Amityville 1992: It’s About Time

(1992) ***

In the 6^th installment of the long-running horror franchise architect Jake Sterling stumbles upon an old clock in the rubble of a neighborhood that is being torn down to make way for a new living community.  Thinking it looks cool (it does!) he takes the clock back home to California and places it on the mantle of his living room.  As Jake leaves the room the clock literally digs itself into the mantle with a drill as if to say, “Just try to remove me!”  It does not take long before the clock starts to take over the joint, consuming the lives of Jake, his ex-girlfriend and his two teenage kids.  When Jake’s son flips the light switch in the living room late one evening, he finds the room transformed and laden with implements of torture.  When he turns the light off and on again the room is normal.  Just what is going on here?  Jake’s son does some investigating with a local elderly woman who apparently knows everything and they determine that the clock comes from a 15^th century torture den of a French necromancer.  This possessed (?) clock is supposed to explain why the Lutz family was driven from their home in the original story.  Soon the house is transformed into the famous  Lutz home and once again the family recreates the events of the first film.

I really don’t know what to make of this film.  Amityville 1992:  It’s About Time is the Halloween III of the Amityville franchise and that’s not a bad thing (love Halloween III!).  Although the story strays as far as possible from the original idea, there is something weird and charming about this installment.  The deaths are unusual/original and I can tell that the film becomes better with repeat viewings.  As one reviewer noted, “most of the movie is just a succession of strange events befalling these people, without any internal logic” and I think that best sums it up.  Try it for fun!