Amityville II - Der Besessene

I love a sequel that not only ups the ante regarding the original film but decides to be as extreme as possible and really 'go for it'.

In this film theres a new family who move into Amityville. You know that any family that includes Burt Young and Rutanya Alda as members is going to be dysfunctional. And, by Christ, I mean VERY dysfunctional. Any film that deals with incest is going to be special. Theres also a domestic violence subplot which is just as shocking.

Add to that some of the grossest special effects as the teenage son is possessed and transformed into an utter beast of a nightmarish character and you have a great, twisted and truly messed up (in a good way) sequel.

I remember this having one of the most disturbing sleeves of any horror video in my local video stores which instantly made me want to investigate this further.

There is also a scene involving a Sony Walkman which freaked me out so much that it made me question using mine for days after seeing this filth classic.

Don't miss this messed up gem of a movie.

Man did this movie ever scare the crap out of me as a kid! staying up late watching this on cable along with the original. Returning to it these many years later I still find it fun and probably the best Amityville film. While the second half obviously can't hang with the first, as the movie pretty much turns into a full blown Exorcist ripoff. The spirits this time around are more vicious and there's a lot of uncomfortable moments and some great filmmaking with a lot of cool camera angles and the presence of baby Diane Franklin, and Burt Young (who is hardcore channeling his Rocky character here) make it a great view.

May contain some spoilers:

It's true. I have read some of the commments in here and there's are actually two people that said the exact same thing about the film. And that was that the film should have ended when the priest was looking into the house and he sees the spirit of the dead girl walking. Then the old lady comes up to him and says she has heard stories about the house. That would have been an awesome way to end it and I then would have given it a ten. As it stands I am still giving it an 8 because even though the end was contrived and straight out of The Exorcist, it is still one hell of a scary film. And if you thought you had reason in the first one to yell " Get out!" then wait till you see this one.

The first hour of this film is absolutely terrifying. It has so much atmosphere and chilling scenes that I couldn't understand why people hated this film so much. The room in the basement is dark, dingy and the camera work is so spooky that you can't help but get suckered into believing that something is in there. When the mom is ironing and she feels something touch her arm and then the wind, that was a perfect scene. It was frightening. But the highlight of this film is when the family minus Sonny goes to church. It is here that Sonny gets stalked by an unseen force. And I even caught myself yelling at the TV, " GET OUT! " When he goes up the stairs and then down and then back up again into his room, it bothered me and it literally gave me chills. The camera work is so creative and haphazard that you really can't tell where the demon is. Is it on the ceiling, behind him, in front of him, where? That was a brilliant sequence in the film.

Some of the acting is pretty bad especially from the mom, but it makes up for that with its chills and tension. I really think that people that criticize this film are perhaps people that should watch it again. I saw it for the first time when I was about 16 and thought it was okay, but then I rented it today and it frightened me during the day. That is pretty good film making. And is it me or are Italian directors better at good horror than the average north American director? Because I've seen some pretty scary horror films that were directed by Italians and they seem to have a style all their own. Just a thought.

Amityville II is a perfect film to watch before the original. It is actually a prequel and it is good to watch them back to back. Give this film a chance and I'll bet it will scare you. It did a pretty good job on me.

8.5/10

Effective chiller about a strange house located in Long Island that causes creepy goings-on in a family . This is the second version about the infamous Amityville house with lots of screams and weird deeds in which a troubled family falls into supernatural terror . The night of February 5 , 1976 , George and Kathleen Lutz and their three children fled their home in Amityville , New York . Their living nightmare shocked the audiences around the world , but before them , another family lived in this house and were caught by the original evil . They weren't so lucky , this is their story . The flick starts when a family formed by parents (Burt Young , Rutanya Alda) and children (Diane Franklyn , , Jack Magner) moves to Long Island where is purchased a notorious Victorian home , their house of dreams but they find only devilish horror and full of nightmares . A loathsome lout with his family (the Montelli family in this film were fictional characters and loosely based on the real life DeFeo family) and hell breaks loose . The new home, which proves to be evil, resulting in the demonic possession of the teenage son (Jack Magner, mercilessly hamming it up as upsetting possessed young , this is his debut theatrical feature film of actor Jack Magner whose only other screen acting credit after this movie was in Stephen King's Firestarter). The teenager begins experiencing frightening and vivid dreams of horror . And soon the poltergeists make their nasty appearance originating a lot of unusual rattles and creaks before deciding to utilize its powers to possess the son and attack the family . Only the local priest (James Olson) can save him . And now a possessed son is plunged by demonic forces into supernatural attitude driving him to mistreat and beat parents and brothers . Meantime ,the priest is attempting to find out the bottom of events by ways of the cellar . The priest tries praying to vanquish the malignant spirit , staggering from room to room with the doors mysteriously slam . There happens a grisly mass killing based on an allegedly real life occurrence in Amityville that turns out to be a haven for demonic forces .

The film contains restless terror and great loads of blood and usual poltergeists phenomenon caused by the curse and the ordinary ghastly shenanigans result to be the cracking pipelines , basement ooze ,icky stuff , and doors suddenly slam , among others . This is a throughly familiar retread of spirit-in-the-house formula with a father who buys the dreaded as well as haunted Amityville house and his possessed son ; being alternatively loathing and dull . It is produced with medium budget by Dino De Laurentiis and well recreated with high grade special effects that are frightening and horrifying to spectator . Based on Jay Anson's (suppposedly) non-fiction best-seller , though George Lutz wanted this sequel to be based on John G. Jones' book "The Amityville Horror Part II" ; however, producer Dino De Laurentiis, in conjunction with American International Pictures, made this sequel based on Hans Holzer's book 'Murder in Amityville". It's actually halfway decent terror movie that achieved enough success at the box office and it will appeal to ghostly and eerie events fonds . Competence at every level keeps this from being rubbish . Acceptable FX , the explosion scene at the end of the film is real , a highly explosive chemical which produces flames that burn out instantly was used ; during filming the effect reportedly backfired and burned the side of the house . A highly explosive chemical which produces flames that burn out instantly was used. During filming the effect reportedly backfired and burned the side of the house. The movie's setting takes place in the same house as in the original Terror en Amityville movie .

The picture packs a colorful cinematography by Franco Di Giacomo and eerie musical score by Lalo Schifrin who also composed the original that will be used in the innumerable sequels . The motion picture was professionally shot , being American directorial debut of Italian director Damiano Damiani. The original ¨Exorcist¨ film (by Friedkin) spawned a wave of demonic possession movies that continues unabated today as ¨Changeling¨ (by Peter Medak), ¨Amytiville ¨(by Stuart Rosemberg with James Brolin , Margot Kidder and Rod Steiger) are two further examples of this sub-genre . Following a great number of clumsy , stupid sequels directed by Richard Fleischer titled ¨Amityville 3D¨ with Tony Roberts , Tess Harper , Lory Loughlin and Meg Ryan ; another directed by Sandor Stern (screenwriter of Amityville) titled ¨Amityville: The Evil Escapes¨ with Patty Duke and Jane Wyatt , ¨The Amityville Curse¨ or ¨Amityville 5¨ by Tom Berry with Kim Coates ¨Amityville: A New Generation¨ with David Naughton , Julia Nickson , ¨Amityville: Dollhouse¨ with Robin Thomas and other bad followings just go on and on attempting to cash in on the success of the first movie . However , recently is made a good new adaptation by Andrew Douglas with Ryan Reynolds, Melissa George and Philip Baker Hall . Rating : Acceptable and passable .

If you enjoyed The Exorcist and the original Amityville Horror film then you might get a kick out of Amityville 2: The Possession. This movie is based on the story of Ronald DeFeo Jr., the man that killed his family in real life - he was tried and convicted of 2nd Degree Murder.

The original Amityville Horror film is based on the real story of George and Kathy Lutz who left the home 28 days after of living there - claiming it was haunted.

It is safe to say that Amityville 2 is a prequel to Amityville Horror. Both films are worth watching if you like haunted houses and demon possession stories.

8/10