Horror Movie Review: Amityville – It’s About Time (1992)

The Amityville franchise began with a simple tale of a house that was possessed by demons. Based in reality (I’m not talking about the Lutz families bullshit story but rather the DeFeo family murder) it remains a horror classic. Since then we’ve seen the story taken to such lows desperately trying to cash in on the name. We’ve had possessions, 3D, haunted lamps & even one that has no links to the original beyond the town.

It is amazing that a 6th movie was ever made & going in it’s impossible to not have serious reservations but shockingly Amityville: its About Time is a good movie. I know, take the fucking wheel…

I will admit that I’ve not quite gotten over Amityville 4: The Evil Escapes & its terrible tale of the haunted lamp. So I couldn’t help but groan when I realised that this film was going to be about a haunted clock.

Jacob has returned home from a trip to Amityville where he picked up an old clock. He found it in the remains of an old house there…can you guess which one? He puts the clock on the mantelpiece & declares to his family that ‘it is what their house has been missing’.

It’s not long before strange occurrences begin to happen. Rooms resemble torture chambers, hours seem to pass in a second & after being bitten by a dog, Jacob’s behaviour begins to radically change.

That and the clocks ticking is getting louder & louder.

There are two early signs that It’s About Time is going to better than expected. The first is that it’s directed by the same man who directed Hellbound: Hellraiser II & that other is that lovely 90’s shine the movie has all over it.

Visually the movie looks great with some really fun effects. The clock, once on the mantelpiece, fixes itself to it & begins to spread itself through the walls. We see this in the final scenes & it makes it seem so much more threatening than a bloody lamp.

The links to the original movie are subtle too, hints dropped here & there. It’s as close as we can get to an original, good idea while offering some connection to the franchises roots.

The acting is mostly above average although it does have many a cringe-worthy moment. Later in the movie as Jacob begins to obsess over the clock his ‘crazy’ antics are more laughable than terrifying. He throws his all into it, that much is clear.

What is nice to see is a bit more blood & gore than you’d normally see in an Amityville horror. It’s used sparingly & mostly in context with an infected bite wound looking particularly gross.

Where the movie does fall down is in it’s length, it’s pretty long & takes a while to get going. The story has a few too many convoluted attempts at explaining the whys when it doesn’t really need too. The happy ending also feels out of place for a story that had been pretty dark for most of it’s run-time.