After doing an exposé story on a supernatural scam at the infamous Amityville haunted mansion, a sceptical journalist going through a divorce decides to buy the cursed house. It isn't long before mysterious things start happening and people begin to die ...
I quite like this movie, but it shoots itself in the foot in the last reel. For the first hour and a bit, it's a spooky little drama with nice art direction, good performances (particularly Clark) and plenty of suspense. Unfortunately, the ending is your standard all-Hell-breaks-loose finish which is not very impressive technically and spoils the creepy ambiance that precedes it. For a second sequel to what was a slightly hysterical horror flick in the first place though, it's not at all bad, with some nice ideas - for instance, I love the way the dead girl's ghost appears before we know she's dead, and there are some hair-curling moments like the scene with the walls in the bathroom closing in our unwitting hero. It does commit a heinous crime though by not taking the opportunity to kill Ryan in some gruesome fashion. This movie is one of a handful shot in 3D with Arriflex cameras, and features optical effects by Gary Platek, who also worked on the similar but far superior Poltergeist. Produced by the great independent mogul Dino De Laurentiis, who financed many interesting pictures in the eighties (The Dead Zone, Cat's Eye, Manhunter, Blue Velvet, etc). Worth catching if there's nothing else interesting on.
I quite like this movie, but it shoots itself in the foot in the last reel. For the first hour and a bit, it's a spooky little drama with nice art direction, good performances (particularly Clark) and plenty of suspense. Unfortunately, the ending is your standard all-Hell-breaks-loose finish which is not very impressive technically and spoils the creepy ambiance that precedes it. For a second sequel to what was a slightly hysterical horror flick in the first place though, it's not at all bad, with some nice ideas - for instance, I love the way the dead girl's ghost appears before we know she's dead, and there are some hair-curling moments like the scene with the walls in the bathroom closing in our unwitting hero. It does commit a heinous crime though by not taking the opportunity to kill Ryan in some gruesome fashion. This movie is one of a handful shot in 3D with Arriflex cameras, and features optical effects by Gary Platek, who also worked on the similar but far superior Poltergeist. Produced by the great independent mogul Dino De Laurentiis, who financed many interesting pictures in the eighties (The Dead Zone, Cat's Eye, Manhunter, Blue Velvet, etc). Worth catching if there's nothing else interesting on.