DVD Review: Amityville II: The Possession (1982)

(aka Demonic Incest.)
Release Date: September 24th, 1982.
Country: USA.
Rating: R.
Written by: Tommy Lee Wallace.
Directed by: Damiano Damiani.
Starring:Jack Magner, Diane Franklin, Burt Young, and James Olson.

This sequel to the 1979 Haunted House classic apparently took some liberties with its story telling, and was only loosely tied to its predecessor. At least it featured the adorable Diane Franklin; that made it way more watchable for us. Kinda.

*This review is a re-do of one we did back in 2008. It needed an update.

Finally, the story of the Defeo family is told... wait, it's the Montelli family? Well, at least the house is the same... hold on, the exterior is the same, but the interior looks way different in places. Alright, well the murders happen the same way as described in the original, and that's... no, that's different too. Whats in the hell is going on here??? this is a prequel, right?

"YOU EXPECTED THIS MOVIE TO MAKE SENSE?"

Paulie from the Rocky movies, plays the un-lovable and abusive husband of the Montelli clan; smacking the wife and kids around and demanding discipline! In a fun little coincidence, his creepy-ass son, Sonny, ends up smacking the whole family around with a shotgun, and demands death! It's all a really nice, completely accurate portrait of the American family.

THE ALL-AMERICAN KID.

Sonny has a hot jailbait sister, played hotly by the 80's-hot Diane Franklin, who is really hot (despite her eyebrows needing a good trim.) Speaking of trim, a now-possessed Sonny decides that he needs some trim, and so he sets about seducing his doting sister. Depending on which side of the Mason-Dixon Line you're on, this is either really nasty or super hot. I live in Georgia, so... Yeehaw!

I COULD EAT A PEACH APPLE FOR DAYS.

Later, Father Karras shows up, fresh off of his Exorcism in Georgetown gig, and the Direct-to-Video sequel to The Exorcist begins in earnest. No pea soup though. I won't ruin the ending for you here, but suffice it to say that by the end of the movie, we had kicked our TV screen. Twice.

YEAH, THAT'LL HELP.

All of its issues aside, Amityville II offers up some genuine moments of creepiness throughout. I personally remember this movie absolutely scaring the hell out of me when I was a kid, but it doesn't quite play that way anymore. It definitely still has its moments though.

80's QT supreme, Diane Franklin, is as much as we loved her in classic movies like The Last American Virgin and Better off Dead, we really wish that she had done more high profile movies after them. Temptress.

TEMPTRESS INDEED.

Though the movie is supposed to be set in 1974, it looks like Walkmans were invented early, and 80's cars already existed, because there they are, right on-screen. It's also obvious that the inside of the house was different in places, which irks us, because this movie is supposed to take place a year before the first one, and yet the house isn't the same.

Worst of all, it's a bit disconcerting how the movie seems to shamelessly rip-off The Exorcist too; not only because both movies have a showdown between a caring Priest and a possessed "child," but because they even did the old "Come into  me, and leave the kid alone!" bit. Sure, they did it all differently, but it absolutely smacked of the whole Father Karras/Regan MacNeil bit.

INCEST. NOT EVEN ONCE.

Brother/Sister sex. Does it get much creepier than that?

WE WATCHED THIS ENTIRE SCENE IN MORAL PROTEST. SIX TIMES.

This movie has far more disturbing images in it than it does any sort of blood and gore, but there's a little bit of that spread throughout.

LOOK, THERE'S SOME BLOOD.

There's one scene that shows Diane Franklin briefly naked, but most of it was done tastefully and teasingly. Now, the incestuous relationship between brother and sister... there was nothing subtle about that at all.

OH, THINGS GET NAKED ALRIGHT... NAKED AND CREEPY.

If you're going to make a sequel/prequel to a great movie, try not to crap all over its memory in the process.

THIS PICTURE SUMS UP THE WAY THAT WE FEEL ABOUT THIS MOVIE.

Amityville II: The Possession has some redeeming qualities, but overall, this movie is a mess: it's only loosely tied to the first movie; it makes use some obviously out of place items for its supposed time period; the ending devolves into some sort of an Exorcist ripoff, and it just isn't as scary as the first one was. It has its moments, but most of it is underwhelming.

C-

Amityville II: The Possession is available now on Blu-ray, DVD, and VOD.

If you were a kid in the 80's, then you know that Diane Franklin was all over the place for a brief while, and then she just kind of fade away. She'll always be one of our favorite crushes though.