Amityville Horror: The Awakening (2017)
Franck Khalfoun
Writer:
Franck Khalfoun
Cast:
Jennifer Jason Leigh (Joan), Bella Thorne (Belle), Mckenna Grace (Juliet), Cameron Monaghan (James), Thomas Mann (Terrence), Taylor Spreitler (Marissa), Jennifer Morison (Candice), and Kurtwood Smith (Dr. Milton).
Opening Sequence:
A little bit of backstory here. The Amityville story is more than just a supernatural event, it's about murder.The oldest son, Ronnie Defeo murdered his family execution style. The cause of it was a supposed demon, or someone telling him to murder. But he did what he had to do according to his recollections. Was it real? You decide and investigate the facts of the crime.
13 months later, a new family moved in. Even after knowing what had happened in the house the Lutz family still moved in. The house sold for cheap, so with that being said it was a decision they had to deal with for the rest of their lives. The supernatural events was so incredibly bad that the Lutz had to move out. They ultimately decided to stay with relatives.
1979 the Amityville film came out starring James Brolin, and Margot Kidder. A huge success. making it very competitive horror film. Then afterwards the sequel stream of films came out, one after another. Leading up to the 2017 Amityville Horror: The Awakening. The horrific events that occurred in that house still manages to scare us even today.
Review:
The movie begins with a new family moving into the Amityville House. Joan (Jennifer Jason Leigh) A mother of three children. One of which is bedridden, James (Cameron Monaghan) is
unable to speak or move, because of a recent tragic accident. Belle (Bella Thorne) who is angry about moving to a new location in her senior year of highschool. and Juliet (Mckenna Grace).
Belle continues to show her dislike for the new house, and her mother's decision making. Her son james needs to be taken care of, with the help of Candice (Jennifer Morrison), Joan can work and care for her son James who's paralyzed. An accident made their lives disconnected, especially with her daughters. Belle continues to complain about her issues, and Joan needs to make sure James gets the best care, so that one day he can awaken and rejoin the family.
The films hidden plot is pretty good. The fact that a bunch of highschool kids came up with the greatest idea, and put it into action made the film fun at first glance. To me that was genius. Here we go. Terrance (Thomas Mann) came up with an idea of watching the films, yes watching them so that you could somehow be prepared. (The Amityville movies) Especially watching the movie at around 3:15 A.M. which is considered dead time, or the witching hour. The dead is more active around that time. Unexplained events are at it's peak at that time in the night. Watching the movie at the dead's peak time is all good to me, just try and leave the lights on.
Plot number two which i believe was hidden, or the filmmakers tried to hide it, and did an excellent job doing it. . Joan's main purpose for buying the house is selfish in so many ways. Her son was on a verge of death, yet she knew about the supernatural events from the past as well as the murders in the house. She decided not to tell her daughter, Belle about the murderous past; Especially the paranormal events that ensued with the Luts family. The family only lived in that house for about 29 days.
The Lutz's even had a Priest take off on them after a blessing, because a dark, sinister voice tells the man of God to "Get Out!" there is something truly wrong with this picture.
Joan knew about the house, and her reasons were sinister in a way. Her son wasn't getting any better and the only way out of this was getting his son possessed. She prayed, and prayed, but nothing changed. Instead of getting her son ready for death, maybe keeping him alive wasn't a good idea, but her selfishness brought her to make an awful decision. She accepted the evil to take her son over, giving him a chance at life, but inside he would be dead. Joan knowing these things made her selfish, almost cruel in a way.
Belle (Bella Thorne) connected with her brother, the true connection in the film, a small simple scene that made this horror a gem. She knew of what happened in the past. Her brother protected her no matter what the cost. His protection brought him to the bed, paralyzed, a vegetable at best. Belle's moment, looking into her brother's eyes talking to him. The only communication is the advanced computer that the doctor set up which is able to read eye movements. He is able to use the virtual keyboard to communicate. Both characters connect like no other. Belle reflects on the past, and James tells her about something evil. He wants to die. Because of the other person, or something inside him.
Not a huge plot, but i do like the simpleness of it. The film is straightforward, and that is the key to it's success. Love it. Hate it.
Bella Thorne was really good as well. She managed to get the scenes done right. Her character was simple, not complex. Some horror movies have the main characters complex, without reason why. The character has no idea where to go and how to go about it. Remember those films? The main protagonist doesn't have to be complex, just make it simple. The story will flow. Look at the Conjuring. Ed and Lorraine Warren are Demonologist working with the church. Simple, no complex background making it so difficult that the story suffers. The flow of the scenes are slowed because of it. Amityville Horror: The Awakening, Belle's character is conflicted. Her battle is with her mom for moving, and jealous of her brother despite his condition. The simpleness of her character makes the story flow.
The special effects were low budget, but it still managed to scare the heck out of me. The director knew he had a limited budget, so he used everything possible to make sure the story, characters were on the right track. The job of the director is to guide the actors, make sure the vision of the writer is conveyed. Although sometimes that vision is twisted depending on the director. Tim Burton, Christopher Nolen, for example. These guys have strong visual sense on how their world should be like. Nolen did it in the Batman trilogy, and Burton continues to manipulate in every film he directs. Alice in Wonderland is a very different take, and just by watching the film you'd know who the director was. My point here is that the director is a huge key to the success of a film, but sometimes their vision of that story, world gets messed up in what they think is right. Sometimes too big isn't the key. The simple effects, scares, will almost always give you the desired feedback.
Amityville has a huge effect on me, especially the 1979 film with James Brolin, and Margot Kidder. The film was not only scary it's themes of demonic possession made it uncomfortable to watch. I had watched the film when i was older at the time, but when i did the film did a good job to leave a scar. Demonic possesion, supernatural events like that can be a deal breaker in a film, unless it's done right. And in the case for the 79 film it did just that. The scare was real, because of what happened i guess.
The emotions of what happened hits you pretty hard, you feel for the family. The scar that is still there, it has never left me since i saw the film early on in my life as a teenager. Now having kids you want to get away from stuff like that. The theme of the film is more than a ghost story. The Lutz family moved into the house to early, granted it was cheap but the cost of moving into that particular house, and knowing the past has a huge impact, one with a big mistake. The presence was too much to handle. The demon was present, and that was apparent throughout the film. It moved pretty fast, and the way it manipulated the family was just plain horrible. The family did experience these supernatural events that occurred in that house. But did it? The mystery still is unsolved today.
As far as the film is concerned, the Amityville Awakening did it's job as a good follow up. Have an opened mind while watching it, and remember it is low budget, but other than that the film is a quality horror film. The whole possesion, supernatural thing really bothers me because it happens to good people. The scare is the reality of it. The door in front of you needs to be opened, but what's behind it has a long lasting effect that can deliver an emotional blow.
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