Review of Amityville II: The Possession (1982) by Kenneth B — 15 Dec 2012

I honestly don't view this film that often because there is a lot of REAL horror on the screen that makes watching, at least the first half, rather uncomfortable. I'm no fan of things like beatings or incest which happen in homes everyday, but the way this movie is presented, it challenges you to watch it.

You are introduced to a messed up family moving into a house, perhaps with the hope that a change like this will make things in their life better. The reality is that regardless of whether this house was possessed or not, this family (the Montellis) brought it's own demons with it.

After the first hour the deed is done, that any of us Amityville fans or scholars already know about since it is why the first movie happened. I wouldn't say it gets "fun" after this, but at least the focus shifts from a realistic abusive family to supernatural demonic possession and the priest's battle for Sonny's soul.

Where the first half is horrific due to it's realism, the second half is terrifying thanks to great filmmakers. For me, this movie is similar to Ju-On (2002) or The Exorcist (1973) where as I'm watching some of the scarier scenes, I'm actually looking over my shoulder.

The basement scenes are particularly effective in scaring the Hell out of the average movie fan. Most critics at the time panned this movie, but how many of them are real horror fans? Ignore them and buy this film whether you own the first Amityville Horror or not.

Admittedly there are one or two special effects that might be called "goofy", but the majority of them blow away any CGI put on a screen today. For a horror fan, I would call this a MUST SEE!