Horror Movie Review: Amityville Clownhouse (2017)

Director Dustin Ferguson returns to the infamous Amityville house to follow-up on his 2016 horror, The Amityville Legacy aka Amityville Toybox. Yes, Amityville Clownhouse aka Amityville: Evil Never Dies is a direct sequel.

Remember the cymbal monkey toy in Legacy/Toybox that came from the house? That, and the idea that items from 112 Ocean Avenue are evil and possessed, are the features of this sequel.

It begins in decent fashion too as a Rhode Island senator named Ty Pangborn (Dan Mauro) goes insane, dons clown make-up and shoots his family dead, before turning the gun on himself. What has this got to do with Amityville? Well, Pangborn bought a distinct clown painting that may have come from 112 Ocean Avenue.

A short time after that event, a trio of thieves break into the Pangborn house to find said painting but are all killed by the ghost of Ty in his clown make-up.

The evil lives on… in objects from the house. Be it a lamp, a clock, a mirror, a dollhouse, and a cymbal monkey toy. Regular watchers of this franchise will get a kick out of this detail as all of these items have appeared in Amityville movies over the decades.

Enough of that though, the movie has only been on for a little over 15-minutes and its time to meet some new characters again. This time, in Nebraska, where married couple Ben (Ben Gothier) and Michelle (Michelle Muir-Lewis) purchase the toy monkey from an antique shop.

You know what that means? The pair are soon assaulted by nightmares and visions of the evil events that occurred in 112 Ocean Avenue. The demonic force inside the monkey starts to drive them apart, warping their realities and behaviour until nothing but death and destruction is left.

That’s a bit of hyperbole there as this low-budget offering doesn’t quite have the ‘oomph’ needed to express all of that. However, it sure does try and similar to the previous Ferguson film, that is quite admirable and enjoyable. In fact, this is a step-up and can rightfully be called one of the better films in the long-suffering franchise overall.

It’s not going to go down as a classic but anything with the Amityville title that can be called ‘watchable’ deserves to be seen.