El regreso

After a very good sixth sequel released a year before this, the series takes a slight step back in the 7th film - Amityville: A New Generation. We continue the theme of possessed items from the original house being evil and having the power to kill people. This one is an evil mirror which has the power to show a person how they'll die - and then makes it happen!

The film begins with a young photographer named Keyes who is given a seemingly innocent antique mirror by a homeless man. We quickly learn that the mirror is cursed and was an item in the infamous house on Long Island. Once Keyes puts the mirror up in his loft, many of his roommates and friends start dying off in pretty creative ways by staring into the mirror. There is also a bit of a backstory with Keyes as we learn that he once lived in the Amityville house as a child and that his family murdered by his possessed father, connecting this sequel to the first two very nicely.

I really liked that they took us back to the original story and tried to integrate Keyes into that plot of the possessed man killing his family. The movie itself though isn't all that scary. The mirror's power to kill people was creative, but not all that terrifying. That is the core problem with the series at this point with the theme of possessed items. No one is scared of lamps or mirrors or dollhouses.

In the acting department, Amityville 7 gives us horror heavy hitters David Naughton and Terry O'Quinn. Both of which are known for 'An American Werewolf in London' and 'The Stepfather' respectively. In addition, Ross Partridge does well as the lead male character. Everyone else is pretty much background to the overall story.

Amityville: A New Generation, like its predecessor, manages to at least be an entertaining watch. It isn't a terrifying film, and the second half falls apart, but if you are a fan of the series it does tie in to the original story of the DeFeo's and their deaths at the infamous Amityville house. It isn't nearly as fun as Amityville 1992, and drags on way too much, but manages to be a competent entry. I'd check it out at least once.

5/10

First a lamp, then a clock, now a mirror. The Amityville yard sale terror lives on as this time an artist is gifted a possessed mirror from the haunted house by a homeless man (who may or may not be the surviving kid from part 2). As usual weird possession things happen, and people die. There's some good stuff here like a scene where a family gets wrecked by a shotgun, and the supporting cast is pretty impressive including the addition of Terry O'Quinn. Not quite as good or as crazy as It's About Time, but not bad either.

An L.A. photographer gets an antique mirror from a homeless man which triggers memories of his mysterious past and also allows a demons to rampage the lofts where he lives and terrorize the residents.

Amityville: A New Generation has a few memorable moments, but a lot of the horror scenes read more goofy than scary, especially any time the demon manifests. It does function as a fascinating 90's time capsule, though, and the cast is much more staked than other entries in the franchise with several horror regulars showing up for supporting roles.

Here we go again, another mediocre entry to the Amityville franchise that seems to get less interesting the further along it goes. I don't know, but I do miss the ominous house itself which featured prominently in the first three films. Sure it has connections and even the image of it appears in the haunted antique mirror which came from infamous Long Island house, but it's just not the same. The straight-to-video fare "A New Generation" is the seventh film, where the terror scraps suburbia for an urban apartment building filled with budding artists who one-by- one fall to the evil entity.

An antique mirror is given to a photographer by a homeless man. Soon after accepting the gift, the man starts having haunting visions of a killing spree which might just have some relevance to him. But he's not the only one who's been affected by the demonic force within the mirror, but those living in his studio building begin to find themselves possessed/or infatuated by these dark forces.

The plot tries to tie in a little more to the history of the Long House island, especially with the main character's (an affable Ross Partridge) connection to what's actually happening. So most of the time is spent with Partridge's character trying to uncover the truth and dealing with flashbacks. Didn't make it any more interesting though. Predictable and interchangeable. The imitating special effects do have its moments, but there's a real lack of atmosphere and thrills. Sure it's slickly directed, but feels vapid and flat. There's a good supporting cast featuring Terry O'Quinn, Richard Roundtree. Julia Nickson-Soul and a very twitchy David Naughton that do enliven things.

Hardly terrible, but rather uninspired.

Ok, I admit, I have not seen the original yet; but in all this movie isn't all that bad. The idea of objects (like a clock in Amityville 6 (1992 it's about time) or a mirror in this tale (Amityville 7) carrying the original horrors are a bit hokey, but then again it makes sense. I liked this movie better than its time traveling predecessor and this one gives an interesting history if an Amityville family through the deranged father/psyco-killer handing the mirror and its inner demons to his son (who unknowingly accepts the gift and the re-opening of buried images/memories). Maybe it was because I was in New York and Amityville is in Long Island, but this film is at least average (hence a 5 or 6).