31 Days of Horror Day 02 Amityville Exorcism

Title-The Amityville Exorcism
Source-Digital Copy

This is a film I didn't know about. Hell I would have never even seen it. But thanks to a friend that I know through a now defunct horror forum I got sent a digital screener.

I knew going in that this is one of the many indie horror films that use the Amityville name to get the film some press and word of mouth. And that the film wasn't part of the official Amityville franchise. So when I started up the file I  had my expectations very low.

Then I saw it was released by Wild Eye Releasing. I am sure Wild Eye tries their best with the resources they have...but every film I have seen from them was bad. Like barely a step above a SyFy original movie bad. Then to my horror/amusement I saw the film was directed and produced by Mark Polonia. The now only living member of the infamous DTV film making Polonia brothers. If you look back at previous 31 days of Horror I have covered the first film from the Polonia brothers that got a wide release. A film shot when they were both teens  and a film that became a infamous gore film. One of the earliest straight to VHS horror films Splatter Farm.

After seeing Mark Polonia's name I paused the film to look up some info on it. And found out that Amityville Death House,another of the unofficial Amityville sequels and one I have wanted to see for a few years cause of this great poster it has...

Come on after seeing that cover,I couldn't find a good copy of the poster,and seeing that Biloxi Mississippi's own Eric Roberts is in the film I had to see it. So this is Mark Polonia's second Amityville movie. Maybe that means he will make a good movie.

Sadly he didn't make a good movie.A Catholic priest,who's brother died trying to exorcism the Amityville house,now has to help a family deal with demonic possession. I am guessing this brother is suppose to be the priest that shows up in the late 70s Amityville Horror film.

Now the Amityville series became known for how in the later sequels the ways the evil spirits got from the original house to where ever the sequels were set being usually pretty dumb. There is one were a lamp from the original house is the conduit for the evil spirits attacking a new family. And another were it is a possessed mirror,IIRC that is Amityville part 7 and it is one of the better films in the franchise. So who ever wrote the script to Amityville Exorcism took the fad of reclaimed lumber and has this new family being bothered by evil spirits cause the father is a carpenter and he has used reclaimed lumber from the Amityville house in the new home he has built his family. This is a cheesy idea that could actually work well with a good script,good acting and good effects work. Yea this film is missing all three.

Lets talk about the FX. The demon looks like someone in a cheap red cloak that was bought at the Dollar Tree after Halloween sale.And the mask the demon is wearing is barely a step above those horrible Ben Cooper half face plastic mask lots of us Generation X kids wore in the late 70s thru the mid 80s. The prosthetic make up work looks like someone took dollar store playdough and let it harden for weeks.

The film looks like it might have been shot using a crew members 2 year old iPhone. And I was pretty sure that is what they used. Then in one scene I caught the reflection of a camera mounted on a tripod.

The film starts off with Charles in a mental hospital.He is about to be executed for killing his family. And starts telling the priest giving him last rites that Charles was possessed. All because of that damn reclaimed wood from the Amityville house. Damn you all those house flipping shows. Making the general public believe that reclaimed wood isn't evil and a product of Satan. Charles begs the priest to go help out the other families living in homes that also contain some of this Satanic reclaimed lumber.

Yep the movie is as bad as it sounds. Usually when I get screeners,which isn't that often, after watching the film I will either decide to keep it. Or if I don't enjoy the movie just give the copy to one of the members of my friends and family that loves horror. I did neither with Amityville Exorcism. This movie is so bad I was worried if I gave to someone that knew me they might get possessed by that reclaimed lumber and try to come kill me. So once the film was over. And I managed to take my brain ,which had been turned to mush by how bad the film was,and get it back into my head I quickly deleted the file and sent a message to the person that hooked me up with the screener. Asking them what I had ever done to them to deserve such punishment.

Amityville Exorcism gets a F.