Amityville II: The Possession/Review

This prequel to 1979's THE AMITYVILLE HORROR is loosely based on the true story of the DeFeo family, murdered at the hands of their own son. The dysfunctional family here is the Montellis, whose verbally/physically abuse patriarch Anthony comes in the sloppy, lumpy form of Burt Young (ROCKY). Its not long after the family gets settled in that oldest son Sonny (Jack Magner) begins hearing voices over his walkman telling him to kill his family. This doesn't come, however, before he turns the tables on his father and seduces his 15-year-old sister Patricia (Cutie Diane Franklin of THE LAST AMERICAN VIRGIN) into bed.

Its once Sonny has shotgun-blasted the entire household that the movie veers into EXORCIST territory. While featuring all the usual physical staples of demonic possession -- Everything from the Whiskey-with-Drano- chaser voice to a body manifestation pleading for help -- it then proceeds to catapult itself over the top by having Sonny shed his human form to become a full-on demon. The real feat here doesn't come from his de-possession (Courtesy of the old-tried-and-true "Come in to me!" play) but in the aftermath Sonny is completely back to normal, having slipped back into his human form like it was some sort of flesh-coated Snuggie.