1982
Amityville II: The Possession
Dino De Laurentis Company/Media Transactions
Director: Damiano Damiani
Writers: Hans Holzer, Tommy Lee Wallace, Dardano Sacchetti
Starring: Jack Magner, Burt Young, James Olson, Diane Franklin
Quentin Tarantino once cited Amityville Horror II: The Possession as one of his top 50 sequels of all time (Video Watchdog #172). That surprised me, as up to that point I had only heard pretty negative things about it—this, despite the fact it’s obvious the film had some sort of an influence on the latest crop of “retro” horror flicks like V/H/S (for example, compare the creepy hands emanating out of the walls from both).
But one screening was all it took to convince me that Amityville Horror II possessed the sort of primal, deep disturbing quality of a Alice, Sweet Alice and Sleepaway Camp— a quality that sets it apart from its predecessor, and, at least in the mind of the “mondo video” consumer, makes it a (albeit somewhat flawed) cult classic.
Continue reading “Retro Review: It’s All In The Family With “Amityville II: The Possession””
