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Forgettable, fright-free: Review of Amityville - The Awakening
Instead of tension and thrills, there’s just a bunch of clichés and an overwhelming sense of déjà vu.
In the latest of over a dozen sequels and remakes since the 1979 original, Amityville Horror is, unfortunately, back.
An all-new family has moved into the infamous abode, unaware of its legacy. Soon, the humdrum lives of the new residents — a widowed mother (Jennifer Jason Leigh, underutilised) and her two daughters (Bella Thorne-McKenna Grace) — is being ripped asunder; demonic forces take possession of the elder girl’s comatose twin brother (Cameron Monaghan).
Rather than tension and thrills, there is an overwhelming sense of déjà vu.
Director Franck Khalfoun (Maniac) uses schlocky genre flourishes like screeching sound effects and routine jump scares.
The acting is uniformly mediocre as is the attempt to revitalise the forgettable frightmare franchise.
