As a seasoned gamer with a soft spot for horror movies, I can confidently say that “Amityville II: The Possession” is a hidden gem that deserves more recognition than it gets. With a career spanning decades and countless hours spent navigating through virtual worlds filled with terrors unknown, I’ve seen my fair share of scary stuff. But this film stands out as one of the most unsettling experiences I’ve ever had, not just in the horror genre, but across all forms of entertainment.
The Amityville franchise stands out as one of the strangest in the horror genre, given the vast array of stories stemming from a supposedly true account of a haunted house located in New York. This tale of terror has produced numerous films ranging from serious adaptations to satirical imitations, with the term “Amityville” now commonly associated with peculiar sequels based on a single family’s experience.
However, some of these films are not merely oddities. In the wake of the triumph of “The Amityville Horror” movie, producers sought ways to prolong the story beyond the Lutz family’s departure from the house, and they fortunately had additional material to work with. The result was “Amityville II: The Possession,” released in 1982, a sequel that surpassed its predecessor in terms of brutality, terror, and unpredictability. This film remains one of the most remarkable horror sequels ever crafted.
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Why Amityville II: The Possession is such an effective horror sequel
Initially, let’s address the title confusion: Contrary to popular belief, Amityville II is actually a prequel rather than a direct sequel. It delves into the real-life DeFeo Family murders that are believed to have sparked the eerie occurrences in Amityville. The narrative suggests that Ronald DeFeo Jr., the perpetrator, was influenced by sinister forces to commit the heinous act of murdering his family while they slept. When it came time to create another Amityville horror film, the filmmakers chose to intensify this concept significantly.
The movie focuses on the Montellis, a fictional adaptation of the DeFeos, who move into the house prior to the Lutzes. Despite its grandeur, the family is far from harmonious. The patriarch, Anthony (Burt Young), exhibits violent behavior towards both his children and wife Dolores (Rutanya Alda). The household tension intensifies due to the house itself, as peculiar occurrences start happening within their home. At first, Anthony’s wrath is only aimed at his kids for damaging their new abode, but it soon becomes apparent that sinister powers are at play, endangering the entire family.
In this story, it’s Sonny (Jack Magner), the eldest son of the family, who becomes the focus of the title. He descends to the basement where he encounters the house’s dark secrets in an intensely personal manner. Over time, the oppressive, controlling, and fear-inducing figure within the family is no longer the head of the Montelli household, as Sonny struggles against and yet seems to embrace a profound metamorphosis.
The intense transformation experienced by Sonny, along with his extreme actions during this change, primarily contributes to the explicit, otherworldly fear portrayed in the film, and it proves remarkably chilling. Director Damiano Damiani skillfully reveals the sinister aspects of Sonny’s altered self, gives them tangible shape, and integrates these elements seamlessly with the real-life horror depicted in the story of a son destined to kill his father. In contrast to “The Amityville Horror,” where supernatural dread is omnipresent but mainly external, affecting those within the narrative as they react to it, in “The Possession,” one character embodies this terror, complete with grotesque physical manifestations of possession, making escape for any character virtually impossible.
The striking contrast between the chilling reality of family struggles and the eerie supernatural hauntings in “The Possession” stands out as particularly memorable. Among the Amityville series, none is as powerfully impactful, as unsettling to watch, or as grounded in relatable fears as this one. It’s the uncanny sense that someone we thought we knew intimately could be a monster, amplified to an extreme degree, that makes it a horror sequel worth experiencing by more viewers.
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2024-11-22 22:46