AMITYVILLE II: THE POSSESSION (1982)

 

(Director: Damiano Damiani. Screenplay by Tommy Lee Wallace and an uncredited Dardano Sacchetti, loosely based on Hans Holzer’s 1979 book, Murder in Amityville, re-released as Amityville: Fact or Fiction?)

Storyline

Before the storied Lutzes moved into 112 Ocean Avenue, the Montellis [cinematic stand-ins for the DeFeo family] did, with even more horrific results.

 

Review

AMITYVILLE II, released three years after THE AMITYVILLE HORROR (1979), is noticeably different than its source film.

AMITYVILLE II, a prequel, opens with an across-the-yard shot of the supposed devil abode. The Montellis─Anthony and Delores, with their four kids, various ages─arrive in three cars. Everything is idyllic until Sonny, the oldest, teenage son, is bullied by Anthony (Burt Young, THE AMITYVILLE MURDERS, 2018) for arriving five minutes after the rest of the family. Not long after that, Sonny sees something in the house’s iconic “evil eye” windows─something viewers are not shown.

Delores, Catholic mother, discovers the first-floor windows are nailed shut. A mover accidentally discovers a crawlspace-room in the cellar─an unlit, hidden room full of flies, stinking muck, and leaking water from the floor above. It’s not long before the camera POV switches to a fast-moving Demon POV (reminiscent of Sam Raimi’s THE EVIL DEAD, 1981). This Demon POV is often utilized to good effect throughout AMITYVILLE II.

In swift succession, more supranatural, how-do-you-explain-that stuff happens. Demon POV tracks an initially oblivious Sonny while he walks through house. A distorted, male voice speaks to him through his Sony Walkman headphones, uttering comforting lines like “Why didn’t you kill the pig?” (referring to Anthony). Soon after that, Sonny, sickly looking and creepy, seduces his slightly younger sister, Patricia (Diane Franklin, THE AMITYVILLE MURDERS, 2018).

The consensual incest between Sonny (Jack Magner, FIRESTARTER, 1984) and Patricia occurs off-camera. In the original cut, there was R-rated on-camera carnality, but test audiences complained mightily about it, so it was trimmed. Director Damiani wanted to push horrific boundaries with the film, especially this scene. Also trimmed, again because of test audience reactions, was a non-explicit anal rape scene involving Anthony and Delores.

While much of this violent, morally icky stuff happens (or doesn’t happen), Father Adamsky (James Olson, THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN, 1971) is in contact with the Montellis, trying to bless (then cleanse) the house, and later, trying to exorcise Sonny.

In its last half hour, AMITYVILLE II becomes a different kind of hybrid than its source film. It switches from its haunted house/possession storyline to a legal drama with tacked-on, blatantly thieved elements from THE EXORCIST (1973) and EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC (1977).

It’s a jarring shift, an unnecessary and overlong follow-through to the happenings of the previous hour-and-fifteen minutes. AMITYVILLE II, excellent as a nasty grindhouse flick up to that point, could have been wrapped up with a shot or two showing what happened to Sonny, or─given where the demon ends up─could have easily placed one of AMITYVILLE’s key characters at the house during the killing scenes. Also, there are a few instances where the creature/possession FX feel too over-the-top for the movie; most of it works, but when it doesn’t, it feels like more like a knock-off of ALIEN (1979) than an AMITYVILLE sequel.

That said, the last half hour of the film does not entirely ruin it. There is so much to appreciate in this underrated movie, e.g. its simple bookend final shot, which recycles its opening shot. It’s simple and effective.

The talent behind and in front of the camera is, as with the first film, worth noting. The overall look and tone of AMITYVILLE II is mood-effective, even when holy frak stuff happens, and Lalo Schifrin, composer from AMITYVILLE, takes a different approach in AMITYVILLE II─his score work is composed of quieter, sadder compositions, with occasional heightened PSYCHO-esque-alarm moments (whereas in the first flick the score was constantly loud, sharp, and nerve-jangling).

The cast furthers the excellence of AMITYVILLE II’s better parts. Burt Young gives a layered, wow-worthy performance as a tetchy, insecure, and scared guy who honestly seems to love his family, despite his vicious, lash-out temperament (e.g., when he hugs Sonny at a birthday party─there’s sad, palpable tenderness between them despite their violence and tension). Rutanya Alda (CHRISTMAS EVIL, 1980) also stands out as the wife and mother who’s trying to keep her oldest son and husband from killing each other, while living in a satanic, tantrum-throwing house. Jack Magner’s Sonny is a nuanced character as well, an angry, sweet-hearted young man who’s struggling to maintain his temper and sense of familial propriety while fending off an insidious invader. Diane Franklin imbues Patricia with a balance of innocence and desire in the lead-up to her family’s murders─this balance makes Father Adamsky’s post-slaughter focus on her slightly less pervy (even if the house hellspawn is preying on his guilt).

Other noteworthy actors try to transcend their characters, thinly sketched and genre-typical on the page. They don’t always succeed, but it’s good to see these players anyway: James Olson as Father Adamsky; Andrew Prine (THE LORDS OF SALEM, 2012) as Father Tom, Adamsky’s co-worker and fishing buddy; Leonardo Cimino (THE MONSTER SQUAD, 1987) as their Chancellor, who refuses to allow Adamsky to perform an exorcism on Sonny; Moses Gunn (FIRESTARTER, 1984) as Turner, a homicide detective whose later actions are plot-convenient unlikely; Allan Dellay (BLOODSUCKING FREAKS, 1976) as the “Judge” whose reaction to Sonny’s not guilty plea is fun.

Ultimately, AMITYVILLE II is worth watching, if you can pretend its last half hour, aside from Father Adamsky’s last scene and its bookend final shot, didn’t happen. With this film, Damiani and his cast and crew made a film that is, in many ways, a more viewer-resonant work by embracing the gritty, nasty, and sometimes tender dynamics of its events and characters in its first, taut hour and fifteen minutes─in this way, it maintains a more serious tonal balance that eschews the feel of the first film. Yeah, AMITYVILLE II’s last half hour flies off the rails, but prior to that this flawed but gripping flick has a grounded (if more squicky) quality that its source work lacked.