Greatest horror scenes AMITYVILLE 2: THE POSSESSION - film analysis
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 11 ก.ย. 2024
- Amityville 2 is one of the most underrated horror films ever made. This video offers a detailed study of one of the film's most powerfully constructed scenes. More in-depth analysis of coming soon so subscribe and click the notification bell or you might miss it. Written, edited & narrated by Rob Ager.
For more film analysis content visit my website www.collativele...
Patreon / robager
Collative Learning Merchandise at www.redbubble....
Follow me on FB and Twitter for latest updates
FACEBOOK: / robagerpublic
TWITTER: Ro...
I also have a FB membership page - Film, game and media analysis. Join up for discussions. / 4637000646361309
MERRY XMAS FOLKS !!! This is likely my last upload for 2022, but at least it's a long one. If you want more videos to watch during the holiday then take advantage of the many discounts (up to 70% off) that are currently available on my site www.collativelearning.com or sign up to me on Patreon (which will get you access to about another 14 hrs of videos) www.patreon.com/RobAger
Merry Christmas Rob, thank you for all the content this year, I truly enjoy every upload.
Have you ever seen "The Long Weekend", an old Aussie film, as a kid I found it scarier than any horror film of the time.
Great breakdown as always brother!!Haven't watched Amityville 2 in years definitely need to revisit and I agree I think its better than the 1st one..
@@gwaters8067 Not heard of that one, but I love Aussie cinema.
@@gwaters8067 I’ll definitely have to watch The Long Weekend. You’ve certainly piqued my interest, as “Wake in Fright,” another horrific (though not categorized as a horror movie) Aussie flick is among my favorites from the 70s.
@@brodyschum I will have a watch of "Wake in fright". Just viewed the trailer and looks bloody interesting.
Thank you for the heads up 👍
He's not just an irresponsible father. Remember that time he lost all Rocky's money?
This comment made me snort my soda. 😂
It's so good to hear someone speak up for how underappreciated this flick is. Well directed, and it also had the balls to get into some confrontational family issues.
The critics squirmed and held up their noses. Their loss.
critics have always been snobs that couldnt make it in film school, so they take the easy job, a critic
Man, man, this was a scary movie when I was a kid. It still gives me goosebumps today.
Yeah.
that music is brilliant
Mmm, yes. I had forgotten about this one
Lots of heavy stuff happen in this film that absolutely disturbed me as a kid and now as an adult. Very underrated
Terrified me as a young child back in the day. I haven't seen this since the 80's I think I'll have to revisit this. I just don't want to ruin my memories, as a kid Raw Head Rex , From Beyond and a Nightmare On Elm Street give me nightmares for weeks and after watching them again recently they did nothing apart from Elm street which was still good
Oh boy. I watched this movie when I was 12. Alone. Parents didn’t come home until 3am.
I was too scared to go upstairs to bed. Sat up watching snooker all night.
It scared the life out of me! 😂
Haha, I bet Ray Reardon was playing
The scene with hand on the crawlspace pillar always haunted me as a kid. I used to think it was just some demon child and that others were living there with it. Thank you for this awesome exposé.
Awesome movie. I actually like watching Exorcist, Amityville 2, and then Exorcist 3.
Sounds like a great movie trio for a halloween night in with some popcorn right there!
Saw this when I was a kid. It scared the hell out of me. I agreed the possession scene is horrifying
That sinister red object in bedroom behind Sonny is a Budweiser label.
Fantastic analysis. This film scared the bejaysus out of me when I saw it as a child back in the late 80's. This is a classic. A must see for any horror fan.
That scene was one of the scariest scenes I’ve ever seen in a horror movie! I saw this movie on cable as a kid, and the actor’s facial expressions terrified me and still do!! He did a phenomenal job conveying fear and terror!!
I work as an extra very often, and it was interesting to see the explanation, how the cam movement built up, and I am sure, that these scenes were shot many-many times. Few days ago we shot a 3-minutes scene for 12 hours. It is very exhausting, but also exciting to see how it works.
There are hundreds of things that go wrong with a particular shot or scene. I don't think most people have much clue how much careful planning it takes to film a scene well.
I watched a movie or television show (not sure which) being filmed at the Embarcadero waterfront when I lived in San Francisco. LOTS of sitting around for the actors while they set up the shots.
@@collativelearning and even nothing goes wrong, they shot the same scene million times, so later they can pick the best one. And do not forget that the actor did this scene again and again probably for days. And they kept this shot, even though those legs are visible, so the acting must have been the best.
Also, the crew members, who are not visible, but there were at least 5 guys around him, had to work their a** off.
When we watch a movie, we see probably the 5% (or less) of the work they put in the movie, so to say.
@@coinraker6497 many times we are on the set for 12 hours, and spending 11 and half hours doing nothing. :D
@@collativelearning thay dont care its all cgi now.......
I swear to god I just watched this movie 1 min ago,came to youtube and you 've just uploaded
Cue ghostly music !!!
Where is it streaming? I may watch it tonight, as a rewatch. Its one of favorites.
Check cell phone mic settings.. I'm serious
Creepy film.I put it alongside Halloween III and Exorcist III as underrated gems.
Yep, all good sequels
I regard Amityville 2 as a flawed film overall, and yet I have probably seen it a dozen times. I likely will watch it again this October. What keeps me invested in the face of this films overwhelming shortcomings is its sinister, slow-burn mood and my favorite example of this is the scene were father Adamsky is standing on the curb, staring at the house. Its about half way through and serves as somewhat of a transition between ‘The Shining’-ish first half and ‘The Exorcist’-ish second half. The house is vacant, as the family is no longer there. The shutters have all been closed. No lights on. No life. Its late at night and dark and lonely but the face of the house is eerily lit by an unknowable source. Snow is gently and quietly falling all around. Its a brief scene but it is really beautiful, and fully captures the desolate creepiness that gives this film its foreboding feel.
I remember watching this movie many years ago.
What I remember the most are the physical changes he undergoes while possessed.
I'm pretty sure that the shot that goes over Sonny's head was inspired by a similar one in Sam Raimi's Evil Dead (over main character Ash). But this one is even more adventurous, Now, I don't know if at the time Amytiville II was shot Evil Dead had a theatrical release worldwide, but for sure in the US was already premiered in 1981 (and the movie was shot in '79-'80).
I was about to comment that, this movie has a lot of evil dead like shots.
@@TheCosmicGuy0111 directors must think alike, considering when dealing with evil spirits or entities, they would approach their human target from all angles inside a house setting, thus the camera would rotate and and move around the actor the way it does in the two mentioned movies
Still blows my mind that films like this are always appreciated by similar types of people. Casual fans read the reviews, see a cheesy sequel etc... While more hardcore fans like this film for exactly what it is... A genuinely creepy horror film with some truly heavy themes and really good direction.
Hardcore fans= my people. And yes this movie is top-tier horror.
@@joshperry6700 With so many sequels to the original over the years, I suppose this got lost in the mix which is a shame. But good films are always found by an audience who think for themselves.
@@mk-ultramags1107 true that. I avoided horror because I was a "scaredy cat" when I was younger, it is not until in my 30s I have found a deep respect for the genre due to it using lower budgets and producing some very iconic masterpieces of all time (e.g 1978's Halloween, Evil Dead, Friday the 13th, Texas Chainsaw, The Terminator even Mad Max can be viewed as a dystopian 'highway horror'). I admire the greats like Hitchcock, Wes Craven, Vincent Price, Stanley Kubrick, Rick Baker for his work on the wolf changing scene in An American Werewolf in London and Stan Winston's endoskelton animatronic for the T800. Raimi's work on the Evil Dead, John Carpenter's work, Steven Spielberg's Jaws is a favorite, one of the first horrors I saw as a kid, the mechanical shark, "Bruce" saved that movie by malfunctioning hehe.
Its admirable for the directors and crew to create such amazing films with such tiny budgets, the horror genre excels like no other, and lauches so many well know careers too.
That shot moving up and round all the way from his feet is very well done. Has a kind of evil dead 2 feel.
This film is absolute gem a brilliant film this is a proper adult horror film,the score is fantastic the special effects are great,if you have not seen this film its a must PJ👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
I love your analysis on films and specific scenes especially. I’d love for you to cover the opening of When a Stranger Calls (1979). I honestly think that’s one of the most suspenseful, chilling scenes, let alone openings to a horror film to date
Yeah I like the specific scenes too where he really gets in depth. Some of the standouts for me were the Billy Batts from Goodfellas and med-pod from Prometheus scenes.
yes when they told her where the call is comin from
Never forgot when I first saw this when I was 12! Creeped me the freak out but I knew I had just watched an insanely underrated horror classic! So glad it finally got the Rob Ager treatment!
Another great analysis Rob. Thank you for shining some light on this criminally underrated horror classic. Content like this is why Collative Learning is one of my favorite channels on TH-cam.
I never seen this movie. Until recently. I have seen the original film and the remake. I know of the real life events the movies are based on.
But I gotta say as a new fan to horror - I was too scared when I was younger but now in my 30s I enjoy the creativity the horror genre excels in.
I think the movie's disturbing premise is directed well. These horror films of the 80s approached this genre that only that decade could master like no other since. The late 70s set the tone though. Great film analysis video! This underrated sequel/prequel deserves more attention 🖤
This film is a masterpiece! It scared the shit out of Hollywood at the time. The follow up film, "Amityville 3D" ignored the existence of "The Possession" entirely in an effort to pander to the critics who trashed it the second film as "tasteless trash". Not only that, but they jumped on the 3D bandwagon & shot a PG movie to milk the market for all it was worth. I loathe 3D with a passion. It reeks of Hollywood flavoured cheese & stinks even worse decades later. The only thing about it which holds up is the score & even that isn't any match for the scores of the first two films. "The Possession" was the film America couldn't handle. In some ways it's comparable to David Lynch's 1986 classic, "Blue Velvet" in that it peeled back the curtains on seemingly "normal" American life to reveal the darkness which no one wants to admit is a reality.
well said
This movie was really scary as a kid in the 90s/early 2000s watching it with my siblings on AMC every year. Left way more an impression on me than the more critically well received first film.
Thank you for analyzing the work of my fellow countryman Damiano Damiani. I'm so glad that with this film he's been able to gain some international recognition. In the '70s he signed some good italian drama and crime movies.
He made an earlier b&w movie in Italy that has a lot of thematic overlaps with Amityville 2. It was a forbidden love story. Can't recall the name but I liked it and will be exploring the comparisons in the full study.
I must check them crime movies!
Last time I watched one of your videos where you talked about an underrated horror film it was Psycho 2. I had never heard of it and, I went and rented it and I thought it was fantastic. I have never seen this one either and I am excited to go and watch it! Thanks for the recommendations especially the horror/psychological thriller films.
Cheers, I would say Psycho 2 is slightly superior to this one in that it's consistently excellent throughout. This one falters a bit in places, but when it's at its best it's outstanding.
OMG I was showed Psycho 2 by a friend not long ago and it was so much better than I expected, suprised me how great a sequel it was, even though Psycho didnt really need a sequel but the 2nd movie was a great and competent follow up.
In the shot at 26:00, as the camera goes up, you see the sides of the entranceway, but not the top. So there must've been a rig above him that propelled the camera. Very clever to use the audience's assumptions to complete the frame in the minds.
37:44 The lamp has a Budweiser logo on it, turned sideways. Great video! I haven't seen this movie since my parents took me as a kid.
I thought that logo looked familiar.
@@collativelearning Maybe it was an American thing because I remembered those lamps in the 70's. I know you have Bud there now, but not so much back then.
@@WickedScott Bingo, found it. www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-budweiser-paper-lantern-3692557223 Interesting, the lamp is positioned in the film in a way that has the red section facing us. I wonder if the film makers had spotted the demon impression. They do seem to have ensured it was highlighted in the scene and with the sign behind it just showing the word HERE underneath.
@@collativelearning You did indeed!
I remember watching this film as a child, through a knit blanket! I used to be a confirmed ghost story and horror film addict. It wasn't until my early 30s that I shook the habit. Still, in spite of those early traumatic movie experiences, I can look fondly at these old gems. I rented, The Beast Within along with this film and felt sorely let down after watching it after. Amityville 2 really stands the test of time.
"I used to be a confirmed ghost story and horror film addict" Hah! Excellent! I caught that quote. So, are you a Winnie, or a Freddie?
You should watch "Hereditary"... come back to horror
Jack Magner was great in this movie, people rave on Brad Dourif in EXORCIST 3, but Jack really conveyed twisted insanity in his prison scene. The fantastic camera flip over Sonny is very unique and impressive. Only other thing I remember seeing this being done was in Cabaret Voltaire's music video SENSORIA, but the flips were more spacious and didn't rotate its orientation. Btw, the shot of the house shaking at 41:56, I can't tell if the warped dimensions of the various furnishings and walls is due to the camera shaking or maybe it was filmed in front of a shaking mirror!
Yeah I was wondering about that warped lounge shot while editing. Think you may be right.
Check out the first 2 Evil Dead films and the lesser-known film Intruder. They have wildly creative, kinetic camera work like amityville 2 here.
@@joshperry6700 Yeah, I forgotten about Evil Dead until a number of people here commented about it here. Seems directly inspired.
@@moviearchaeologist9655 did you mean intruders or the intruder. I can't find just intruder
"filmed in front of a shaking mirror" hey that sounds like an awesome old school movie fx trick! I would never have thought of that, it is genius! I ❤oldschool effects!
Around the 41:00 minute mark the musical motif is discussed. The motif sounded like "Old McDonald had a Farm." In addition to the connection to the theme of lost innocence, the lyrics of the song suggest that "...on this farm he had a PIG." Throughout the series there is reference to Jodie, the demonic pig (seen in the first film). This is most likely why that music was selected.
Someone else here suggested it's London Bridge is Falling Down. Not sure myself.
@@collativelearning On repeated listen, it is closer to London Bridge but seems hybrid? Probably London Bridge, though. Old McDonald would have been better.
@@collativelearning It looks like London Bridge, but it is not. It is the Main Theme th-cam.com/video/tMZPMIRIh0o/w-d-xo.html (it only resembles "London Bridge" because if you don't listen the original melody first, you don't understand where the accents go on the melody)
I would take a leap of faith, but it seems they asked Schifrin to make something similar to Rosemary's Baby lullaby, just because some producer liked it......or they wanted to represent the demons like "childs" who cause damage as a spoiled little brat would do a tantrum.......there is something of a childlike the way the demon teases him, and then celebrates like kid going frantic when managed to scare him
@@nicolashrv interesting, on my first listen it reminded me to the main theme of the first movie, but I know they wouldnt be able to use it due to copyright but it reminded me of it still
This was great. Can’t wait for the full analysis! Saw this movie years ago and it definitely one of the most disturbing of this genre. I always think of Damien: Omen 2 in the same category, though I haven’t seen that one in a long time.
Rob please do more of this movie this was one of my favorite movies and definitely always has been to me the scariest and most amazing Amityville movie I'd seen.
I thought it fit the real story to because it's actually based on the dafeo family NOT the lutz family
Defeo was supposedly on acid when he commit the murders 'they' say
But yeah dude love the videos please PLEASE do more of this movie
Your videos are amazing Rob. Loved this one in particular as I am a huge fan of this film. Also really enjoyed your Blair Witch videos. Keep up the excellent work and a huge thank you for what you do.
Love this and watched it recently. It used to scare the shit out of me as a kid. Also Sonny always reminded me of Mark Hamills Luke Skywalker which, added to Paulie from Rocky appearing, makes it even weirder.
Yep, I think Jack Magner would have been incredible as Luke Skywalker.
@@collativelearning Not forgetting that the priest is General Franklin Kirby from Commando!
@@collativelearning my thoughts exactly, if George Lucas had continued the story into tv spin off series from Return of the Jedi, Jack would have been great as Luke.
I'm thinking the approach similar to how there was the Stargate movie and then it got a tv series with a new cast. Something like that would have been neat. If only... sigh
Of all 127 Amityville movies this is still the only one that is actually scary and creepy‼
woah 127?!
I will stick with this one and the first one 😅
@@ItsaKindOfMagic86 I agree those are indeed the only ones worth watching. Maybe watch Part 3 once: the 3D version with the old anaglyph 3D glasses. I also had a lot of fun watching Amityville Vibrator stoned with some friends, but that's just me.😏
Fantastic… love these analyses. I wish it was longer than 45 mins as was riveted! 💡👹💡 … unbelievable the main actor wasn’t credited in the posters
seriously. this movie is amazing.
4:45 "You wanna be a man by smoking cigarettes, now your growing a little fuzz over here? Now you think you're a playa by keeping your buttons undone and showin chest huh??"
Absolutely loved this analysis. If the analysis of the full movie becomes available I will purchase! I've seen this movie a ton of times since I was a kid. Big fan of it. Regarding the wonderous overhead rotational shot, I think there is actually a very similar shot in the first Evil Dead film. Have a great Xmas Rob!
One more: The piano music at 41:02 is London Bridge Is Falling Down. Funny, that's the same song from Army Of Darkness that Ash sings in a scene where he is also possessed. Was Sam Raimi calling back to this movie?
Ah, interesting. I thought I recognized the melody.
I will give this my full attention as soon as possible. Oh, and have yourself a merry Christmas.
After watching this movie as a kid, I never slept without my shirt above my stomach to this day.
That laugh and ticking clock at 24:17 sounds like a segment of the Pink Floyd Time track on Dark Side of the Moon. Maybe this ties in to the "rollie" aspect lol.
This is one of only two horror movies that genuinely scares me. I've seen it on vhs and dvd and many details mentioned in this video such as the pictures on the wall weren't even visible on the vhs and not really on the DVD. Seeing this movie so clearly here and being able to actually make out the background content is really neat
What’s the other horror movie?
My mom & I watched this randomly 1 night & we were HORRIFIED!!! The practical effects were superb 😱🎬🍿
A thoroughly underrated supernatural piece of film storytelling,both this and the original and in my opinion better than the haunting directed by Robert wise this is much more creepy and visceral.
27:50 an idea the director could have used that would have lent itself to a win-win with the pants continuity problem is have the film crew wear the same color clothing as the furnature/decor of the house. In other words, limit their clothing color for that shooting day to whites/offwhites and blacks. That way if they were in the shot and off the a side, such as in this scene you mentioned, it would have had a chance to add to the scene overall for the audience. I find that subtle things in movies make people more discomforted and uneasy and can be things they rarely notice on the first couple of viewings. To have a "piece of scenery" that the conscious mind puts aside as just furniture in the living room move slightly or have contours unlike the rest of the furniture may have added to the scene instead of risking a break of it.
Absolutely enjoy all your work and analysis that you have done and I hope you have a fantastic holiday!
This is the only Amityville film I respect as it actually frightened the hell out of me the first few times I saw it. Pretty good acting and score too.
Agree 100% - saw this as a young kid in the mid 80s and it scared me to the core. To this day I still feel uneasy watching it.
I’ve been really looking forward to hearing an analysis of this film!
I can just picture Rob's house in the early 80's, your typical working class 2 up and 2 down semi detached house, brown Austin Maestro yet with a solid stack of broken video players stacked up in a pile with completely destroyed fast forward, rewind, pause and play buttons on them.
Wasn't doing film analysis back then, but we did used to hook up two VHS machines, copy a movie, but disconnect the audio lead and plug a microphone in ... this allowed us to create comedy voice dubs of our fave movies. Wish I still had those dub tapes. They were hilarious.
@@collativelearning Regarding the rotational camera shot, Evil Dead (Sam Raimi) pulled off a few similar camera tricks in Evil Dead 1&2. I think also he was the first to use the 'thrown object POV' gimmick. For example, you'd have someone hurl a plate, and the camera would switch to directly behind the spinning plate as it travelled through the air toward it's intended target.
Did you not enjoy Raimi's d.i.y approach to film making - Evil Dead outright disturbed and horrified initial audiences far more than the Cheeseorcist. Perhaps you're saving Evil Dead for another future video analysis? I'd certainly enjoy your take on them
All the best Rob
Good to see Amityville 2 get due credit
Thanks for covering this; it's one of my favourite films with some really great themes all the more horrifying due to its basis in a true event.
Jack Magner has a striking resemblance to Malcolm McDowell/Alex deLarge
He does.
The female whispering in the basement, there is a theory that Defeo didn't act alone, his older sister was in on it, she actually shot some of her family and he turned on her and staged her body.
Damiani was an italian from a region with very strong bonds with central europe.
Im pointing that out, because this looks like a movie directed by a German, Hungarian or an American, not really "foreigner" 😊
When this movie was out, my hormones were already raging.
Diane Franklin was also in Last American Virgin the same year. There was a lot of movies back then about getting laid.
So in this movie, with incest, I wasn’t sure if I was scared shitless, disgusted, or turned on because of Diane Franklin. Probably all three. 😂
I think the critics had the hots for her too, but they went into denial and attacked the film instead. They complained a lot about that scene.
Watched 2 mins of the analysis, remembered this movie freaked me out as a kid, hit pause, just watched it again, great movie, lookin forward to this ;)
I went into this movie completely blind one night around Halloween last year. I was just looking for some filler while I was making dinner, but damn did it surprise me and completely pull me in. Same thing kind of happened with Exorcist III: Legion. Both sequels that were much better than I expected.
I love the scene where the demon wanders around the empty house at nightand the clock ticks very rapidly in its presence
Then, the demon howls at the sight of the crucifix before throwing the tablecloth over it
Glad to see this flick get love and respect. Oh, and I think that black and white picture on the wall is a church I think and not a lighthouse on a cliff. Great lecture.
That's the next 45 minutes sorted out now 👌
Thank you for an enlightening review, Mr Ager. Merry Christmas 🎄☃️
Merry Christmas, hope u have a lovely day
Also, the projected banister bars over Sonny's shadow while he's climbing down the stairs can convey the notion that his soul is trapped or is about to be.
When Adamski went to the house for the last showdown,as he was walking through the house,down in the basement were zombie like ghouls wandering,and moaning.Who the hell were they?
I watched this film when I was about 9,the same night I had a nightmare and went running into mums room.Scary movie,excellent.
Thanks for this one. This movie got me good as a little kid.
The entire sequence seems very reminiscent of Evil Dead and Evil Dead II, almost as though this sequence is inspired by or paying homage to the 'unseen force' shots from Evil Dead.
Particularly the overhead shot, which is extended here, but present in Evil Dead and many of the other techniques used here in Amityville 2 were there also.
I think the cinematographer and/or director took some inspiration from Evil Dead and made a less than subtle nod. Sam Raimi uses the camera in ways that it practically becomes a character all it's own in those films and I think that's influenced this film.
Have a good one, Rob.
Raimi is great for exotic camera movements. This film is a lot better than Evil Dead 1. Evil Dead 2 came out later.
A criminally underrated film...
I just watched this since you mentioned it in your last video. It's free on Tubi for right now and Tubi is totally free!
Damn, wish I had know that! I bought it on Amazon Prime. Oh well. it's was worth it. I like the movie much better than the original Amityville, and had never seen it before. Thanks for the heads up.
TUBI is actually a really good channel, with loads of great underrated horror flicks from years past. Their Giallo selection is pretty impressive too.
Talking to Rutanya Alda the over head tracking shot took a long time to set up. It was a combination of a kind of pully and dolly shot. And the camera on a upright turn table, pretty clever cuts aswell
WELL DONE! CINEMATOGRAPHY IN THIS MOVIE ROCKS STILL HOLDS UP TODAY
Thank you for this fascinating video! This is the best of the original 3 imo, if not the best in the whole series. As many times as Ive seen this movie I totally missed a lot of this stuff. Cheers!👍
30:38 The picture definitely doesn't show a lighthouse but a church in the typical New England architecture style. Like the crucifix this could be a reminiscense of the deeply faithful family, but I like the idea that it shows the place where the rest of the family is actually when the scene happens in the movie.
Could be, makes sense.
Love this movie! One of my favourite horror films. And the lead only made two films, this and Firestarter. For me one of the iconic horror performances. Love how taboo it gets. Apart from your scene I can;t shake the scene when he goes round the house and shoots his family. Perhaps even more disturbing now with everything that happens. Also, when watching it again I had forgot how much of the movie happens after the massacre. Apparently an early cut was even more explicit and depraved but test audiences couldn;t take it. Fancy coming together and demanding the director's cut?
This film was part of my and my brother's vhs filmography so I saw it several times but I don't remember it very well (apart that thematic element). I now think it deserves a rewatch even if it gives me chills: the vacuum scene and morbid deformation elements of the possession always left me an unpleasant sensation
5:10 watching on the phone screen I honestly thought it was a remote for the bedroom lights 🤪
The mysterious lampshade in his bedroom is covered in Budweiser beer logos, lol.
I used to love this movie when I was a teenage boy. Heaven knows why... ☺
I hadn't seen this - so I paused the video and watched the film. So glad I did because you're right, this is an underappreciated horror gem.
This was a VHS fave for me - incredibly scary, far superior to any other Amityville movie in my opinion. I remember even the video case scared me as a teenager. Great to see some love for it...Have a fantastic Christmas!
Amityville to the possession handstone is the best Out of the entire series I remember seeing this In the theater upon its release And I've had a copy of it in my collection Since the VHS days My son managed to track down the long since out of print Screen factory editions of the 1st 3 films They did a wonderful job with restoring these And the presentation they gave is 2nd to none with the original movie posters on all 3 DVD The blue light prints are absolutely beautiful And this past fall Vinegar Syndrome released the 1st film on Is 4K Absolutely Beautiful transfer And I hope next year vinegar syndrome releases the possession We shall See
Why would he choose a large caliber bolt-action hunting rifle, over the semi-automatic .30 Carbine M1 on the far right on the gun rack in the basement? beats me
Cmon man, if you're gonna off your family they deserve the. 308 and not a measly. 30 cal. Could you imagine the embarrassment 😂👍
His Dad is the gun expert. Interesting that gun is there though. Cheers.
This movie has always stayed with me when I saw it back when I was young.
I can't believe you didn't mention that at 26:10 his shirt is buttoned up. Throughout the entire scene he went 3 buttons undone and he couldn't have put his rifle down to fix himself since he was holding it the entire time. For all your dissection of this 9 minute scene, I can't believe you missed this.
THANK YOU ROB
AMITYVILLE 2: PAULYS' YOUR DAD!!!
IS THE FUNNYIST OF ALL AMITYVILLE FILMS
CHEERS
40:30 Also wanted to note that whenever I heard higher pitched distortions in a movie these days, it beckons me back to Star Trek The Motion Picture as many scenes were set by the music as much or more than the visuals. The higher tones remind me of a mental or emotional "creaking", like a bad door in the mind or heart being opened slowly to let something in that shouldn't be there. Maybe I am reading too much into it, but that is the feeling it always gave me.
I could be wrong, but I actually have a theory. When Sonny comes back up from the basement, and he then hears this demonic laugh, I’m guessing that those two feet seen on the left hand side, just as the camera is going up and above Sonny could of possibly been the demon that had possessed him. It could of just been a crew member, but who knows.
I saw it once and never again.
A lot of camera shots seem to be inspired by the evil dead.
Are you still going to do an analysis of the full movie? This was excellent.
go on Robby son. well made analysis. a blast from the past m8. I agree with your views on the scene you covered and subconsciously shared the same view on the scene but your analysis made the penny drop so to speak.
The music in this film freaked me out as a kid.
I think this movie is actually better than the original movie. Its alot scarier by a long shot.
Rob,
Your work is always thought-provoking and engaging!😊
I would be a wee bit leery of reading too much into all lighting details. In a complex set as this, where the action is followed through an involved course of movement, practical considerations of such factors as crew and equipment shadows must necessarily play a role. And underlying all of that is the visual demand of illuminating the geograohy of the environment so as to highlight that whixh is important to see.
When a camera reversal of position is executed, for example, it may be quite impossible to retain anything like consistency in the light source locations. The audience is also quite forgiving of such incongruities. This is driven home by considering innumerable exterior scenes in innumerable films shot over periods of hours or days, where the Sun angle can shift willdly back and forth with alternating cuts, or even the cloud cover can vary tremendously. (To say nothing of even more profound discontinuities, such as changes in foliage over weeks.)
The musical melody played at the end of the scene is London Bridges, probably foreshadowing his life falling apart due to the possession
I've always had an interest in the Amityville story, as well as the films, at least the three original ones featuring this specific house. The house exterior shots were filmed in Toms River, NJ, which is the city where I was born and I have visited the city many times in the past. One time my father drove me past the house used for filming, pointing it out.
love this movie, have it on DVD, also have the original amityville horror. enjoyed your breakdown of the scene just like the breakdown you did with the beginning northern Iraq scene for the exorcist.