Amityville II: The Possession (Directed by Damiano Damiani) This particular film was a direct cash-in on the popularity (and some would say notoriety) of “The Amityville Horror”, the “real-life” ghost story that was a box-office smash in 1979. Whilst there are a bewildering number of films with “Amityville” in the title (23 and counting!!), this was an attempt to (sort of) cover the genuine murders that took place at 112 Ocean Avenue before the Lutz family moved in. It’s actually based on the book “Murder in Amityville”, whereby a theory of possession is supplied by the author Hans Holzer to explain the reasoning for Ronald Defeo Jr. to kill his entire family. So the whole thing is actually
Scanners (Directed by David Cronenberg) Whilst “Carrie” might be seen as the poster-girl for telekinetic horror films, and modern superhero movies have psychically-enhanced characters in flocks, this was the film that really put the gory potential of the subject onto the silver screen, whilst confirming Cronenberg as a genre auteur. “The Fury” might have already exploded a human body with will-power, and films like “The Power” (1968) and “The Medusa Touch” (1978) tread surprisingly similar paths, but Cronenberg brought this tale of emerging telekinesis to life with the OG head-explosion and a palpable sense of power. The story was also written by the Canadian filmmaker, and he would later go
