Amityville II: The Possession (1982)

Plot Outline: Years before George and Kathy Lutz moved into the Amityville house, an Italian-American family had moved into the house built on ancient Indian burial ground. The oldest son is possessed by an evil spirit and is told to murder his family.

The Review: Sequels are usually poor imitations of the original, except in rare cases (see Aliens). But in this case, Amityville II: The Possession is impossibly worse and is devoid of exactly the same scares and logic as the original. Well it's not really a sequel - it's a prequel which explains what happened to the original family. But it still blows whatever way you want to look at it. There is some decent tension when Sonny, the oldest son, finally goes on his killing spree and shoots the family. But this is just after the half-way point and is the film's turning point into cash-in territory. The film rips off films such as The Exorcist and doesn't try and hide that fact. Yet this isn't what the film is about - it's supposed to be based on real-life events (which were proven hoax in the end anyway). However since the makers of this film were more concerned with dollars instead of truth, they took liberties with the script and added Exorcist-style plot developments including writing appearing in blood on Sonny's body, flames appearing from nowhere and other unlikely happenings. You'll soon forget that this is supposed to be based on real-life and instead it just blends into the background of "possession" films. Even Burt Young, who is trying his best in his role as the abusive father, can't save the day. At least he was alright as the drunk brother in Rocky. Or the drunk cop in Blood Beach.

Final Verdict: Amityville II: The Possession is just about as awful as it's predecessor. Save for the family killing scene which was based on the real-life events, this would be just another face in the crowd, albeit it an ugly face.

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