Amityville II: The Possession

In my last post, I wrote about The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, which, in my opinion, was a superior horror sequel. Staying on that train of thought, today I'm writing about another horror sequel that is better than the original, 1982's Amityville II: The Possession.

This time around, the filmmakers decided to make this a prequel and focus on the events that happened in the haunted house before. The Montelli family, loosely based on the real life Defeo family, has just moved into the home and, as always, strange things begin to happen. This already dysfunctional family makes for an easy target for the devil who possesses their eldest son Sonny, Jack Magner. He becomes defiant to his abusive dad, Burt Young, and starts an incestuous relationship with his sister, Diane Franklin before murdering the entire family. It's up to the family priest, James Olson, to hold an exorcism and try to rid Sonny of the evil that has taken him over.

This is my favorite of the series because it is just so bonkers. The filmmakers throw in every wild idea they have, and it oddly enough works. Even as crazy as it is there were scenes that had to be cut just get an R rating, including a scene where Sonny rapes his mother. Director Damiano Damiani set out to make a very unsettling movie, and he succeeds. I will say the first half of the movie works better than the second half, which kind of turns into a standard exorcism flick. The cast, especially Young and Franklin, are effective.

Amityville II: The Posession is one wild and creepy ride, and the best of the franchise.

It's available on dvd and blu ray.