MovieChat Forums > Amityville II: The Possession (1982) Discussion > Slight rant.

Slight rant.

posted 12 years ago by JosephPD1988
7 replies | jump to latest

I have two issues with this movie. The main one is this, if you watch it almost back to back with The exorcist, which I did just recently, you see that it is a total rip off lol. The possessed person taking on the voices of his victims, the scars on his face, I could go into deeper analysis but I don't feel it's worth it. The one thing that they failed to lift from The Exorcist was the atmosphere of the film. There was an element of suspense, an element of true fear. And yet for some reason I have come back to it, having seen it several times over the years. But I digress.

My main other complaint is the fact that they put the label on the it "The Devil made me do it." I am sure that all of you know that this film is loosely based on actual events. Ronald Defeo Jr. brutally murdering his parents and siblings back in the early 70's. I have to say, the real life story of the murders is gruesome enough, why would you totally fictionalize it and make it into this. This film where the only reason that this man mercilessly killed every single member of his family is because he was possessed. Why not just cut out the possessed element and make it into a dramatic reenactment? I understand that they wanted to ride the coat tails of the original film, by taking an event that actually happened and changing it into this sensational story. (At the time they said that the original film was based on true events, so I guess they wanted to play on that.)

But I guess I am truly ranting. Perhaps my point is, Ronald Defeo brutally killed his family. The devil did not make him do it. He did it himself. And while the whole devil made me do it idea does make for a good story, sometimes the truth is far better a story than any fiction can come of the pen of the best novelist or screenwriter.

Regards,
Joseph P Dorn.
swagbucks.com/refer/JosephD88

[–] anthrax617 12 years ago

Ronald Defeo brutally killed his family. The devil did not make him do it. He did it himself.

What a stupid thing to say. The entire point of the Amityville story is that Ronald Defeo heard voices telling him to commit the murders and was somewhat "posessed" by the house. He didn't just wake up one night and decide to kill his family for no reason.

[–] hitchcock_blonde 11 years ago

Have you ever seen the wallpaper in Ronnie DeFeo's bedroom? I'm pretty sure that's what made him do it.

No Louis, you're mistaken. It's not me.

[–] MikePaul854 11 years ago

6 people sleeping in their beds practically side by side are taken out in the middle of the night by a high powered rifle and not one person wakes up to a loud blast nor do any of the neighbors reported hearing anything unusual? Something else was at work there that night.

[–] koffeenkreame41-1 10 years ago

What a stupid thing to say. The entire point of the Amityville story is that Ronald Defeo heard voices telling him to commit the murders and was somewhat "posessed" by the house. He didn't just wake up one night and decide to kill his family for no reason.

6 people sleeping in their beds practically side by side are taken out in the middle of the night by a high powered rifle and not one person wakes up to a loud blast nor do any of the neighbors reported hearing anything unusual? Something else was at work there that night.

^^This. Ronnie didn't just up and kill his parents, same for this film. This film is loosely based on what happened with Ronnie, but this character is Sonny. I do think the ending was similar to The Exorcist but it's not like The Exorcist is the ONLY film that can do an ending like that.

"I'm the ultimate badass,you do NOT wanna f-ck wit me!"Hudson,Aliens😬

[–] guardkid 10 years ago

To say it rips-off The Exorcist is a bit harsh. The only things they really have in common is that a young person becomes possessed, and that a priest gets involved. Yes AII-TP has a short exorcism scene at the end, but it's not as 'heavy' as that of The Exorcist.

The stories and characters of each film are very different.

The story of AII-TP focuses on the dysfunctional family, while The Exorcist focuses on the mother's trauma while taking the audience into the personal life of Father Karras. We don't really get to know too much about Father Adamsky - he's more of the 'hero priest'.

In AII-TP, the family are never aware that there's something seriously wrong with their son. We also get to see the whole family brutally killed. Contrast that with The Exorcist.

Sure, it's fair to say that Amityville 2 was influenced by The Exorcist, but IMO they're very different movies.

[–] lazarillo 10 years ago

I don't buy the "devil-made-me-do-it" defense OR the claims of the Lutzes that the house was haunted. There is actually evidence that the Lutzes collaborated with Butch DeFeo's lawyer to concoct the whole haunted house story because it served BOTH of their interests.

However, THIS movie is fiction. The names have been changed. It doesn't have to be true. If it goes easy on Butch DeFeo with the possession/supernatural nonsense, it also implies he had an incestuous relationship with his sister, which there was never any evidence of. So it's kind of a wash.

[–] SaphfireRose 10 years ago

False. There is NO 'evidence' at all, that the Lutzes collaborated with William Weber. JUST Weber's LIE that they did, when they no longer wanted to help him write a book. One lawyers obvious lie, is not 'evidence'.

Error
Keyboard not detected...
Press any key to continue