Amityville 1992: It's About Time

  Amityville 1992: It's About Time

PLOT - Jacob Sterling brings home a mysterious clock from the infamous Amityville house, not knowing that it's haunted by demonic spirits.

LOWDOWN – Today I went and saw The Conjuring, an untold tale that both Ed and Lorraine Warren worked in in the early 1970's. The Warrens are famous paranormal investigators who are best known for looking into the Amityville case in Long Island. Well, after being highly impressed with James Wan's adaption, I decided to sit back and relax tonight watching my all time favorite and very underrated installment of the Amityville series.

Amityville 1992: It's About Time.

I really can't say when I first saw this movie. I vaguely remember renting it in the late 90's at a local video store simply because of it's VHS artwork. I also remember being sorta puzzled that it had the year 1992 in it's title, and of course that super gross photo on the back of the boy being sucked down the drain.

What I remember best about this movie was the fact that it actually didn't take place at the Amityville house itself. In fact a few of the later sequels didn't at all. Instead what they did was take objects from the house and do spinoffs of how the objects itself were haunted. We had sequels about a lamp, a mirror, a dollhouse, and in this one a clock.

Next to The Next Generation, which is the sequel that follows this one, I would say this is one of the best in the series. The first three Amityville movies are classic. The first one is beyond creepy, and besides dating itself is really a total 70's supernatural classic. In fact it's down right terrifying compared to the book. I mean besides the flashing light eye out the window, that's a really creepy movie. If vote went down for the most terrifying installment, I would do with it's sequel which is loosely based off the original who first lived in the house and were murdered by their son. The third movie which is in 3D is very cheesy, but a pretty good tale of haunting. Even though I own part 4, I've yet to get around to watching it. I feel It's About Time, and The Next Generation are highly impressive sequels for being the 5^th and 6^th in the series. Being made back to back, I really have to hand it to the people behind them. Using the cursed objects to their best advantage, they pulled away from the original story and could really be their own stand alone films. It's About Time was very well made. In fact had more horror movies in the 90's been made like this, who knows maybe the world of horror wouldn't have taken such a long break until Scream in 96.

92 was a great year for horror...ummm Waxwork II?! 

Tony Randel, the man behind Hellbound Hellraiser II, sat in the director's chair this time around. What can I say...the man knows how to make a really great sequel. I really liked the whole development housing setting that became big in the early to mid 90's. For the most part we all have a neighborhood like that. Houses after houses all exactly the same to look more modern. There's something a little unsettling about that. Just like in Poltergeist, we have this neighborhood with all these identical units and how after a clock gets brought home from Amyville, all hell breaks loose.

I liked the idea of the ex girlfriend character still being in this family's life. How her history with the father is shaken and even though she's involved with somebody else, there's still weird feelings towards him and his teenage family. She cares about the family, and the house she used to call home, yet still knows deep down inside she needs to break away.

Loved the Stephen Macht as the father. Just two years earlier he stole the show with that accent of his in Graveyard Shift. I don't know what it is...if he kept that accent in every movie maybe I would find him more attractive. His son on the other hand...Mmmmmm! Stephen does a great creepy job playing the father who gets attacked by a local dog. The leg effects were so gross!

The pacing of this movie was very well done. This is truly a great modern day haunted house story. I loved how it took it's time, but all of the scenes were very memorable. I loved the part where the teenage son is talking to his sister and the girlfriend character and gets up in the middle of telling a story to go get something, he leaves the room for no more than thirty seconds but when he returns he finds out he's been gone for hours.

I liked the old lady character who's close with the teenage son. Which speaking of the son Rusty, he's played by Damon Martin, who we all remember as being the hero in Ghoulies II. This was Damon's last role and he's gone on working on the other side of the camera. Real shame, he was cute!

Going back to what I was saying I love the old woman character and how her and the teenage son try to put their heads together and figure out what exactly is going on. There's a pretty laughable death with a fake stork falling from a truck, but that's the charm of these movies...their bizarre!

I liked the unsettling nature of the Nazi symbols, and little accidents that go on around the neighborhood. How slowly the father becomes possessed and begins changing and how he makes a whole little neighborhood of mini Amityville houses. Man I wish I could live there!

The doctor boyfriend character is laughable but a nice little addition. That kitchen scene always gets me, or when he's taking a bath with all the black slime. I loved the transformation of the shy teenage daughter who becomes a total slut. The scene of her coming onto her brother is creepy and very amusing. I love the big showdown at the end and I'll be the first to say, the ending of this movie is by far one of the most clever endings in a horror movie. Some may disagree with me, but I really liked it. I love how Rusty slowly changes into a baby and how the girlfriend tells the clock the house can't have him and he's allowed to leave. Then the super cool scene of her aging and slowly reaching the clock before bang everything comes full circle. It may take another re-watch but it's amazing. Then of course Rusty looking at each other and smiling “Pure evil.” Such a classic fun movie, that shows the 90's did have some hidden gems. 

 

Amityville 1992 is underrated, fun, and a great time to watch. I highly recommend it to anyone!

5 stars!