The second entry in the Bloody Disgusting presents Retro Nightmares series is a double feature that likely raises eyebrows at first glance. October 4, 2018, brings Amityville: The Evil Escapes and Amityville: It’s About Time, the fourth and sixth entries of an uneven and fairly lackluster horror franchise. Aside from being underseen, these particular sequels cleverly took their cue from the destruction of the iconic Amityville house at the end of Amityville 3-D, giving the plot the freedom to go to some surprising, wacky places without the shackles of the house’s limitations. What happens when the evil within Amityville escapes via furniture? Some fun schlock, surprising makeup effects, and a whole lot of Amityville weirdness makes for a fun double feature meant to be seen with a group.
Amityville: The Evil Escapes
Based on the novel of the same name, this fourth entry was a made for television movie that aired on NBC in 1989. The opening sequence backtracks to before the Amityville house was destroyed in order to introduce us to the source of this film’s evil; a lamp. Yes, a lamp. Cut to that same lamp being sold at the house’s estate sale, where an older woman purchases it and ships it off to her sister, Alice, in California as a birthday present. It arrives the same day her widowed daughter Nancy arrives with her three children in tow. What could go wrong?
Being that this is a made for TV movie, there’s more gore than you’d expect. The sister who sends Alice the demonic lamp cuts herself on its sharp edges and contracts one gnarly infection as a result. The biggest surprise, though, is that Amityville: The Evil Escapes actually follows through with a cringe-worthy shredding by way of appliance that a lot of horror films only like to tease. It’s the bloodiest moment of the film.
Patty Duke is the lead as widowed daughter Nancy, and hardcore horror fans might recognize the eldest daughter Amanda (Zoe Trilling of Night of the Demons 2 and Dr. Giggles). The screenplay was written by director Sandor Stern, who also wrote the screenplay for the original film and helmed the underrated ‘80s gem Pin. Stern brings balance to the otherwise campy premise of a demonic lamp. There’s really no way to make a lamp scary. Lucky, there’s enough here to distract from that.
Amityville: It’s About Time
This sequel sees architect Jacob Sterling (Graveyard Shift and The Monster Squad’s Stephen Macht) bring home an antique mantle clock that he found in the remains of an old house in Amityville (yes, that one). Right away that clock embeds itself into the house and begins to affect Jacob, his ex-girlfriend Andrea, and his two teen kids Lisa and Rusty in adverse ways. And by that, I mean that Amityville: It’s About Time goes off the rails in the best possible way.
Directed by Hellbound: Hellraiser II’s Tony Randel, Amityville: It’s About Time becomes a ‘90s descent into special effects madness as Jacob deals with a vicious dog attack turned gooey gross-out infection, Rusty delves into the clock’s centuries-old French necromancy origins, and Lisa deals with some disgustingly goopy side effects of the clock’s presence. This may have been a direct-to-video sequel, but it doesn’t hold back on the effects, fun, and zany plot that a haunted clock presents. Time travel, hallucinations, and an expanding mythology means that this sequel may very well be one of horror’s most underrated. Even better? The death count is higher, and there’s a fun cameo by Dick Miller (Gremlins, The Howling, Demon Knight).
Both Amityville: The Evil Escapes and Amityville: It’s About Time took the concept of a haunted object removed from the iconic Amityville house and used it to create a sequel better than expected in a less than stellar franchise. Demonically possessed clocks and lamps are impossible to make scary, but the sequels themselves are fun despite this. Fans of special effects and campy horror fun, be sure to grab tickets for this double feature.
Amityville: The Evil Escapes and Amityville: It’s About Time will both be playing as part of Retro Nightmares in theaters Nationwide Thursday, October 4th. Get tickets at www.retronightmares.com.
