Amityville is one of those film franchises, which has had a million different sequels made. One of those sequels is Amityville: A New Generation. This film has a somewhat interesting plot, but it fell short in several different departments. I find it hard for any sequel to live up to the original film. Amityville: A New Generation is no different in this respect. It has some attachment to the original movie, but part of that connection is stupid in how it is portrayed.
In Amityville: A New Generation, a film that was directed by John Murlowski and written by Christopher DeFaria (whose claim to fame was voicing Peppermint Patty & Pig Pen in Charlie Brown movies and producing Looney Tunes: Back in Action) and Antonio Toro (known for nothing but this movie), a mirror from the Amityville house ends up in the possession of a photographer. From there, the “haunted” mirror possesses people and they end up killing themselves, or being killed by the mirror.
Keyes Terry played by Ross Partridge (Kuffs), is a photographer who is known for his abstract photographs. However, his current project is photographing people. While having lunch, he is compelled to take a picture of a homeless man, Franklin Bronner (Jack Orend - Casino, The Blues Brothers). In exchange for taking his picture, the homeless man gives Keyes a mirror, the only thing he has of value. Keyes ends up giving it to his friend, Suki (Julia Nickson-Soul of Devil in the Flesh fame), an artist. Suki has a fling with Dick (David Naughton) who is totally into her, but she also has to deal with her abusive ex, Ray (Robert Rusler).
When Suki isn’t home, Ray breaks in. He sees the mirror and it possesses him, making him kill himself. The detectives, including Terry O’Quinn (Lost) as Detective Clark, start investigating the crime, because it’s pretty clear he committed suicide, though its odd he did it in Suki’s apartment. Suki is freaked out, but soon she learns the power of the mirror, too.
To further complicate things, Keyes finds out the homeless man is dead and wants to pay for his funeral. This reveals that the man was a deranged murderer, who killed his entire family at the Amityville House. He was released in the 80s, from the insane asylum because President Reagan cut funding (one of the funniest lines in this movie). Keyes also learns, the homeless man was his father, so he is infected with the blood of a murderer.
From there, the film gets pretty predictable. I wouldn’t say it was the worst film I’ve seen, but I wouldn’t rush out to any movie theater to see it either. The visual quality of the movie was decent though it was filled with plenty of cheesy effects. You can tell this movie is a lower budget horror film, because the effects of this film (originally released in 1993) are terrible. The mirror is by far the cheesiest effect. It looks like they tinted smoke to a red color and used bedroom sheets to swish them around. The transfer to DVD is at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 and the film was cut into full screen frames.
The audio quality was decent though it could have been better. You see this kind of sound on most low budget films or older horror movies. The audio is Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Sound. While most of the text was easy to hear, the music swelled in places that went over what was being done or said. The good thing about this movie is that it comes in the Amityville Collection, a selection of three movies, put out by Lionsgate Films. As three discs in one box, it would be hard to fit in any special features. Not that I necessarily mind this fact. I think watching Amityville: A New Generation was enough for me.
Bottom Line: Amityville: A New Generation is not the best horror film out there. It has a lot of holes in its story. The acting is second rate. The storyline is lacking. The special effects suck. If the other two films are worth watching, then this three-pack will be worth buying. To find out you will just have to wait and check out our reviews of Amityville Dollhouse and Amityville: It’s About Time. On its own, this is one you should rent before buying.
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Technorati Tags: DVD Review, Amityville, A New Generation, horror film, sequel
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Written by Shayne - Visit Website
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I am the proud Papa of a son, Dylan Michael Keller. Other than spending time with my son, I have two main obsessions in life; video games & movies. Often, the two accompany time spent with Dylan.
I’ve been married to Andrea for 13 years this December. One thing I’ve learned about married life is to always expect the unexpected. After nearly eleven years with just the three of us, and our Golden Retriever, Braeden, I’ve just found out I’m going to be a dad again.
In my professional life, I’m a bit of a cyber geek. I enjoy D&D, writing stories, role-playing, computer games, working on websites, and just hanging out. I work for a computer firm doing computer-tech type work and that’s all I can really say about my job.
In my fantasy life, I escape to the world of film. I’m not ashamed to admit that I’ve seen The Return of the King at least 37 times. I signed up to review movies, and you can guarantee I’ll do the job right. I hope you enjoy my reviews and always remember kids…Make Love, Not Warcraft.
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