After the outrageous "Amityville 3D", the rest of the films of the franchise wouldn't see a cinema release until the 2005 remake of the original. "The Evil Escapes" would get a TV release, but those after it would go straight to video. Anyhow this entry begins off with a group of priests preparing to enter the Amityville house (even though it did blow up after the third feature) to battle the evil force that dwells within. But the entity manages to escape in to a sinisterly ugly looking lamp and the priest that happened to see it was badly knocked out. Couple weeks have past and the priest has awakened to discover the lamp was sold as a garage sale. Now it's ended up on the other side of the country, dwelling in the home of Mrs Alice Leacok who's newly widowed daughter and her three children have just moved in. Soon enough unusual things begin to happen and the youngest child keeps stating she can see her dead father. This particular sequel has a different take on the Amityville curse, but its outcome is just
bonkers. Making it terrifying for all the wrong reasons. So many stupid things occur; you wonder how everyone keeps a straight-face. Think about it. A haunted lamp. Even if it wasn't haunted. Its just looks ominous
and ugly. We watch how the entity makes the light glow (when its not plugged in?!), attract the flies and then move between the electrical cords (a lump of black goo), as it goes about causing trouble, which often leads to freak accidents and machinery going crazy. Hey we even get some uncontrollable chainsaw action; a melting phone and an insane climax when the family battles the flickering satanic lamp ending off with a payoff which makes you think why it took them this long. A little extreme, but it does the job. These shocks might be nasty, but at the same time quite humorous. Some sequences are just too fun, but they indeed lack the rush. The family at the receiving end of this curse are an irritating bunch. How the youngest child (who's quite a sour-face) becomes possessed just reeks of "Poltergeist". The mother is clueless, while the two dumbfounded teenagers (Zoe Trilling) fair no better. Jane Wyatt is suitably good in her role as Mrs Leacok and then there's Fredric Lehne who plays the priest that persistently comes off second best with the encounters. For a TV production is durably pulled off with some decent location atmosphere (the remote house is on top of a cliff that faces an ocean) and the camera-work fluidly frames the action. The music score can be a little too raucous and uncanny. What can you say, be careful when you decide to drop in at a garage sale.
"That evil is searching for souls".
"That evil is searching for souls".