10/27/16 – day twenty-seven of thirty-one days of horror!
Look, the truth of THE AMITYVILLE HORROR is that it was all a
money-making hoax, but one element was factual – a few years before the
Lutz family moved into the allegedly haunted Long Island house, Ronald
DeFeo killed his entire family with a shotgun. So what better way to
follow up the success of the original than with a prequel that posits
these horrible murders were the result of demonic possession? If you
think that’s a sleazy move, wait until you see AMITYVILLE II: THE POSSESSION!
Helmed by Italian director Damiano Damiani, this torrid affair has the
anything goes attitude of a Giallo, reveling in seedy story
embellishments, one of them being an incestuous relationship between
Ronnie and his nubile teen sister, played here by BETTER OFF DEAD’s
Diane Franklin. Throw in drunk dad Burt Young and Andrew Prine as the
local priest and you’ve got a recipe for scummy fun that, for my money,
is far more entertaining than the turgid 1979 original. A staple of
early 80s late night cable, this is a film that deserves to be
celebrated in its schlocky glory, so make it your one stop at Amityville
this Halloween.
