Amityville II: The Possession

Amityville II: The Possession (1982)

Runtime: 104 minutes

Directed by: Damiano Damiani

Starring: James Olson, Burt Young, Rutanya Alda, Jack Magner, Diane Franklin

From: Several American and Mexican companies

Note that also yesterday I revisited the first movie in this LONG unofficial franchise. My opinion on it hasn't changed (it's still enjoyable).

The entire movie is like Rod Steiger's performance in the first Amityville Horror!

Until last night the only sequel I had seen (at least in full) was the dire Awakening from 2017, starring the Internet's current least-favorite woman, Bella Thorne. In college someone I know had on one of the movies from the 90's in their dorm room. I barely even recall it, let alone am able to identify which one it was. A few years ago I heard some things about The Possession, including that it has an incest angle. Thus, I knew this would be wildin' out... but I had no idea how over the top this would be.

Subtlety is thrown out the window early on as we see this thinly veiled version of the real life DeFeo family. The dad (Burt Young) is such a loud that he makes Paulie look like a saint in comparison... abusive, vulgar, openly against the church. The family argues with each other often and on the very first night, loud and fantastical events happen. The director was an Italian who did genre fare (Damiano Damiani, who just by his name was perfect to direct this picture) so of course it was unsubtle and sleazy, but I ended up laughing at how outrageous and implausible it got. This includes some gross effects, fire appearing out of nowhere a few times, an amazing vehicle used by the demon to communicate with Sonny-the movie's version of Ronald Jr.-and near-constant yelling.

It was more funny-unintentinally so-than scary, although it does have some chilling moments. Mainly, this was enjoyed due to the bravura filmmaking that was present, where everything but the kitchen sink was thrown at the screen. The big killing scene which mirrored the real life Ronald DeFeo Jr. murders does not even happen at the end. Rather, other things occur; there is indeed a possession so you don't even need two guesses to figure out which legendary horror film from almost a decade previous they were “heavily inspired” by. Hell, there is even a priest who has his struggles & disagreements with his fellow members of the cloth.

To think that the script is from Tommy Lee Wallace, a genre favorite best known for directing both the TV movie version of it and Halloween III: Season of the Witch. Lalo Schifrin returning with his score was an added bonus. If you love those wacky 80's Italian horror pictures, the gonzo energy this possesses will be right up your alley.