Movie Info
Movie Name: Amityville II: The Possession
Studio: Dino De Laurentiis Company
Genre(s): Horror/B-Movie
Release Date(s): September 24, 1982
MPAA Rating: R
I’ll do anything to get out of this movie…
Anthony Montelli (Burt Young) is moving his wife Dolores Montelli (Rutanya Alda) and his children into 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, New York. Immediately, things start going wrong and Sonny Montelli (Jack Magner) feels him possessed by the darkness of the home. When Sonny is taken by the spirits, his family will pay and only the local priest Father Adamsky (James Olson) can save him.
Directed by Damiano Damiani, Amityville II: The Possession is a prequel to 1979 horror hit The Amityville Horror and is a fictious telling of the murders of the DeFeo family in 1974 by Ronald “Butch” DeFeo based loosely on the 1979 book Murder in Amityville by Hans Holzer. The movie found legal trouble with the original Amityville Horror “stars” George and Kathy Lutz who forced filmmakers to disavow any of their association with the film. The movie was met with negative reviews but box office success. The film received a Razzie Award nomination for Worst Supporting Actress (Rutanya Alda).
The Amityville Horror was a scary film…partially because (real or not) it was anchored in reality. Amityville II: The Possession also tried to anchor itself in reality, but in changing up the story, ended up being a poor rip-off of The Exorcist.
Nope, nothing unusual about stripping for your brother
The film adapts the events that occurred before the Lutzs moved into the house in Amityville in 1975, but the film creates a fictional set-up. This really wasn’t necessary because the DeFeo murders were really horrible and are a strong enough subject themselves. If the filmmakers had just told the stories of the DeFeos, this would have been a nice lead-in to the first movie (though I’m sure legal issues were part of the reason things were changed). Instead, the story is a quick descent into madness followed by scenes copied poorly from The Exorcist.
The acting is also very inconsistent. If they were telling the DeFeo story and had all the conflict building to the murders, it would have made sense. Instead, the family moves into the house and immediately falls apart with the father (played by Burt Young) beating the kids every chance he gets, Sonny and his sister Patricia Montelli (Diane Franklin) sleeping together, and the mother occasionally standing up to her husband…no one is likable.
I have a splitting headache…and I have a demon inside me
The story could have been a graphic recreation of the events with the viewer drawing their own conclusions. The murders happen about halfway through the movie (wiping out the bad supporting characters) and the second half is a special effects film with the father fighting a possession. The effects are cheap and a demon bursts out of Sonny’s head for shock value…except it isn’t shocking. It is just stupid. Father Adamsky gets the demon out of Sonny but it doesn’t matter because there is no way he won’t go to jail.
Amityville II: The Possession is an awful movie and barely watchable. If the film was more stylish or better acted, it would at least have that going for it. I don’t know why the producers went the path they picked, but it is awful hard to make continuing stories about a haunted house…despite that Amityville II: The Possession was followed by Amityville 3-D in 1983.
Related Links:
The Amityville Horror: A True Story
