Amityville: The Awakening (2017)

Directed by: Franck Khalfoun | 87 minutes | horror, thriller | Actors: Jennifer Jason Leigh, Bella Thorne, Mckenna Grace, Cameron Monaghan, Thomas Mann, Taylor Spreitler, Jennifer Morrison, Kurtwood Smith, Dan Martino, Brian Breiter, Jordyn Utz

The nights are getting longer, the wind howls around the house. Time to light the candles, open the wine and park yourself on the couch with a nice horror movie. If you choose ‘Amityville: The Awakening’, you know what you get. A house with a mischievous facade where a bloody massacre takes place. Yes, again.

“The Awakening” is the tenth installment in the official Amityville series and a direct sequel to 1979’s “The Amityville Horror”. back and together with mother Joan (Jennifer Jason Leigh), sister Juliet (Mckenna Grace) and comatose twin brother James (Cameron Monaghan) makes a fresh start in an old house. The house where Ronald DeFeo butchered his family forty years earlier is later told by a school friend with an encyclopedic knowledge of the subject. That doesn’t bode well.

Soon inexplicable things happen. Belle has to get out of bed regularly to investigate nighttime noises. The dog of the house barks at nothing. Doors open automatically. Doors close automatically. James suddenly awakens from his vegetative state. Mother Joan is happy with the signs of recovery, but Belle feels something isn’t right. That causes a fight in the tent. When the paralyzed James learns to communicate via a computer interface, he has to wait for the inevitable HELP to appear on the screen. Belle must do everything in her power to save her family from the evil forces at home. That explains the competitive asking price!

Okay, ‘The Awakening’ isn’t the worst part of the series, but that doesn’t say much. The film looks neat, there are a few successful, disturbing scenes and director Franck Khalfoun has recruited decent actors, although only Cameron Monaghan seems to really feel like it. With his pained look and twisted, worn-out body, his character also immediately provides the greatest horror factor.

For the rest, ‘The Awakening’ is mainly a lazy movie. The story is predictable. You see a lot of scary moments coming. The characters remain one-dimensional and elusive. Belle is portrayed as a caricatured emo teenager, complete with heavy eyeliner, black lipstick and a sense of guilt over her brother’s condition. The origin of this guilt is often teased, but later you discover that it all means little. Lousy, bad for you, can happen. Couldn’t Khalfoun have come up with a better trauma?

Neither the haunted house element nor the brother/sister element gets a surprising effect in ‘Amityville: The Awakening’. No problem if you’re in the mood for straightforward horror, but if you want more, opt for ‘The Conjuring’ or ‘Oculus’ to see how it can be done.