‘For god’s sake get out of the water!’
Amityville Island is a 2020 American horror film about a cursed survivor of killings at the Amityville House who brings evil to a small island where bizarre genetic experiments are carried out on humans and animals in a secret women’s prison.
This is apparently a loose sequel to Amityville Exorcism (2017).
Written and directed by Mark Polonia (Bride of the Werewolf; Frozen Sasquatch; Sharkenstein; Jurassic Prey; Feeders; et al).
The movie stars Jeff Kirkendall (Outpost Earth; Sharkenstein; Land Shark), Danielle Donahue (Jurassic Prey; Queen Crab; Amityville Death House) and Jamie Morgan (House Shark).
Reviews:
“Polonia never stages anything with an unmistakable wink to tell the audience he realizes how bad everything looks […] Line deliveries are awkwardly goofy for sure, but scenes play seriously, making for a truly dumbfounding experience where you witness everyone pretending like they’re in a Steven Spielberg epic even though they’re working with an Ed Wood aesthetic.” Culture Crypt
“Amityville Island is as high concept as it is low-budget, and therein lies the charm… like the entirety of Mark’s extensive oeuvre. In this flick we get elements of the women in prison, nature run amok, and possession genres all mixed up and spat back out as a heady concoction that is as delicious as it is bad for you…” Horror Fuel
“The acting is horrible. To be fair, some of it’s because of the miserably cartoonish dialogue, buuuuut there’s a very apparent lack of timing here. No one knows how to time their reactions, so every scene contains delayed emotional expressions […] At least it’s in the so-bad-it’s-funny area of bad horror, but it’s still awful. Just absolutely awful.” Horror Reviews by The Collective
“The tone here is grim and serious (even with those “scary” glimpses of the guy in the red cloak and mask!), with a creepy, ominous (and very heavy-handed) score which has been recycled in so many of these films I suspect even Mark has lost track. Unfortunately, the grim tone seems a little at odds with the eclectic mix of strangeness on display here.” Rivets on the Poster
“When you see how bad the special effects and overall photography are, you kind of lose faith in this movie. And when you notice the bad acting, you understand there’s little hope for redemption. This gets a spot in the lowest tier of Amityville rip-offs, for sure. It’s not clear if the humor is deliberate, but it’s better to laugh than cry.” Tales of Terror
“All the pointless flashbacks help to further keep the pacing firmly stuck in the mud. While I respect the attempt to weirdly graft a women in prison subplot in there, ultimately, this is a lame hodgepodge of half-baked ideas and cheap special effects strung together on a shoestring budget with amateurish actors.” The Video Vacuum
“Obviously shot by the shore of a lake, not an ocean where you might actually find a shark, with mismatched stock footage of the ocean spliced in, Amityville Island is a train wreck. With its ridiculous plot and dialogue, it has to be a failed attempt at ironic humour.” Voices from the Balcony
Release:
Amityville Island was released on DVD by Wild Eye Releasing, with an audio commentary track and trailers, on March 17, 2020. Order from Amazon.com
Cast and characters:
Danielle Donahue … Renata
Jamie Morgan … Kelly Jo Knight
Jeff Kirkendall … Dr Ormond
James Carolus … Dr Tyler
Titus Himmelberger … Eric Cates
Steve Diasparra … Ellison
Tim Hatch … Hayden (as Timothy Hatch)
Marie DeLorenzo … Melanie
Yolie Canales … Nikki McPartland
Wyatt Wood … Gunning
Cassandra Hayes … Tamika
Maria Davis … Kelly Jo’s Mom on the Phone (uncredited)
Mark Polonia … Valentine (uncredited)
Filming locations:
Wellsboro, Pennsylvania
Technical details:
1 hour 10 minutes
Aspect ratio: 1.78: 1
Amityville movies timeline:
This is rated half a star but Google doesn’t recognise less than a star.
