Amityville Horror: The Evil Escapes

Completely awful TV-movie sequel which, if nothing else, has the fantastic Aron Whatshisface as the young "Different Strokes-esque" grandson Brian. Not only is he frighteningly pleasant, but he does happen to pick up a chainsaw in the basement and use it to make VROOOOOM-VROOOM noises. Ultimately, the chainsaw turns itself on and Brian's scary cheeks wobble as he tears apart the place only to be halted by the sheer strength of his grandmother (and some other old dear who fell down the stairs - brilliant!) and a huge bit of pipe she grabs from the wall. Possibly one of the best scenes in the history of movies. If only this was the plot of the whole movie and not a brief minute of film.

Surprisingly good 4th installment in the now tired franchise. This time a woman buys a lamp from the infamous Amityville house and sends it to some relatives that live in California. As soon as grandmother Jane Wyatt plugs it in, the evil forces make themselves at home. Good story, acting, and music score. ***1/2 out of *****. Skip the next installment "The Amityville Curse" and get "Amityville '92: It's About Time" and the two that follow after that.

This one actually has a decent story to it taking the action outside of the Amityville house and putting the evil in an old lamb, which is genuinely creepy. The problem here though is the made-for-TV budget and feel, director Sandor Stern who directed the Canadian classic Pin tries to put in some creepy moments to play with the audience, sadly though the first half is rather slow, and after the first five minutes in the Amityville house it literally takes forever for something to start happening. It's definitely better then part 3 that's for sure, but, there's still no reason for you to go out and look for this thing. If your a prime member though at this time it is available to watch for free.

One thing that this movie stands out from the rest is that the main villain is a lamp (I'm not even kidding). The idea of it is a ridiculous one and the movie takes itself seriously with it's concept. I mean the movie tries way too hard to make the lamp creepy and it doesn't work at all. Also movie have a lot of dry parts in it and it's pretty stale on what is presented here. And the movie is easily predictable.

But there is some enjoyable and suspense to be found in this movie. Like when the electronics is going out crazy and the lamp causing these things to happen. But the movie ends with a cliche.

Patty Duke plays a woman who must protect her family from the evils of Amityville after a lamp from an estate sale transfers the evil to her home.

Duke carries the film beautifully, giving it her all and treating the material seriously without any winking at the audience and she's the highlight of the film. The haunted house sequences are par for the course for a film like this, but there is one nasty bit involving a garbage disposal that's unexpected for a film that, mostly, plays it too safe.