Amityville: el despertar

I really wanted to like this movie - I went into with an open mind not really knowing what to expect from it as I had not read any of the reviews.

For me it lacked atmosphere, reminiscent of a made-for-TV or direct to DVD movie.

The idea of a family moving into the actual Defeo house 40 years on was an intriguing premise, but what I could not get past was the fact that the eldest daughter had no idea about the house and it's history until her new-found friends informed her, along with it's grisly back- story. Had she been living under a rock? At first I thought - OK, the movies don't exist in this universe but then they actually mention the movies, sequels and remake and even venture to watch the 1979 original.

Still, it was watchable and although there were the usual clichéd horror tropes it did hold my interest until the end.

"Amityville: The Awakening" is the tenth installment in the "Amityville" series (but honestly, who's counting anymore?), and it follows Belle, a teenager girl who move into the famed 112 Ocean Avenue with her mother, little sister, and brain-dead twin brother on life support. Bad things happen, including her brother become a vessel for demonic energy.

It's been a long road for "Amityville: The Awakening": I remember seeing trailers at the movie theater for it at least two years ago, but it had numerous delays in typical Weinstein Company fashion—it also, if my suspicious are correct, was chopped to pieces by the Weinstein Company's subsidiary Dimension Films, who distributed (or were supposed to distribute) the film.

I have a soft spot for the "Amityville" movies, and have found even the worst of the installments at least amusing—what can I say? I love a haunted house flick. "The Awakening" starts out rather nicely with atmospheric, mundane goings-on as the family settles in, punctuated by genuinely chilling moments: On their second day in the home, the little sister says to Belle that their brother, James, has been cursing at her. The punchline? James is brain-dead and in a vegetative state. These sorts of moments in "The Awakening" genuinely work, and Franck Khalfoun's script gets meta when Bella and her outcast friends have an "Amityville Horror" movie marathon at the Amityville House. As they're watching the infamous "red room" scene from the 1979 original, the power goes out; it's 3:15am. While this move is risky in that it relegates all the other "Amityville" films to fiction, it's clever.

Unfortunately, as the film progresses, things get sloppier and sloppier; uneven editing and pacing matches uneven development of plot lines that are fairly one-note to begin with. About three- quarters of the way through, one begins to realize that there really is not much happening; the subtleties of the first act lead to payoffs that are frankly not that interesting. As I mentioned before, it's difficult to say who is at fault for the film's shortcomings, as the Weinsteins are notorious for cutting films to pieces (see "Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers," or "Cursed" for reference), and a lot of the issues come from what seems to be bad editing. Franck Khalfoun proved himself a talent in my eyes with 2007's "P2," and with people like Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kurtwood Smith, and Jennifer Morrison on board, there is considerable talent here. The young cast is even quite good, with Bella Thorne playing a sympathetic lead.

In the end, "Amityville: The Awakening" is actually one of the better sequels in the series, if we can call it that, and while it does offer some subtle and clever moments, it spins its wheels in the last act and errs into a rote, albeit shoddily-pieced-together conclusion. For series diehards, it's a must-see for the reasons I've stated above, but in general, it's a fairly unremarkable effort. 6/10.

The seventeen year-old Belle Walker (Bella Thorne) moves to Long Island with her mother Joan (Jennifer Jason Leigh), her little sister Juliet (Mckenna Grace), her comatose twin brother James (Cameron Monaghan) and her aunt Candice (Jennifer Morrison). James suffered an accident and depends on the life support equipment to survive. His neurologist Dr. Milton (Kurtwood Smith) knows that the braindead James will not recover but Joan does not accept the truth and has high-hopes that her beloved son will recover. When Belle goes to school, she learns that her address is the notorious Amityville house where a father killed his family forty years ago. Belle discovers blood stains under the wallpaper of her room and soon mysterious things happen in the house. When James recovers after a flat line, Belle believes an evil thing has possessed he brother.

"Amityville: The Awakening" is another Amityville horror film with terrible story and poorly written screenplay. The characters are not well developed and the conclusion is deceptive. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Amityville: O Despertar" ("Amityville: The Awakening")

This film has had a long, strange road behind it. Starting with a Daniel Farrands (Halloween 6) and Casey La Scala (Grind) found footage style script in play, over time it was scrapped. Leading to this film. Written and directed by Franck Khalfoun (P2, Maniac).

Straight away, Khalfoun has a solid list of directed films under his belt. Being said, ones written prominently by other writers turned out a much better product. With this film, cliché and limitations are at play. Early on, this film sought a theatrical release and I can see what changed it all. It is lacking a cinematic punch. Lighting and atmosphere gave way to what was ultimately a tightly wound production schedule. Followed by even more delays. Even so, the film the film is directed well. Some effective scares and setups set a decent tone at times. Again, those missing atmospheric ingredients keep us in the dark with knowing who is at the helm.

I did find this film an interesting blend of the catatonic, ESP driven thriller Patrick with Amityvilles sense of possession an interesting take on the property. It provides a decent backstory and drama to the plot to keep the terrors grounded in reality. Solid writing there.

The rating is a problem here too. Originally an R, it was recut to suit a PG-13. Why? The Ryan Reynolds remake was a hard R and found solid success. This merely added less scares and a plethora of cutaways. Missed opportunities and a waste of filmmakers time and money that could've gone elsewhere.

The actors are actually quite solid, ranging from new stars and seasoned ones. They manage to convey conviction to each of their roles, even when moments seem over done.

The issue here is that this film is an okay film mostly because of its delay, but also because of its redundancy. How many Amityville films do we have at this point? Including redbox DTV's, it's off the charts. Hence why Farrands and La Scalas earlier premise may have been a better pay off.

Instead of replaying the Amityville saga again and again, maybe a modern deconstruction of the age old tale is just what that old haunted house needs to set those demon eyed Windows ablaze again.

There's just not a lot here to review, honestly. Stuff happens, some of it is creepy, then it's over. The only really good thing I can say about it is Cameron Monaghan delivers quite an unsettling performance, despite the fact his character is immobile for most of the movie.