the audience applauded

Purely Joyful Movie!

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Saw this in the mid 80s on a VHS. Revisited it recently on a DVD. This is creepy n better than the original. It is also disturbing n repulsive. There are some occasionally scary moments, decent make-up FX, chilling atmosphere n it also has Lalo Schifrins marvelous score once again. We also have some demonic possession n exorcism which weren't there in the original. Pure Exorcist rip off style. The film has moments of tension but it does get a lil boring coz of its length. The movie has some great moving overhead camera shots by Franco Di Giacomo. Decent cinematography there. I was put off by the incest scene. Burt Youngs character is one of the best thing about this movie. He is a typical abusive patriarch n the guy owns the role.This movie being a prequel to the original, it contradicts the opening of the original film in two scenes. In the original, the murder happens while all of em r sleeping but in this one they r awake n they try to run. In the original, the bodies r removed in the night but in this one they r taken out in the morning.

This movie is ably acted and the scenery is iconic, yet still this movie can't help but fall on its face. A precursor to the original Amityville Horror, Amityville II takes the franchise in a new direction by telling an evil house story rather than a haunted one. It tells of the Montelli family and the ensuing possession of their eldest son resulting in their murder. Then there is an hour left to fill before the credits roll.This is the ultimate sin of Amityville II, they start to hot then don't have anything to fill time. It takes five minutes to see the first sign the house is evil. Without any build up, the water turns to blood and the mother is being stalked by the specter. From there on, the movie just floors the gas pedal. It could be understandable since this is a prequel, but it doesn't really give you much time to process what is going on. Had they taken the time to slow down and built to just what the evil was, it would have done the rest of the plot a better service.Then the family is killed and the break neck pace runs headlong into a wall. The priest who had tried to help them earlier has to try to help the surviving son now about to be tried by sequestering an exorcism. No longer is the movie an evil house story and has changed gears into a possession movie. Only, its all the stuff that's not that interesting about a possession. It delves into the politics of the Catholic church and slows the movie to a crawl in doing it. Why this couldn't have started earlier when there was more going on I can't for the life of me figure out.The conclusion is ripped right out of the Exorcist almost verbatim. After the priest failed to get the possessed boy into a church, I don't know why he thought it would be a good idea to walk him through the front doors unbound,h confronts him at the Amityville house and tries to exorcise him there. The effects are pretty good, bleeding walls and the boy's head splitting open to revel his demon face, looks like a CHUD, are done well. But the demon proves too strong and so the priest takes the demon unto himself. It took him roughly six minutes to come to this conclusion however, the exorcism is too short and kind of undermines the seriousness of the ordeal.

If you didn't have nightmares after watching this movie you weren't paying attention. The possession of Sonny is absolutely terrifying. The use of the camera changing the perspective from that of the entity to that of the observer is a great terror inducing technique. Not to analyze the accuracy of the various phenomena depicted in the movie, such as the extreme poltergeist activity coupled with the cold spots, voices, and covering the crucifix with a tablecloth before our very eyes, just the sheer evil portrayed makes up for any "goofs." Side note: Book "Talking with Serial Killers" by Christopher Berry-Dee covers this true event starting on page 160. The interview with Ronald Joseph 'Butch' Defeo, Jr. on September 23rd, 1994 in Greenhaven prison includes the backstory of Amityville, the family, and the events leading up to the November 14, 1974 murders.

This is loosely based on the 1979 book "Murder In Amityville" by Hans Holzer, and centers on the Ronald Defeo Jr. Murders that took place on 112 Ocean Ave, Amityville New York in 1974 in which Defeo allegedly shot is entire family and pleaded everything from insanity to demonic possession. Defeo was found guilty and sent to prison, but the events that unfolded that November inspired the entire saga behind what is now known as "The Amityville Horror". Technically this film is the prequel to the subsequent occupation of the house by George and Kathy Lutz depicted in the first film, and comes off quite disturbing until its uneven climax.Its a perfect example of how Hollywood exploits and the how the media can take a factually tragic event in history and completely blow it out of proportion in order to entertain and amuse the masses. The facts behind the Defeo Murders and Lutz family's claims have been a controversial subject for over 30 years now, and the mystery behind the films and books continue to entice haunted house fans and skeptics alike. Nevertheless, this movie utilizes many of the same demonic, anti-Christian symbolism and clichés that can be seen in "The Exorcist", and some of them are quite effective. Point of view, swooping camera shots, creepy music and voices, bleeding cellar walls, and unsettling atmosphere are just to name a few as evil forces wreck havoc on an already unstable family of six fathered by closed-minded brute, Burt Young. Although the film falls painfully flat on its face after the actual murders take place, and becomes an awkward and overzealous attempt at making another "Exorcist" ripoff with the battle between a misunderstood priest, James Olson and the demonic entity. The final climax is convoluted and distorted, but the disturbing events leading up to it are definitely worth checking out. Followed by "Amityville 3D", When will Hollywood give up?