‘Amityville II: The Possession’ is a weirdly satisfying horror movie

The Amityville Horror is a haunted-house tale that has been repeated several times in book form, in movies and among urban legend lovers in the stately suburbs surrounding New York City. The Lutz family moved into the Amityville, N.Y., house and they soon ran out of the homely abode screaming of things that go bump in the night. The legend was born, and so was a bestselling book and eventual movie starring Margot Kidder and James Brolin.

Amityville II: The Possession should have been a forgettable prequel with the sole intention of cashing in on the success of its predecessor. It turns that the second installment in the franchise is quite good. This is not to say that the movie features a plausible plot, compelling characters and genuine scares. It doesn’t have any of these necessary elements. Instead, the movie achieves a weird satisfaction because of its sheer oddity.

A new family (of victims) has moved in, and the teenage boy is the one who is “possessed” by the house. The story follows many of the parameters of the original: family moves in, everything seems fine, scares begin to escalate, parish priest brought in, winning out against these forces seems impossible.

Damiano Damiani directs the feature, with a script by Tommy Lee Wallace. The dialogue is stilted, and the directing is too obvious. However, the special effects and some of the scares are well orchestrated.

The cast includes James Olson as the priest, Rocky’s Burt Young as an abusive father and Rutayana Alda as his wife. Jack Magner plays the troubled teenage boy. Olson, Young and especially Magner are convincing in their cookie-cutter roles; selecting these actors was a right choice by the creative team.

Amityville II becomes more religious than the original, playing up the possession theme and featuring several scenes lovingly pulled from The Exorcist. The apparent cause for the possession is the fact that the house was built on an Indian burial ground. (Horror aficionados should be able to find influences/ripoffs from many other horror movies.)

I wanted to hate this film. The original movie is OK and certainly not deserving of a prequel. It would seem that money dictated The Possession into existence. However, what should have been a forgettable film actually turns out to rival the original. There’s enough craziness and weirdness surrounding the possession of this teenage boy that the movie sort of works. As far as pushing the envelope, Amityville II: The Possession comes close to ushering in the new horror age of gruesomeness and dark spirits. It’s worth a visit to this house again, but maybe the optimal viewing is done at midnight in the month of October.

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

• Amityville II: The Possession

• 1982

• Directed by Damiano Damiani

• Written by Tommy Lee Wallace

• Starring James Olson, Burt Young, Rutayana Alda and Jack Magner

• Running time: 105 minutes

• Rated R

• Rating:

Note: An earlier version of this review misidentified the movie as a sequel. It is a prequel.