It is not known what actually happened in the house, located in the American town of Amityville, starting with the actual massacre, the blame for which was blamed on a mentally unstable family member. But there is no doubt that the story, which is already full of inconsistencies, gained a truly mythical status after the release of the film “The Amityville Horror” on the big screens, dedicated to the misadventures of the Lutz family, allegedly colliding in the walls of the infamous dwelling with a certain supernatural evil that forced the unsuccessful owners to move out in a hurry ... and equally hastily share with the public (it seems) the nightmare with the help of the book by writer Jay Anson, which became a bestseller.
The appearance of the film adaptation was not delayed, since the theme itself assumed wide interest by falling on the sensations of the public, and forging iron, as you know, follows when it is hot. Stuart Rosenberg’s film confirmed the discovery of a new goldmine, and although it was not too warmly received by critics, the halls filled with hurrah, thereby bringing excellent box office. Naturally, only a lazy businessman does not think about continuing the banquet, and an experienced producer Dino De Laurentiis was not going to be lazy.
However, to begin with, it was necessary to decide in which direction the story of the sinister building would move, choosing from two options. The first of them was defended by the restless Lats, who pulled the blanket over themselves with stories about the continuing attacks of paranormal phenomena after leaving, embodied in the next book with the straightforward title “The Amityville Horror Part II”. Apparently, De Laurentis was not tempted by the need to coordinate each step with the enterprising family, and the parties went to court, which allowed them to creatively address the mysterious bike without the permission of the Latsev.
Instead of the family-mystical drama, a prequel appeared, which seemed the right move, capable of qualitatively complementing the first film, the success of which was largely due to the atmosphere of an indefinable and insurmountable threat, which does not open to the end, preserving the intrigue. Based on the true story of the massacre in which almost the entire DeFeo family perished, a number of significant aspects could be touched upon, including difficult personal relationships, versions of what happened, as well as attempts to find its root cause.
In principle, released in 1982 Amityville 2: Obsession tried to use these lures, but did so in such a way that questions to its content arise no less than to the nuances of the event itself. Probably the most serious mistake made by De Laurentiis was the invitation to the role of director of an experienced compatriot. The master of demonstrations of near-mafia showdowns before almost did not address either horrors or mysticism, with the exception of the painting “The Witch”, published in the distant 1966 – as far as the creator was far from other issues, except for the criminal-household mutual responsibility that occupied him. In addition, Damiani constantly worked at home and in fact did not speak English, which immediately put between him and the film crew a conditional barrier in the form of an interpreter.
Where the harsh legend required a very specific narrative about the family’s Italian-American roots only formally (this is not emphasized in the film), the involvement of an “outsider” could portend significant difficulties, the magnitude of which depended on how far Damiani would move away from Rosenberg in his own interpretation of the plot collisions based on the next book. Of course, it was difficult to expect any movements from the existing pros in favor of other views, but everything went according to the worst scenario.
What came out of the director, each frame signals that he is not in his place, and introduced in the history of foreign elements destroy the necessary integrity of the film. In every sense, playing out of his own field, Damiani turns “American horror story” into the most Italian, and does it on the simplest, primitive level, like battered camera raids on heroes, which quickly begins to amuse, not frighten. There are also undeveloped characters characteristic of cheap horror films, logical holes (for example, a scene with a basement passage discovered, which is immediately forgotten), or nothing giving episodes, like the head of the family’s unsmoked cigar, which for some reason focuses on. If this was an attempt to nod at the founding father of psychoanalysis, then without clarity, the cigar is just a cigar.
But there is a place for protocol special effects (flying rags, flashing lights and wild hari, where you haven't seen all this?), giving all the same anarchic Italian sweet scenes of incest, in the general entourage looking extremely unnatural, and completely imitative appeals to the theme of exorcism, long ago tormented on the Apennines after the appearance of the famous ' The Exorcist'. Is it the director’s fault?
In part, yes, because he took on an unusual job. But the main reason, perhaps, is not in this, but in those who hired him. And just as importantly, he disfigured the original director’s version of the film with numerous cut scenes that make its heterogeneity all the more glaring. Family problems that existed between the household members, and especially associated with the confrontation of the oppressive and tough head of the family with the future “culprit of the celebration”, can not gradually be aggravated by the influence of the house and the forces inhabiting it, which makes the phrase of the mother, commenting on one of the sharp clashes: “What is happening to us?”, loses all meaning.
Removal of other scenes, including the "Vie"-like phenomenon of some "Lost Souls" and completely deprives the action of originality, and turns it into a second-class horror of Italian poshva, and the ending literally screams about the ultimate goal of all that is happening. Yes, it is quite possible, if all the ideas of Damiani were preserved, we would see something completely grotesque, but it could be a grotesque in the style of the best paintings of Argento and Fulci. By the way, inviting Damiani instead of the first of them could lead to excellent results, but...
. . But it turned out as it turned out, and instead of a bright story balancing between fiction and real facts, deeply imbued with the crisis that had matured in the DeFeo family (in the Montelly film), a stripped-down project was released, shot by an unsuccessfully selected director, and clearly implied a trial run of an endless series about invincible evil, each time departing further from the initial installations and rolling down a slope, attracting the attention of only the fan class.
Unfortunately, in the case of Amityville, the fall occurred immediately on the second run in the form of a prequel. The views of critics and viewers coincided, which means that angry reviews multiplied by a much smaller box office in comparison with the classic “The Amityville Horror”. It is also important when it comes to substituting art for exploitation.
There is a small town in New York called Amityville (or more commonly Amityville). Once upon a time, even gangster Al Capone had a mansion there. But it is not this fact that the town is known to the whole world, but the fact that in November 1974, Ronald DeFeo Jr. committed a terrible crime, which I do not want to describe, who is interested - he himself can read about it, since much is written about DeFeo's act. A little more than a year later, the house where the young man committed his brutal mass murder was bought by the family of George and Katie Lutz, as they were bribed by the cheap price of the mansion. But they did not stay there for a month, packing up their belongings and leaving. Since then, the 112 Ocean Avenue home has been in disrepute, as the Latzes said they felt the presence of an evil paranormal force that was pushing George into madness, and the Latzes feared the fate of the DeFeo family. Such a mysterious and frightening story could not help but attract the journalistic brethren and soon a book by Jay Anson, titled ' The Amityville Horror' (a more famous variant of the title 'Emityville Nightmares') was released.
And it was this book that formed the basis of the film adaptation of the same name, which was released in 1979 and marked the beginning of a whole horror series, telling about terrible otherworldly phenomena, one way or another associated with DeFeo’s house in Amityville. But it must be said that shortly after the publication of Anson’s book, some researchers questioned the claims of the Latzevs, deciding that they had figured out how to play on the sad glory at home, earning money by publishing their story. It even got to the point that George Lutz literally demanded that the second part of "The Amityville Horror" & #39; was released according to the book by John Jones, but the famous producer Dino De Laurentiis refused Lutz and he sued him, but lost, and in the credits it was stated that this film has nothing to do with George and Katie Lutz. And this time the literary basis was the book by Hans Holzer. And it should also be noted that the film, titled 'Amityville 2: Obsession' and released in 1982, is rather a prequel to 'The Amityville Horror' indirectly telling the story of the life of the Montelly family in anticipation of the horrific events that were clearly associated with the evil spirit of the house on 112 Ocean Avenue.
It all begins with the fact that the large Montelly family, led by the powerful and cruel Anthony (Burt Young), move to this most ill-fated house. At first, everything goes as usual, but the mother of the Delores family (Rutan Olda) begins to notice strange and frightening phenomena: an unpleasant liquid of dirty red color begins to ooze in front of her eyes instead of water from the tap, then she hears someone slamming the doors, some terrible sounds are made from remote rooms and the basement. In general, everything that has become familiar to us for screeners from the films of the subgenre ' house with ghosts' is happening. It can not be said that at the time of the premiere ' Amityville 2: Obsession' it was something new, such techniques were already involved in horror, but in this film they were well placed quite famous at the time Italian director Damiano Damiani. And this made it possible to make a picture with a saturated atmosphere, where suspense gradually accumulated, accumulated, accumulated, and in the final resulted... I'm not going to tell you what, but I'll admit the ending 'Amityville 2: Obsession & #39; has even today the ability to frighten the viewer. Mostly due to makeup, it is so creepy.
But if the atmosphere of general tension, screamers, makeup were presented to the audience from a good side as for a horror film, then the plot and acting were not impressed. The history of the Montelly family, as already mentioned, only indirectly refers to the history of the DeFeo family, although some points are striking. Let’s not talk about who will become possessed by a demon and embark on the path of a terrible crime, but it is worth mentioning that the image of Anthony by actor Burt Young (yes, the one who will become known thanks to the franchise about boxer Rocky Balboa) was taken from the real figure of DeFeo senior: the same cruel, having a habit of assault. And if in ' Rocky' Young's hero, although he was a sarcastic and expressive drinker, in 'Amitivill 2: Obsession' - this is a completely different person who clearly crosses the line in relation to the household. And because of this ' nice' Young's game can not be called, as well as the game of Rutani Olda, which even got nominated for the anti-award ' Golden Raspberry'. Jack Magner played an inconclusive role, and he had the most important character in the film. A little stronger looked the main protagonist in the performance of James Olson, but he was not impressed. And the only one who should still be singled out is the young actress Diane Franklin, who played the younger sister of the hero Magner.
And if you make a brief verdict, as for the second film from the horror franchise, then 'Amitivill 2: Obsession & #39; not so bad, at least he looks with some interest, which was obtained clearly with the help of competent and experienced chief director Damiano Damiani. But now this film is unlikely to impress anyone’s imagination, but there are numerous fans of such franchises as ' Halloween', ' Friday the 13th', 'Children of Corn' and ' Nightmare on Elm Street' which means that the Amityville epic has them.
6 out of 10
P.S. Interestingly, in 2018, Burt Young and Diane Franklin together played in the film 'The Amityville Murders' which was based directly on the history of the DeFeo family, but at the same time in the list of films related to the franchise ' Amityville Horror' was not included.
They'll know you're innocent.
We will explain everything to them.
(roughly 100th minute of the film)
Amityville 2: Obsession
Aha ha, forgive me in advance, but I couldn’t stop laughing. What are you explaining? Wish they uttered such crazy nonsense, the impression of viewing clearly spoiled a little. This is the sequel to one of the most profitable horror films of the 20th century.
I'll tell you right away that I'll put a sequel to a six, just like the original, but that doesn't mean anything at all. The pictures are completely different, although there is an opinion that the sequel is even better than the original. Debatable, guys. The first part was sustained on one wave. The second part is porridge, where a large number of ingredients were thrown.
Here you have Burt Young, who is going crazy (thus causing a smile, as he is a very funny guy). Here you have the Evil Dead. There's "The Exorcist" for you. Here you have the Poltergeist with flying saucers. And the movie turned out insanely vulgar, incest in full swing (like the 80s, e-my).
The film has a very strong middle ground. Hard, bloody and harsh. I said it was a sequel, but if you think about it a little bit, Amityville 2 is a real prequel. The film takes place before the events of the original. By the way, this is one of the main disadvantages of the picture.
We already know how it will end because we have seen the original. Well, I don't think there are comrades who first include the second and then the first. Of the actors (besides Young) noticed Diana Franklin, a pretty baby.
The film was shot by Italian Damiano Damiani, a real Stakhanovets (more than 30 paintings in the piggy bank), known for the series “Socprut”. Carpenter’s friend and creator of the old It was responsible for the script. The prequel paid off, but before the collection of the original (of course) did not last as Tommy Wiseau to the Oscar for his “Room”.
To watch or not? Yeah, hand on heart. The last Amityville, which is worth watching, but since the third film, the franchise began to deteriorate. Still degraded, the movie from Frank Halfon confirms my words.
P.S.
Did I see a mutation in the best traditions of Toxic?
6 out of 10
About a month ago, I wrote about the fact that the original movie "The Amityville Horror" in 1979 very unsuccessfully starts the franchise - I was completely unclear why such a film has so many sequels, even if they are released on video. That film could boast of almost nothing - it stretched and stretched, for two hours trying to dress up either as a horror, drama, or mystical thriller. However, the public rewarded such a work with money, thanks to which the second part was born. Let’s look at the differences.
So, before us is the mystical horror Damiano Damiani Amitivill-2: Obsession. The film was staged by an experienced director who has been in the field of cinema for decades, that is, in fact, he had to take into account the mistakes of the first part and release a real cool movie with ghosts and bloody water. Although the first part was shot not by the debutant, however, critics reacted to the picture to a greater extent negatively.
The second series of this opera is a prequel. We see another family - a father and mother, as well as their four children. No sooner did they enter the house, as immediately begins to occur mystical brawl: from the tap is bleeding, and the tassels themselves begin to fly and draw on the walls all sorts of nasty things! But the film begins to take a different course: it infects the eldest son of this family with an obsession, and now he begins to hear voices telling him to kill his relatives. This is the case with the priest.
In principle, the plot of the film is extremely simple. Based on the title, it is logical to assume that in addition to flying things in the house, exorcism is still woven into the film. And yes, it turns out to be true because the kid is really obsessed. Also in the program: non-stop voices, self-opening windows and doors, small earthquakes, as well as inverted crosses. A typical set, in short.
The most important difference between this film and the past is that there is no such fierce thrust, which the authors brazenly passed off as an injection of the atmosphere. There is a real difference in time, but only 15 minutes. Yes, this movie still feels like three hours, not 104 minutes, but it’s a big step forward. The film is leisurely, the atmosphere it pumps very slowly, more even psychologically, as we are very much shown the relationship within the family and how they change in this house.
Of the minuses, I want to note some logical holes in the narrative - the priest herself closes the door, he does not pay any attention to this. When he tells the police that the main character is possessed, they take his word for it. It’s hard to believe, and I don’t understand why such moments are needed in the script.
The most basic: the film is atmospheric; slightly less viscous than the first part; again a mixture of psychological drama and horror, but this time more successful. Let’s make another discount that the film of 1982 release and get a good middling film for once.
Thank you for listening.
I think it is this film that most accurately characterizes Damiano Damiani. A person pragmatic or overly ambitious probably would not take up a film, in many ways utilitarian. Moreover, previously, except for the avant-garde film about the witch, he did not shoot anything mystical. He did not make any films intended for the American audience. Here it was necessary to have some vital enthusiasm, spark, love of art and faith in yourself. But maybe it was different. Maybe the Italian master of anti-corruption films was offered an offer he could not refuse.
In any case, nothing particularly bright was expected. Stuart Rosenberg’s first film was just a variation on the theme of the fashionable The Exorcist. Two or three dozen films of different quality were shot on different budgets each year. Suggesting something new was incredibly difficult. And Damiani, amazingly, could.
It's not about the script. There are no secrets - the family enters the house, demons and a priest. Expulsion of the unclean as the centrifugal force of the whole design. There's nothing more to say. However, Damiani filled the pauses with tense silence. Carefully treated the production of scenes, thereby skillfully leveling mediocre scenery. And the most important attention was paid to the editing, due to which, this complex film was interesting to watch.
The audience had no time for boredom. The rapidly developing sequence of events and the accurate play of not too famous actors fascinated. This serious attitude led to the fact that the tape turned out really scary. Definitely, the tapes of this kind Damiani worked. Replacing in his work the corrupt “octopus” on infernal abomination, the master received an unexpected result. But, would star in the film Max von Syudov and Franco Nero, and in general, before the masterpiece would be very close.
Therefore, it is even a pity when Damiani is referred exclusively to as the author of films about the mafia or as a “multi-machiner”. It is worth looking at this film, which in all respects should have become a private, but did not. Each winning element here is the merit of the director-director.
This film - a prequel to the original film in 1979 - tells about the events that occurred before the original part, showing us the very first nightmare that occurred in the huge house of Amityville. A large family, who were not lucky enough to move into an ill-fated house, immediately witness nightmare events. It all begins with family conflicts and ends with a night of nightmares when the spirit-obsessed eldest son Sonny decides to deal with his own family. The priest is trying to prevent all this, who does not know that he will face an even worse evil.
In fact, I was surprised that the second part (aka prequel) turned out even better than the first. If the first events unfolded at a slow but diligent pace, then the main action takes place right in the middle of the picture, serving as a kind of transition from one part of the film to another. The first part is the standard "Amityville" with its own techniques of fear and pressure of the atmosphere (strangely enough, but the flying camera and levitating objects turned out very frightening) due to the supernatural events and heroes that are happening, which, under the influence of horror, change for the worse (which is worth the psychotic head of the family).
The second part is a kind of version of “The Exorcist”, moreover mixed with the Amityville atmosphere and with a similar in some sense ending. Here the events are not as depressing as before, but it is quite interesting to watch, especially excellent was the final run of the priest through the spirit-obsessed house. Here responsible for special effects worked for glory.
Despite the clear separation between the two parts, the film is quite interesting to watch, and if you get into it all, the time will pass unnoticed (the same thing works with the first part, but it does not happen so slowly). I especially want to note the tense compositions, which with skillful practicality merge with the creepy atmosphere of the film, and a rather entertaining acting.
I’m not going to make a mistake saying that Amityville 2: Obsession is the best picture in the franchise. Damiani managed to properly recreate the atmosphere of the first part in the picture, while quite complementing it with interesting innovations and skillfully mixing it with the theme of exorcism. In fact, this picture tends to leave behind a strange impression, and she coped with it on Hurrah. Looking at all this, you realize that there will be no other worthy parts in the series.
9 out of 10
As you know, the mysterious events that occurred in Amityville, gave rise not only to the book of Jay Anson (Jay Anson), and the whole series, so this time before us another adaptation, but another literary work written by Hans Holzer (Hans Holzer). The director's chair was taken by Damiano Damiani, who has prestigious awards and nominations from film critics, and Dardano Sacchetti was invited to co-write the script, the same one without whose imagination, perhaps, Italian horror films of the past would have been somewhat different. The presence of the second mentioned person provides the expected bright techniques of horror with demonstrative rivers of blood covering the floor, and the phenomena of monsters on the screen, however, do not think that the production has moved into a thoughtless attraction, here the observance of the mystical foundations has not disappeared.
Initially considering the design of the plot, you involuntarily notice the author’s non-random curtsey towards the title, because the movie turns out to be an unexpected (and successful, fortunately or surprisingly) equal symbiosis from two genre directions of terrible stories about cursed houses with settled mysticism and man’s obsession with an evil spirit. In fact, something crosses between the initial collection of many ideas from at least many films about the poltergeist, flowing into the likeness of “The Exorcist”, where even the efforts of makeup artists clearly give an eye to the cult film.
If we draw comparative parallels with the original in technical terms, then the director's style does not prefer understatement and dimensional immersion in the supernatural, as before - everything is immediately presented very frankly, showing mysticism, like another full-fledged acting character. This is especially noticeable in the frequent camera imitation of the original picture “The Evil Dead”, where in the same way a certain invisible entity flies in the expanses of the house, tracking and hunting people, thereby giving interesting angles from different unusual places, and the audience a curious opportunity to visit the skin of disembodied Evil, watching what happens from its eyes. In addition, the author of the tape caught the rhythm of the story, skillfully placing the frequent effects of “Boo!” throughout the timekeeping, so as not to walk around the secret of Polishinel with the presence of otherworldly forces in the walls of the house, and not to reduce the intensity of passions.
Regarding the plot canvas, then before us, although the second film in a long, long franchise, but it is a backstory showing the tragedy with the family in the house of Amityville, after the fatal misfortunes of which the Lutzes - the central heroes of the ancestor of the series will enter this dwelling. And it should be noted that such a finding is intriguing, because it is curious to know the root cause of the “madness” and cold-blooded mass shooting. In addition, although the viewer in any case knows the denouement in advance, he will be pleasantly surprised by the culmination, trying to continue the known facts. Let this is only a frank fantasy of the creators of the picture, not pretending to be realistic, but horror films are invented for this, right?
Acting efforts are quite at a good level, for the sake of depicting the proposed hypostases, where the priest who decided to banish Evil from the house and selflessly save the possessed is especially remembered, as well as the prescribed head of the family performed by the recognizable Burt Young, who well demonstrated the despot, who all the time reaches for the belt, as the only panacea of upbringing in children of anything, when his on-screen wife cries out more loudly and rounds his eyes. The younger generation copes, of course, standing out as the “culprit of the celebration”, reincarnating by means of makeup into a frightening concentration of the Dark Forces.
In general, the sequel (actually a prequel) turned out to be successful. It is always saturated with action, with a decent visual range, full of interesting details about the sinister force in the house of Amityville, besides, pleases the preserved position of the composer, who continued his familiar musical series from the first part. Fans of stories about housing with devilishness and the expulsion of evil spirits from the unfortunate should get some pleasure from watching, even if it is not a masterpiece in the genre, which sometimes lacks filigree exposure in the atmosphere, and there are significant plot liberties based on real events.
7 out of 10
I didn’t like the original Amityville Horror for various reasons, but the fact that the success of the first film turned Amityville into an octalogy (!) is capable of striking. Remember “Children of Corn”, which from the adaptation of one small story by horror maestro Stephen King grew into a long franchise. I liked the Amityville sequel. To be exact, the film, in fact, is not even a sequel, but the most that neither is a real prequel, which according to legend tells about those events that unfolded before the original film. In fact, these events were distorted, but in the case of Amityville 2 - this is exactly what, oddly enough, makes the film watchable.
What was the main problem of the Amityville Horror? It seems to me that the problem of the film was directly in its creators: they to the very end and have not decided whether they make a reliable movie (if you believe the novel “based on real events”, the film adaptation of which was the original film), or try to add a lot of stamps to their picture, thereby turning it into a typical horror movie. However, it does not matter, because a powerful PR did its job: the film collected a lot of money from shy Americans and over the years even turned out to be recognized as a classic, which is very strange, because there are much more worthy pictures on a similar theme of a house with ghosts.
The prequel, for that matter, was conditional. It seems that he talks about the events that occurred in the prologue of the original film, but it clearly does not fit with the original film. It is expected that the audience will understand the creators and close their eyes to it. I’ll be honest with you and say that, in my opinion, Amityville 2: Obsession is the movie that Amityville Horror was supposed to be.
If you look at the problem sensibly, who cares what happened to some American family X when they came into house Y a year after some creepy guy shot his whole family in that house? The original film was generally poor in scary scenes. The pseudo-sequel, on the contrary, is replete with all sorts of mystical devilry, which can not but rejoice: it turned out interesting and at the same time when watching does not sleep, unlike the first film. It is also worth noting that in Amityville 2, the ears of The Exorcist (1973) literally grow from everywhere, which is probably natural, because the perfect exorcism movie by that time already existed thanks to the respected William Friedkin. Nevertheless, Amityville 2 is a good exorcism movie. The fact that the title of the film is the number “two”, absolutely does not mean anything, because the film is very different from “The Amityville Horror”, which only benefits him.
Verdict. Amityville 2: Obsession is a good movie, which, fortunately, does not look like the original film. If you are not indifferent to the topic of exorcism of the devil, be sure to watch this movie.
8 out of 10