Mark (Mark Popejoy), a recovering alcoholic, has lived with his mother (Jeanne Kern) and his daughter Britany (Britany Dailey), who's pretty much looking after the both of them, in their country home ever since his wife had died. All his other children have left home long ago, but now it's hit 50th birthday and they all return for a birthday party. It should have been a joyous affair, but soon it becomes clear that this is pretty much a disfunctional family: Some of Mark's kids believe dad (or rather his alcoholism) is also to blame for their mum's death, grandma gets more and more erratic, and now that Britany's pregnant, it might be too much for her to look after Mark and his mother. Plus Mark's not at all ok with the fact that his son Tony's (Tony Brown) is gay, daughter Bree (Breana Mitchell) has sex with her boyfriend without being married, and how could Britany even get knocked up out of wedlock? And then there's Mark's sister-in-law Cheyenne (Cheyenne King) who tries to seduce him and thinks of all things alcohol's the way to his heart ...

So not the happiest family indeed - but then one of his daughters gives Mark the present of his lifetime, a windup gorilla exactly like the one he had as a child (and exactly that old, too). Thing is though, the gorilla was present in the Amityville Horror House when the murders happened 40 years ago, and now seems to be possessed. So before long, Mark begins to see his long-deceased father, and dad tells Mark to slaughter his family, just as Ronald DeFeo (Eric Moyer) had done in the Amityville Horror House - and with all his pent-up anger, Mark is only too happy to oblige, at first subtly, luring family members away one by one, but ultimately, he hunts his remaining daughters down one by one armed with ax and shotgun ...

The Amityville Legacy is a nice throwback to grindhouse horror of the 1970s, it's blunt and violent, but understands when to show its shocks and when to actually better hide them for full effect, it makes up for its low budget with a well-structured story and a very steady pace, and its no-frills directorial effort really works for the movie's impact. And a solid ensemble cast doesn't hurt, either. Cool genre entertainment, really!

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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