AMITYVILLE 1992: IT'S ABOUT TIME

Tony Randel, 1992

Starring: Stephen Macht, Shawn Weatherly, Megan Ward, Damon Martin

"It's about time, that's what!"

Jacob, an architect out of town on business, picks up a stately old clock in Amityville, New York. He brings it home with him to California, where he lives with his two teenage children, Lisa and Rusty. His ex-girlfriend Andrea frequently stays with them and watches over the kids, even though she has a new boyfriend. Once Jacob brings the clock home, things take a turn for the strange. They are unable to get rid of it and it begins intruding on their lives. Rusty begins hallucinating and Jacob is attacked by a neighborhood dog. Andrea agrees to care for him, even though he is suddenly very unpleasant. 

The hallucinations spread throughout the household and time changes dramatically for all the characters, speeding up and slowing down at will. A number of other crazy things happen, including swastikas drawn in blood, malicious black ooze, nightmares, etc. One of the characters who figures out that the clock is the source of the evil is soon killed. The remaining characters must try to survive each other and the diabolical clock. 

Amityville 1992 thankfully ignores Amityville Curse and picks up where Amityville 4 left off. In 4, the characters had to contend with a possessed lamp that came from the original Amityville house. Here it is the clock and one of the later sequels would continue the theme with a possessed dollhouse. I honestly enjoyed Amityville II and 4 a hell of a lot more than the first, supposedly classic film, and It’s About Time continues the theme of rampant absurdity introduced in II. II, 4, and 6 all fall under the description of so-bad-it’s-good, but as far as ‘90s trash goes, it’s solid gold.

There are actually some decent effects at work here that include a pretty great face off between man and dog, death by some of the black goo that seems to make its way through most of the Amityville Horror films, a seduction scene between a girl and her mirror image, death by stork, etc. The scriptwriters really go out on a limb and present things like time travel, surprise aging, and a doozy of an ending. Like most of the other films, this deals with a central dysfunctional family. As far as repeating themes go, as with the second Amityville film, there’s some brother and sister incest, though it is only hinted at here. 

Most importantly, the reason the clock is haunted is because it once belonged to 15th century occult dabbler, serial killer, and companion of Joan of Arc, Gilles de Rais. What? The screenwriters also threw in some Nazi symbolism for good measure, insuring that absolutely anything goes in this sixth Amityville film.

The most surprising thing of all is that there’s actually some good acting here, led by the delightful Stephen Macht (Monster Squad and many more). Megan Ward (Encino Man, PCU) gives a nice performance as his troubled daughter and Dick Miller (Gremlins), beloved by all fans of ‘80s horror, also briefly shows up. Hellraiser II’s Tony Randel directs and put more heart back into series than I thought would be possible this late in the game. It may not have a large budget or a firm grip on reality, but It’s About Time is surprisingly entertaining and deserves to be seen by all lovers of trash cinema.

And, without giving away too many spoilers, the ending is insane. Someone gets turned into a baby by the evil clock. For this scene alone, you might want to check out the film. It’s available on DVD under its newer title, Amityville: It’s About Time.