The upside to this is that sometimes a movie is better than your first viewing belied. The first time I saw Session 9, I thought it was alright. The second time I gave it a shot, though, I asked it to marry me...so I'm certainly glad I gave it another go.
This is all a big, long, boring way for me to introduce the next Film Club choice: Amityville II: The Possession (1982). Once upon a time, I tried to watch it but I just couldn't get into it. I fully admit that this may be due to the fact that it stars Burt Young and I have a high aversion to Mr Young, who may be a perfectly fine gentleman in real life but I can't quite stand his stinky, greasy, sweaty, dirty onscreen persona. Plenty of horror fans have gone to bat for Amityville II, both here and elsewhere around The Information Superhighway, that I'm thinking the film may warrant another look. While I'm willing to deal with some Burt Young, however, I'm not going to do it alone...thus, let's welcome Amityville II into our collective Film Club Bosoms, yes? Yes!
Here's the link for all you Netflix enthusiasts. Or- check this- you can totally watch it on Hulu for free*. In other words, no excuses, people!
So, let's join cyber-hands together and turn our faces to the sun in the hopes that Amityville II: The Possession is indeed an underrated gem. Let us hope that when all is said and done, we've watched some good horror and I've learned a valuable lesson: that you can't judge a book by its Burt Young, or you can't judge a Burt Young by its cover, or something. None of that really makes sense, but you know what I mean.
The movie: Amityville II: The Possession
The due date: Monday, May 11
*I learned that Hulu has free horror movies from Sam Hawken, an FG reader who started his own Film Club revolving around said free offerings. Free-n-legal is awesome!
Free-n-barely-legal is even awesomer though.
ReplyDeleteI must've watched Caveman a hundred times when I was a wee young lad. There was this brief period where I watched it every day. I've never revistsed the film since then though, and I'll take your lesson learned as proof to stay far away and cherish those memories from afar.
I agree with you. Sometimes a second (or third...) viewing can show you something in a totally new light.
ReplyDeleteThe first time I watched "Spider Baby" I was... confused? Lost? Freaked? I dunno.
But now I LOVE it! Guess you just never know.
Oooh, I'm so in. The best part? I don't even have to do anything. I just watched it again last September and posted a review on my blog. So I'll just re-post it come May 11th. Easy, breezy, beautiful as you would say.
ReplyDeletemaybe I should rewatch Session 9.
ReplyDeleteAn FYI on Hulu: You can only view it from the U.S. They discriminate against us poor Canadians.
ReplyDeleteI saw "Amityville II" recently, having not scene it since it played in theatres. It may be the best flick in the whole series, but that's really not saying a lot is it?
It's definitely extremely sleazy and is kind of like two separate genre rip-offs fused together.
Tried a movie a second time and had your opinion changed by it? That certainly has no RING of truth for me I tell you! Oh wait crap, yes it does. I do it all the time.
ReplyDeleteWhy I even rewatched a certain former Film Club pick that shall not be named and my opinion changed so much I felt I should remove my entire write-up and then punch the DVD in the face..but I'm also lazy.
As you know, Amityville means "Friendship-ville."
ReplyDeleteSession 9 is one of the great undiscovered horror films, that sadly few people have seen, so hopfully seeing it mentioned here, will encourage a few more people to check it out.
ReplyDeleteHulu also discriminates against the Brits, for the same reasons you can't watch it in Canada which kinda sucks. Still it's another "Final Girl Film Club Pick" so I can't be too blue.
The movie that benefitted most from a repeat viewing: The Corruptor (1999)
ReplyDeleteThe movie that suffered most from a repeat viewing: Better Off Dead (1985)
HUGE HUGE HUGE Session 9 fan!
ReplyDelete..and a moderate Amityville II: The Possesion fan..
Only because the first half of the movie is SO GOOD/SO UNBELIEVABLE(Y BAD/SLEAZY)..and the second half? Not so much.
I'd follow the rules and wait until May and add a review, but what I just wrote would probably be it.
Wow! I'm a party pooper AND I'm lazy!
-Ben
Hi, I wanna join the movie club, because everywhere I go online I see Amityville II streaming for free. Now I see there's a group planning to write about it so it must be my density to watch it.
ReplyDeleteHey, thanks the for the shout-out. I wish DreamHost wasn't having seizures right now, 'cause my blog is up and down for reasons totally beyond my control. Keep checking, folks.
ReplyDeleteI went back and forth on Amityville II as the second Hulu Horror Theater selection, but ultimately said no because my first viewing left such a nasty taste in my mouth. The incest scene, in particular, has never left me.
That said, I'll dip my toe into the scum again for this. See you on the flip side.
I enjoyed Amityville II more than the first, I'm a sucker for Damiani.
ReplyDeleteI never liked Amityville very much (yeah I said it)- thought it was a bunch of overrated cheap scares. That said, I'm actually excited to see the sequel for the first time, because I always have fun things to say about movies I don't like. But maybe I'll like it. Who knows?
ReplyDeleteSession 9 is pretty much the greatest horror movie ever, and anything Brad Anderson touches turns to gold. My own blog is modeled after it.
ReplyDeletethis was much better than the original and over the years it has become a real favorite of mine, the 3rd one "amityville 3-D: the demon" is surprisingly good as well.
ReplyDelete