4/10
Mirrors cause problems
12 February 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Inspired by the book Amityville: The Evil Escapes by John G. Jones, this non-cannon sequel is packed with so many genre favorites and has a pretty astounding premise, combining early 90's performance art and the Amityville mythos.

It's directed by John Murlowski, who also brought us...Santa With Muscles.

Keyes Terry (Ross Partridge, absentee father Lonnie Byers from Stranger Things) is an art photographer who is given a new objet d'art by a homeless man in the form of a mirror that ends up being possessed by the spirit of his father Franklin Bronner. Oh yeah - and it turns out that his dad killed his whole family on Thanksgiving night back in the original Amityville house. Obviously, this has nothing to do with the Defeo family from reality or the Montellis from Amityville II: The Possession.

This was made under the title Amityville 1993: The Image of Evil, which makes sense, as it's all about that evil mirror, which is now killing anyone it comes near and threatens to turn Keyes into the same kind of murderer that his father was.

There are some pretty nice practical effects in this, as the filmmakers were going for an old school tone in the midst of all the neon-hued 90's. That means that none of the visions in the cursed mirror were created with composites or other visual effects, but all created in-camera with the use of half-silvered mirrors placed at an angle in front of the lens. This process is known as Pepper's Ghost and has been a part of magic stage acts since the mid 1800's.

One of Keyes' artist friends Suki is played by Julia Nickson, who was Co in Rambo: First Blood Part II and also in Double Dragon, as well as once being married to David Soul and currently being a member of the Church of Scientology. Plus, you get Terry O'Quinn (Stepfather), Lala (sometimes billed as Lala Zappa, as she's Frank's niece) who was in Dream A Little Dream, David Naughton from An American Werewolf In London, Barbara Howard (Sara from Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter), Richard Roundtree (Shaft!), Robert Rusler (A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge, Weird Science) and Lin Shaye as a nurse.

Writers Christopher DeFaria and Antonio Toro also wrote Amityville: It's About Time. Toro has no other credits, but DeFaria has gone on to produce films like Mad Max: Fury Road and Ready Player One.
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