Amityville Exorcism

Lore & Background

In the film, the Johnson family relocates to a rundown Amityville house, unaware of its violent history. Soon, their teenage daughter, Amy, begins exhibiting erratic behavior—speaking in tongues, levitating, and attacking her siblings. The family calls in Father Michaels, a troubled priest battling his own doubts, who attempts a traditional exorcism. The ritual is depicted with graphic, low-budget practical effects, including stigmata and supernatural contortions, but the demon proves resilient, leading to a bleak climax where the priest sacrifices himself to save the girl.

Reader's Guide

Amityville Exorcism is notable as the eighteenth film in the long-running series inspired by Jay Anson's 1977 novel. Released direct-to-video in 2017, it was directed by Mark Polonia and written by Billy D'Amato and Agung Bagus. The film received overwhelmingly negative reviews. Tex Hula of Ain't It Cool News ranked it the worst of the twenty-one Amityville films he reviewed, calling it incompetent and comparing it to public access television. Horror News criticized it for using standard exorcism beats without innovation, concluding it was poorly made and only used the Amityville name for attention. Despite this, the film spawned two sequels: Amityville Island (2020) and Amityville in Space (2022). Its legacy lies in being a low-budget entry that extended the franchise into direct-to-video territory, appealing primarily to fans of director Mark Polonia's other work.

Did You Know?

• The film was shot in just six days using a single location in Pennsylvania, doubling for Amityville.
• Director Mark Polonia reused props and set pieces from his earlier horror films to cut costs.
• Despite its title, the film has no connection to the 2005 *The Amityville Horror* remake or any official Amityville sequels.
• The movie was released directly to DVD and streaming platforms, bypassing theaters entirely.