Amityville 1992: It's About Time (1992)

"There's no sense in looking for it. It's not like ghosts and demons and shit. See, I think it's inside of us, it's in everything. It's trying to make this house its home."

It seems almost redundant to mention the almost mythical law of diminishing returns, but Amityville 1992: It's About Time is such a perfect example of said piece of cinema mythology that it's difficult not to. This time, the action doesn't even take place in Amityville, but in the leafy California suburb of Burlwood, though it borrows it basic plot from Amityville: The Evil Escapes (1989).

There are one or two moments of invention in Amityville 1992: It's About Time, more perhaps than one might expect from the sixth film in a series that was never that great to begin with. The concept of the clock altering time, for instance, is well handled, as when it causes time in the room where it rests to run slower than in the rest of the house, or when it turns Rusty into a baby again. Sadly, it's used in the cop-out ending; unable to think of a decent climax, DeFaria simply has the clock send Andrea back in time to the beginning of the film again where she's able to destroy the clock and lay the evil to rest, whereupon she does the only sensible thing she's done in the entire movie - she packs her bags and leaves.

Randel has made it clear that he was unhappy about Amityville 1992 being released direct to video, citing his use of audio effects on the soundtrack and its diminished effect on the small screen. And sure enough, he does use the audio track to signify moments of unease, but it really isn't done that well; mostly, it seems to be voices slowing down or being treated by effects and that in itself just isn't that scary. The film has some other very peculiar ideas too - chiefly, DeFaria and Randel clearly don't understand that no power travels down an electric guitar lead, yet one is used to get Rusty out of trouble by electrocuting Lisa. Similarly, why does Mrs Wheeler know so much about the original Amityville haunting and why does she have such a deep interest in the occult? Nothing is really explained, and the audience is simply expected to go along with it all, unthinkingly and without asking questions.

The Amityville series has never really been reknowned for being particularly scary or gruesome, and Amityville 1992 is no exception. One decent shock scene occurs when Leonard is menaced by a scabby figure in his bath, but the grue is decidely tame and low-tech, relying mostly on unconvincing slime and suppurating wound effects.

A mixed bag, then; on the one hand, Randel and co pull off a few nice touches (Andrea finally gets to see the model community that Jacob's been working on, only to find it full of miniature replicas of the Amityville house with little gravestone bearing the names of the other characters), while on the other it's just another entry in a long running horror franchise that had nothing much to say after the first film.
KEVIN LYONS

Last Updated: 1 January, 2009