Amityville II: The Possession (1982)

Director:

Damiano Damiani

Writers:

Tommy Lee Wallace (screenplay)
Hans Holzer (book)

Release Date:

24 September 1982 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Horror

Tagline:

If these walls could talk...they would SHRIEK!

Plot:

A family moves into their new home, which proves to be evil, resulting in the demonic possession of the teenage son. Only the local priest can save him.

Plot Keywords:

House | Son | Priest | Evil | Possession

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

James Olson	...	Father Adamsky
Burt Young	...	Anthony Montelli
Rutanya Alda	...	Dolores Montelli
Jack Magner	...	Sonny Montelli
Andrew Prine	...	Father Tom
Diane Franklin	...	Patricia Montelli
Moses Gunn	...	Detective Turner
Ted Ross	...	Mr. Booth, the Lawyer
Erika Katz	...	Jan Montelli
Brent Katz	...	Mark Montelli
Leonardo Cimino	...	Chancellor
Danny Aiello III	...	Removal Man 1
Gilbert Stafford	...	Removal Man 2
Petra Lea	...	Mrs. Greer
Alan Dellay	...	Judge (as Allan Dellay)

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

Mexico | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:18 | Netherlands:16 | Australia:M | Finland:K-18 | France:-12 (censored version) | France:-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R (certificate #26777) | West Germany:16 | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Churubusco Studios, Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico

Company:

Dino de Laurentiis Cinematografica

Trivia:

A poster from the movie Rocky (1976) hangs on Sonny's wall. Burt Young, who plays Sonny's father, was a costar in the Rocky movies.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: As Sonny is being chased by something unseen, the camera rises above him, and someone from the crew can be seen standing behind the wall in the bottom left corner.

Quotes:

[last lines]
Father Adamsky: Blessed Lord, Lord of my life, do not forsake me!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Witchouse (1999) (V)

Soundtrack:

HOME SWEET HOME

I have never yelled at movie characters more than this!

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