod Steiger's utterly ludicrous ham acting from the first film.You must check it out as it is perfect brain food for horror fans and filmmakers.
The_Film_Cricket It becomes clear pretty early in "Amityville II: The Possession" that the people who made this movie are hoping that you don't go into it asking too many questions. Unfortunately, if you have the slightest bit of interest in this picture it is mainly because you saw "The Amityville Horror" and probably liked it. Bless your heart. If this is you (and why would you be reading the review if you didn't have an interest in this movie) then, all during this picture, you'll be plagued with a series of questions that will, no doubt, confound and frustrate you. My frustration and hatred for this film might reasonably end there, but it actually goes deeper than that. It's one thing to sit through a frustrating film; it's another thing to sit through one that bores you into a coma. How do I hate this film? Let me count the ways:1.) The title. This is a prequel to "The Amityville Horror", telling the story of the events leading up to that movie. There's a "II" in the title leading you to believe that the events in this movie actually take place after the first picture. How difficult would it have been to simply call the picture "Amityville: The Possession"? 2.) The timing. The original film took place in 1979, and the events that led to that movie took place in 1974. This film takes place in 1982. Since this film supposedly takes place before the original, why does everything look and sound like it came from the early 80s? When exactly does this film take place?3.) The house. Okay, it's impressive, with those half-moon windows, yet as I've worked my way through this torpid series, I can't help but admit that the windows on that house make for a better poster than a movie. Let's face it, there is only so much that you can do with creepy windows. The house, once you get inside, is pretty substandard for a haunted house movie. It rattles and clangs and bangs with rotating furniture, rattling cabinets and slamming windows (which is odd because it is established that the windows are nailed shut). To say nothing of the fact that – spoiler alert – the house blows up at the end of the movie. So what house did the characters in the original film move into? Did someone build an exact duplicate of the same house?4.) The characters. They're a family, and not a happy one. The Montelli's problems seem to begin and end with dad's bullying temper. Dad (Burt Young) smacks the kids around when he's not smacking the wife around. The family is made up of mostly generic family types. There's the put-upon wife (Rutanya Alda), the drink-your-milk white-bred daughter (Diane Franklin), the young boy and girl (Brent and Erika Katz) whose entire dialogue is made up of the two of them saying the same thing at the same time. And of course, there's the teenage son, who we know will succumb to "The Possession." Here's the issue: the family's drama involving dad's abuse is much more frightening than anything else in the movie. Take out the special effects and it might have actually been a better movie.5.) The facts. If you saw the original film, it opened with the murders, an unseen person with a shotgun walking around the house from room to room murdering his family in their beds. Supposedly, the same murders take place midway through this film, they don't match up. Is this a different family? Okay, here I have to give the film the benefit of the doubt, the original film was attempting to tell the story of the Amityville house, but this one fudges on the facts. The family from the original murders was named DeFeo. This family is called Montelli. So, do the events here match up to the original or not? They seem to indicate so.6.) The plagiarism. More time is spent during this movie considering the movie that this movie rips off. Let's see, we've got "The Exorcist", "Poltergeist", "The House on Haunted Hill", "The Haunting", even the rip-offs of these movies are better than this one.7.) The result. The movie stinks. It's isn't scary, nor is it of the slightest bit of interest. It's frustrating, and worst of all boring. The pacing is too slow, the story is monotonous and repetitive. The end result is that there are probably a dozen documentaries out there about the DeFeo tragedy, and the subsequent events that let to "The Amityville Horror." Truth is stranger than fiction, they say, and so that story is more interesting than this one.* (of four)