source: Amityville Horror: The Evil Escapes

After the original trilogy, a fourth part made for television was released. With some scenes set in a house with the similar looking of the original trilogy house, the story focus in a new house where arrive a possessed lamp from the Amityville house. The script is simple, it's funny as one episode of "Tales from the Darkside". The cinematography is cool and the performances are ok. A funny film!

This film is a lot better than the original and any of the others (which isn't saying much) mostly because of Patty Duke's strong performance. The writing it horrible (but better than the 1979 original) and makes little sense, most of the charactors are not believable but Duke pulls it off. Her and Jane Whyatt really have a great daughter/mother chemistry. Watch this film for this reason only.

This is soooo good the amityville movies keep getting better and better amityville horror was good but a little dated now amityville 2 was s**t scary amityville 3-d was hugly entertaining with brilliant sfx and now amityville 4 the first not to go to the cinema but staright to vhs and why it should have gone to cinema it would of been a huge hit 10/10 :-}

Amityville 4 (as it was billed here) was the first Amityville movie I saw. Originally an NBC TV movie from 1989, it was shown on ITV one Saturday night and I remember staying up "late" to watch it on the portable TV in my bedroom. The Amityville movies and the backstory had a weird sort of forbidden mystique to me, and they were always spoke about as if Lucifer himself lived in the film negative. All chills and any sort of dread was instantly washed down the plughole in a whirlpool of utter stupidity when the movie revealed its villain. This movie is about a haunted lampshade. Opening with yard sale at what clearly isn't 112 Ocean Ave the movie has some old deary purchase said lampshade and ship it off to her sister in California as a gift. Also arriving at the same moment is the Evans family, who have recently lost daddy. The mommy (played by Patty Duke, once the youngest actress to ever win an Oscar) is struggling with the kids and needs stability of living with Grandma until they get back on their feet. But the haunted lampshade has other ideas and manipulates the youngest daughter, hoping to soon possess her too, but not before infecting the new home. Using evil ghost powers (or whatever) the new house goes wild. Teapots scald grandma (um?), chainsaws switch themselves on, some idiot putting his hand down the waste disposal plug finds out the hard way that it's a stupid thing to do, doors slam shut and don't open (yet again!) even if they are the type of door that doesn't lock, some poor schlub plumber investigating weirdness underneath the house gets gunged (seemingly to death, and is instantly forgotten about) sandwiches make themselves, dinner eats itself, the movie is about a haunted lampshade! In a certain outstanding moment of special ghost powers the lampshade/house possesses a van and makes it drive away with no one at the wheel. Where did it go? Did it ever stop? Is it still going now? This is nonsense! I'm not kidding. I remember watching the scene where the camera first focuses on the haunted lampshade as an ominous chord sounds and loudly, cynically asking "Really?" TV was very different back then and there were only four channels to meet our needs for entertainment. I guess I should have turned over to BBC 2 or whatever stupid opera was playing on Channel 4. Probably, but probably not, based off the novel of the same name there is a mere smidgen of truth in the movie. When the Lutz family fled 112 Ocean Avenue in December 1975 (absolutely not the timeline of this stupid movie) they only took the clothes that they were wearing, leaving behind all of their possessions (pun intended). Later on (not in 1989) their friends emptied the house and had a yard sale. Presumably a haunted lampshade was not passed on to some old wifey. What really bugs me the most about this movie is that the house in New Jersey that doubled as 112 Ocean Ave (the owners of the real house want no association with the movies) isn't used. The entire thing was shot in California so they found a house that vaguely-kinda-sorta looks like it. But the angles and editing of this stand-in are terrible. The REAL Amityville house is perpendicular to the road, not parallel to it. Also, the back end faces out onto a boathouse and a canal connecting to the Atlantic Ocean (hence the street name), not another street! ThIs idiotic continuity error should have been avoided, especially since director Sandor Stern was the writer of the original (terrible) 1979 movie. 4/10 only because of the hot teenage daughter, who I wanted to get naked, but sadly doesn't.

I know this isnt one of the best Amityville films but i still found it enjoyable. Patty Duke is great as Nancy and the plot outline isnt that bad either! The fx arent upto scratch but dont let that spoil the fun as you get to see a man have his hand cut off by a shredder! Its the old woman Alice that i hate she never stops moaning and doesnt seem to like her daughter and grandkids much!

this movie is simply pethetic! all the acting is bad, aron eisenberg looks like he is bored (can u blame him? its about an evil FLOOR LAMP!!!!) watch it if u like b grades of ur an aron eisenberg fan like me!!

Amityville: The Evil Escapes (1989) is less a demonic possession movie and more an electrical appliance and deadly household accident horror movie along the lines of Maximum Overdrive (1986) and movies later in the '90s such as The Mangler (1995) -- Stephen King appliance horror movies; and, also note the Children of the Corn (more King) references with the little blond girl drawing violent crayon art. It's almost like it's a warning movie for single mothers who read Stephen King novels: FEAR the INCURABLE tetanus and the DEADLY garbage disposal. ESCAPE the STRANGLING electrical cord in the attic or the OXYGEN DEPRIVING, SEWAGE SPEWING water pipes in the basement before it's too late! BEWARE the impenetrable BLAMING GLARE of your grandmother, also a single woman, as she struggles with -- BRATTY CHILDREN! All of these things can be avoided with proper household disaster prevention tactics -- such as: 1. NOT running your finger along the edge of sharp metallic objects. 2. NOT installing a garbage disposal on/off switch UPSIDE DOWN! 3. Not hoarding heavy appliances with long electrical cords, but if you do, secure any loose cords. 4. Don't lay directly underneath the end of a pipe you're loosening up, especially if you know there's some type of heavy disgusting sewage running through those pipes. Or at least give yourself a little wiggle room even if you become pinned. 5. Get your messed up catatonic daughter with PTSD and daddy issues PROFESSIONAL HELP from the full spectrum of psychiatry, therapy and behavioral science. You don't just listen to some Freudian quack and his pseudo-scientific responses; you seek second, third, and fourth opinions on any serious mental health diagnosis, especially if therapy/medication doesn't provide results. There's a range of decent to very good acting, as well. Not nearly as bad as some other movies, and happily campy as a consolation prize from time to time. One of the more deliciously twisted scenes depicts a child and a chainsaw that comes alive in his hands! Grandma/mom, don't leave that thing laying around even if it's unplugged! Amityville: The Evil Escapes may be derivative of its contemporaries but the leading lady is excellent. Thanks Patty Duke, R.I.P. If you want to see truly bad acting from a leading lady, watch Linda Hamilton in the campier but more classic Children of the Corn (1984). Anyway, good movie when you consider it's actually a household appliance horror movie intended to teach single mothers and grandmothers how to raise healthy children. I give this movie 7 bratty children being watched by 1 nanny, 1 mama, a grandma, and 1 ex- bowling champ with only 1 hand. :)

After the outrageous "Amityville 3D", the rest of the films of the franchise wouldn't see a cinema release until the 2005 remake of the original. "The Evil Escapes" would get a TV release, but those after it would go straight to video. Anyhow this entry begins off with a group of priests preparing to enter the Amityville house (even though it did blow up after the third feature) to battle the evil force that dwells within. But the entity manages to escape in to a sinisterly ugly looking lamp and the priest that happened to see it was badly knocked out. Couple weeks have past and the priest has awakened to discover the lamp was sold as a garage sale. Now it's ended up on the other side of the country, dwelling in the home of Mrs Alice Leacok who's newly widowed daughter and her three children have just moved in. Soon enough unusual things begin to happen and the youngest child keeps stating she can see her dead father. This particular sequel has a different take on the Amityville curse, but its outcome is just… bonkers. Making it terrifying for all the wrong reasons. So many stupid things occur; you wonder how everyone keeps a straight-face. Think about it. A haunted lamp. Even if it wasn't haunted. Its just looks ominous… and ugly. We watch how the entity makes the light glow (when its not plugged in?!), attract the flies and then move between the electrical cords (a lump of black goo), as it goes about causing trouble, which often leads to freak accidents and machinery going crazy. Hey we even get some uncontrollable chainsaw action; a melting phone and an insane climax when the family battles the flickering satanic lamp ending off with a payoff which makes you think why it took them this long. A little extreme, but it does the job. These shocks might be nasty, but at the same time quite humorous. Some sequences are just too fun, but they indeed lack the rush. The family at the receiving end of this curse are an irritating bunch. How the youngest child (who's quite a sour-face) becomes possessed just reeks of "Poltergeist". The mother is clueless, while the two dumbfounded teenagers (Zoe Trilling) fair no better. Jane Wyatt is suitably good in her role as Mrs Leacok and then there's Fredric Lehne who plays the priest that persistently comes off second best with the encounters. For a TV production is durably pulled off with some decent location atmosphere (the remote house is on top of a cliff that faces an ocean) and the camera-work fluidly frames the action. The music score can be a little too raucous and uncanny. What can you say, be careful when you decide to drop in at a garage sale. "That evil is searching for souls".

I wasn't expecting much from this film, however it turned out to be decently entertaining considering it's the fourth Amytville sequel. The plot concerns a possessed lamp removed from the original Amytville house, that is now in a new house causing mayhem. The acting is decent and the story isn't too boring. Sadly it lacked gore, but then so did a lot of films in the late 80's. Whenever I see a lamp now I always think of this film, whether that's a good thing or not I don't know. If you can find a cheap copy then it may be worth a watch, however I wouldn't go out of your way to find it as it's not the best around.