The latest entry in the Amityville saga is Amityville: The Awakening, a film that had it's release delayed no less than five times. Originally shot in 2014 for a release for 2015, the film is just now seeing release, quietly released on Google Play with a planned Blu-Ray release planned for November. Usually, delays for a film's release is considered a very bad sign. But this one seemed downright cursed.
Belle Walker (played by Bella Thorne) has just moved with her mother Joan (played by Jennifer Jason Leigh), little sister Juliet (played by McKenna Grace), and brain dead twin brother James (played by Cameron Monaghan) into 112 Ocean Ave in Amityville, NY. The reason for the move is so they could be closer to Dr. Milton (played by Kurtwood Smith), a neurologist that Joan hopes can treat her son. Meanwhile, he's confined to the first floor on constant life support. At school, apparently the whole school got a memo that Belle is the new resident of the Horror house on Ocean Ave and have taken in upon themselves to mock her for it. She finds a couple sympathetic friends, Terrence (played by Thomas Mann) and Marissa (played by Taylor Spreitler), who fill her in on her new home's sordid history, something Bella was unaware of. Turns out Mom was aware of it though and didn't feel the need to burden her kids with it. But the more time she spends in the house, strange things start occurring and at the same time James begins to make a miraculous recovery, something Belle fears the evil forces residing in the house may be facilitating for their own ends.
The film was written and directed by Franck Khalfoun and really made an effort to create a film that would feel like a genuine follow-up to the original film and the first couple sequels. For the first time in a long time, the filmmakers actually went out of their way to genuinely recreate the original house as seen in the original film, as well as the first two sequels, which is something I appreciated and something that drove me crazy about the later films as well as the remake. Why I care is anyone's guess, I suppose, especially for a series of films about a event that has been completely debunked. At the same time, Khalfoun adds an interesting touch by having the previous Amityville films exist within the film's universe, going so far as having Belle, Terrence, and Marissa watching the original 1979 film in the house. This adds a curious amount of self-awareness to the film as it exists both as a sequel to the original 1979 film, yet that film also exists within the film. It's a cute touch, nonetheless. The film does also find an intriguing premise that breaks it free from some of the other entries. Even if the film is rather tepid as far as the scares go, it was surprisingly watchable. I was still fairly confident in where the movie was going to go and was pretty predictable, but it was at least something a little different as far as this franchise goes.
The acting in the film was decent with Bella Thorne leading the film as Belle. She made for a decent protagonist, a girl in her senior year of high school and has to move to a new town and new school because of her comatose, bedridden brother. Jennifer Jason Leigh makes the best of what I'm sure was a paycheck movie for her as Joan, who absolutely refuses to give up on her son James, leading her to make some rather questionable choices (like moving her family into 112 Ocean Ave) in a desperate attempt to save her son. Leigh does a good job portraying that frustration and determination, as well as occasionally showing a darker side to the character that rather reminded me of her character from Single White Female. Cameron Monaghan does a good job as James, even if he is basically stuck in bed for the film, he still gives the performance his all and is rather convincing as a bedridden paraplegic slowly making an incredible recovery back to life. I also liked Thomas Mann's performance as Terrence, the dorky friend who knows everything about the Amityville haunting and proposes they watch the original film in the actual house. Of course, it may be because I recognized those elements in myself because I am not going to lie, I would probably jump at the chance to watch The Amityville Horror in the actual house too. But I'm just that kind of nerd, I guess.
Overall, Amityville: The Awakening isn't the hot mess that it's repeated delays would suggest. It's far from a great horror movie either and is surprisingly tame with little in the way of actual scares. But, much to my surprise, it is rather watchable which is more than I can say for the bulk of the sequels in this sorry franchise.
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