Amityville II : Le Possédé

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

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

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.

I must admit I was expecting the first one to be a good horror flick but in the end I was really disappointed by it. However, this film (although not a sequel but a prequel) was really. In fact, the best of all the Amityville movies ever made.

It didn't have any prologue or anything. The story immediately have the Montelli's family moved in to the house. Almost immediately the haunting began where as the mother (Rutanya Alda) turned on the tap and black liquid oozed out. Soon after, during the family dinner, as Dolores were saying grace the mirror cracked and fell. This was the scene that ignited the father's chain of abuse on his kids.

All in all, this was the best Amityville film so far. However, it's a pity they didn't make use of the actually DeFeo's name.

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.