Forgotten Classics - AMITYVILLE 2: THE POSESSION (1982)

http://www.collativelearning.com/forgotten%20classics.html#amityville

At first glance this is a fairly straight forward clone of The Exorcist. But the film makers here aren’t just immitating a popular classic. Whereas the Exorcist used demonic possession to explore the nature of faith and the psychological horrors of sexual abuse, Amityville 2 uses the same plot device to explore the subject of family spree killers. The family of the story present as fairly normal, but are gradually revealed as dysfunctional - a violent father / husband, a strongly religious mother and teenage syblings who are on the verge of incest. Jack Magner gives a nice little performance as a seemingly decent kid who begins to hate his family, gradually alienates himself from the world and then decides to execute them ruthlessly with a hunting rifle – even the children. The direction from Damiano Damiani is very good – excellent use of lighting and some incredible camera work as the troubled teenager wanders the empty house trying to escape the invisible presence that has invaded his life. Perhaps if this hadn’t have been a sequel (which it didn’t really need to be because it’s a great standalone film) critics may have given it the praise it deserved.