1982 Mexican-American supernatural horror film directed by Damiano Damiani
Amityville II: The Possession is a 1982 supernatural horror film directed by🔑 Damiano Damiani and starring James Olson, Burt Young, Rutanya Alda, Jack Magner, and Diane Franklin. The screenplay by Tommy Lee🔑 Wallace is based on the novel Murder in Amityville by the parapsychologist Hans Holzer. It is the second film in🔑 the Amityville Horror film series and a loose prequel to The Amityville Horror (1979), set at 112 Ocean Avenue and🔑 featuring the fictional Montelli family, loosely based on the DeFeo family. It follows the Montelli family's decline under apparent demonic🔑 forces present in their home.
A co-production between the United States and Mexico, principal photography took place at the same Toms🔑 River, New Jersey residence featured in the first film, while interiors were shot exclusively on soundstages at Estudios Churubusco in🔑 Mexico City. After test screenings were completed, Damiani's original cut of the film was slightly truncated to tone down its🔑 overt incestuous sexuality and a rape sequence, which audiences responded to unfavorably.
Released by Orion Pictures in the fall of 1982,🔑 Amityville II: The Possession received mixed reviews from critics, though some, such as Roger Ebert, felt it was superior to🔑 its predecessor, an opinion that has been echoed by contemporary reviewers.[4]
Plot [ edit ]
The Montellis, an Italian American family headed🔑 by Anthony Montelli and his wife, Dolores, move into 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, New York, with their children, Sonny,🔑 Patricia, Mark, and Jan.
An evil presence is shown to be lurking within the house, unknown to the family. Unusual and🔑 paranormal activities occur, such as unknown forces banging on the door at night when nobody is outside and an ugly🔑 demonic message being painted on the wall of Jan's room. For the latter, Anthony blames and beats his children, Jan🔑 and Mark, then beats Dolores for intervening, resulting in a fight between the entire family. Concerned by these developments, Dolores🔑 tries to have the local Catholic priest, Father Frank Adamsky, bless the house, but an argument breaks out within the🔑 family shortly after another demonic incident causes significant damage to the kitchen. Anthony blames the younger children again and hits🔑 Jan as Adamsky tries to intervene, but Anthony rudely orders him to leave. To Dolores' mortification, Adamsky leaves, disgusted at🔑 Anthony's behavior. He finds his car door open and the Bible on the passenger seat torn to pieces. The situation🔑 inside the home continues to deteriorate; Anthony is shown to be strict, abusive, sacrilegious towards the Catholic faith, violent towards🔑 his family, and forcing his wife to have sex with him against her will. Dolores tries to keep things together🔑 for the youngest children.
The family goes to church with Anthony, so he can apologize for being rude to Adamsky, although🔑 Anthony only agrees to do it after Dolores threatens to divorce him. Sonny stays at home, claiming to feel unwell.🔑 He soon hears an alarming noise and goes downstairs to get his father's gun. He hears demonic laughter and follows🔑 it to a tunnel in the basement. The unseen presence pursues a frightened Sonny to his room, and he then🔑 falls victim to demonic possession. Now possessed, Sonny approaches Patricia to play a game with him. They pretend he is🔑 a famous photographer and she is his nude model. Patricia agrees to pose naked, and the pair end up having🔑 incestuous sex. Patricia is then seen at confession, partially confessing to the act and telling the priest that he does🔑 it to "hurt God" but not revealing that it was her brother she slept with.
Sonny becomes more sinister and demonic,🔑 as his face starts contorting demonically. Startled, he tries to keep his family away but is unsuccessful due to the🔑 demon's influence. On Sonny's birthday, he isolates himself from his birthday party, but Patricia goes to check on him. She🔑 tells him she does not feel guilty about what they have been doing, but due to his demonic phases and🔑 his body's gradual demonic contortions, Sonny sends her away, using foul language. Patricia runs away crying, and she tries to🔑 tell Adamsky that she thinks Sonny is possessed, but he does not respond. Later that night, the evil spirit tells🔑 Sonny to "kill them all." Sonny goes and gets his father's rifle and kills his parents, Jan, Mark, and finally🔑 Patricia, after hunting her down.
The next day the police arrive, pick up the bodies, and Sonny is arrested. Sonny tells🔑 Adamsky at the scene that he does not recall killing his family. Adamsky then realizes that Sonny is possessed and🔑 asks the bishops if he can perform an exorcism on him, but they refuse, not believing him. He then decides🔑 to perform an exorcism without the support of the Catholic Church. After freeing him from police custody, Adamsky takes Sonny🔑 to church. Sonny attacks him and escapes after seeing the crosses on the doors. Adamsky runs after Sonny, traces him🔑 to the house, and performs the exorcism, releasing Sonny's soul. As the police arrive, Adamsky asks Father Tom to take🔑 Sonny away from him. Tom takes Sonny outside, where the police arrest him and take him back into custody. It🔑 is revealed that the demon has transferred itself into Adamsky. Father Adamsky's fate and his whereabouts are left unknown, and🔑 eventually, the house is put up for sale.
Cast [ edit ]
Production [ edit ]
Development [ edit ]
The film was an🔑 international co-production film between The United States and Mexico. George Lutz wanted the sequel to the 1979 film to be🔑 based on the book The Amityville Horror Part II by John G. Jones, but the producer Dino De Laurentiis secured🔑 a deal with American International Pictures for a sequel based on Murder in Amityville by Hans Holzer. Lutz sued De🔑 Laurentiis and ultimately lost, but succeeded in having posters placed in theaters stating "This film has no affiliation with George🔑 and Kathy Lutz."[5] The film was later acquired by Filmways, which in turn was acquired by Orion Pictures shortly before🔑 release.[2]
Filming [ edit ]
Production was originally set to begin in September 1981 with a screenplay by David Ambrose and under🔑 the direction of John Hough. However, production was pushed back and they were both replaced. Principal photography began March 8,🔑 1982 at the same residence in Toms River, New Jersey that the previous film used.[2] After two weeks on location🔑 in New Jersey, studio shooting was completed in Mexico City for eight or nine weeks at Estudios Churubusco Azteca S.A.[2]🔑 The production's decision to shoot interiors in Mexico was largely due to economic reasons.
After director Damiano Damiani's original cut of🔑 the film was shown to test audiences, several scenes had to be cut out for various reasons, one of them🔑 being the negative reaction of the audience to a scene in which Anthony anally rapes Dolores and another scene in🔑 which Sonny and Patricia have incestuous sex. This scene was added into the script by Damiani who wanted to really🔑 upset the viewers. The original scene was much more graphic and sexual, while in the movie it cuts to the🔑 next scene almost immediately after Sonny starts kissing Patricia. Some other deleted scenes were shown on lobby cards and stills🔑 for the movie, such as a scene in which Anthony is sitting outside the house drinking and cleaning a gun🔑 and a scene where Jan is pushing Mark's head under the water while he is in the bathtub. The theatrical🔑 trailer also shows a shot of Jan and Mark looking at the window and holding hands. The only deleted scene🔑 which was ever released in some form is the so-called "Lost Souls" scene, originally from near the end of the🔑 movie, in which souls that are within the house appear in front of Adamsky and he blesses them. No actual🔑 footage was released but a UK special collector's edition DVD includes several stills from this deleted scene.[7][8]
Release [ edit ]
Box🔑 office [ edit ]
Amityville II: The Possession was distributed theatrically in the United States by Orion Pictures on September 24,🔑 1982. It earnedR$4,104,277 during its opening weekend,[9] and grossed a total ofR$12,534,817 over the course of its initial theatrical run.
Critical🔑 response [ edit ]
The film received marginally favorable reviews at the time of its release. As of May 2024 ,🔑 internet review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 24%, based on 21 reviews, with an🔑 average rating of 4.2/10.[10]
Dann Gire of the Chicago Daily Herald thought the film used excessive effects, and found the storyline🔑 not as interesting as what it could have been.[11] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times, who gave the first film🔑 a negative review, claimed the film "is actually slightly better than The Amityville Horror" and mentioned some good technical credits🔑 and performances and gave the film 2 out of 4 stars.[12] Both he and Gene Siskel selected the film as🔑 one of the worst of the year in a 1982 episode of Sneak Previews.[13] Variety complained that there are "actually🔑 two films meandering in this mess — one a second rate horror flick about a family in peril, and another🔑 that is a slight variation on the demon-possessed Exorcist theme."[14] Likewise, Boxoffice called this attempt to cash-in on the success🔑 of The Amityville Horror an "embarrassment."[15]
Richard F. Shepard of The New York Times noted that there is "some reasonably competent🔑 acting here, but it has a supporting role next to the stars, which are the camera and the special effects🔑 department. The director, Damiano Damiani, conjures up the malevolent spirit of the house in shots that show the camera creeping🔑 up on people and in scenes of things crashing about in the house."[16] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times🔑 gave the film a marginally favorable review, writing that it "stands quite sturdily on its own... Rather than seeming derivative,🔑 Amityville II: The Possession seems to incorporate motifs from everything from The Exorcist to Poltergeist in an original and unexpectedly🔑 spiritual way. Damiano Damiani has exceeded in his bravura."[17]
Accolades [ edit ]
Rutanya Alda was nominated for a Razzie as Worst🔑 Supporting Actress for this film, her second consecutive after the previous years' nod for Mommie Dearest in the same category.
Contemporary🔑 opinion [ edit ]
Writing for Bloody Disgusting, Meagan Navarro argued in a 2024 editorial that Amityville II: The Possession is🔑 a superior film to its 1979 predecessor, featuring better pacing and special effects,[4] a sentiment similarly stated by Roger Ebert🔑 at the time of the film's original release.[12]
Home media [ edit ]
MGM Home Entertainment released Amityville II: The Possession on🔑 DVD on April 5, 2005.[18]
Scream Factory released the film on Blu-ray in 2013, as part of The Amityville Trilogy set,🔑 which also included The Amityville Horror (1979) and Amityville 3-D (1983).[19]
Related works [ edit ]
A follow-up film titled Amityville 3-D🔑 (1983) was released the following year, loosely based on the accounts of paranormal investigator Stephen Kaplan, who was trying to🔑 prove the Lutz family's story was a hoax. The film has little to no connection to this film, or even🔑 the first film, as it doesn't reference the Montelli family at all, and instead makes reference to the actual DeFeo🔑 family.
References [ edit ]
Sources [ edit ]
Curti, Roberto (2024). Italian Gothic Horror Films, 1980-1989. McFarland. ISBN 978-1476672434 .
Further reading [🔑 edit ]
