Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.

SpunkySelfTwitter It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Taha Avalos The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Muldwych A Californian family's lives are thrown into turmoil by the presence of an old lamp sent to them by a well-meaning relative, a lamp that used to reside in a certain old house in Amityville.'The Evil Escapes' came out at a time when several horror franchises had fallen from earlier grace and were seeing low-budget revivals on television: 'Amityville IV', 'Psycho IV', and indeed 'The Omen IV'. Amityville IV for me is most definitely the weakest, with a script about an evil lamp that presumably didn't sell as is, so it was retooled until it could wear the 'Amityville' banner in order to ever see the light of day. Pure speculation on my part, given that it's apparently based on a book (then again, some books are inflatable bath toys), but that's pretty much how it looks from where I'm sitting.Following the house's miraculous recovery after it exploded fairly comprehensively in the last film, priests sweep across its reconstituted floors to exorcise the evil it contains once and for all. This they seemingly achieve, and soon after, the house's contents are sold off in a yard sale, including an old lamp we've never seen before during the time of the Lutzs, the Montellis or the Baxters, (maybe they can cgi it into the original Amityville Horror George Lucas-style) which attracts the attention of a buyer, who figures it'd look good in her sister's house over on the west coast. Unbeknownst to her, the lamp contains the demonic essence of the Long Island house from whence it came and it soon takes over the lives of its new victims. The inconsistencies seem baffling given that the screenplay was written Sandor Stern, screenplay scribe for the first Amityville - unless the original Sandor Stern exploded a few years earlier, reconstituted himself and isn't quite the same person, in much the same way that the Amityville house is quite obviously not the same. Or maybe Spectacor Films' budget didn't stretch to the inclusion of proper continuity.Still, if you put all this aside, 'The Evil Escapes' is not completely without entertainment value. There are a few seat-squirming moments involving certain household appliances as well as a few good practical effects. I'm not really familiar with Patty Duke's back catalogue, very possibly not my cup of tea, but while it's clearly just a paycheck for her, she pulls the drama up a notch with the amount of effort the production deserves. Star Trek fans may enjoy seeing Aron Eisenberg without the Ferengi makeup and indeed Jane Wyatt, although she too barely needs to do more than phone in her lines, much like fellow Trek alumnus Norman Lloyd. Frederic Lehne is also a welcome presence, doing his best to keep his 'frightened priest' a few notches above 'Crispin Glover'.Sandor Stern's direction is smoother than his script, and while no particular shot stands out, nothing seems out of place. Rick Conrad provides a rather uninteresting score powered by those late-80s synths that managed to age faster than Tony Blair's face, but at least it's more consistent than Howard Blake's effort in Amityville III - though Blake was clearly more talented.If you're completely mad like me and watch every installment of a film series (especially horror) even though you're well-aware the sequels are most likely diminishing returns, you'll probably watch this anyway. If on the other hand, you made it through Amityville III without completely losing the will to live and want to know if part IV will deliver the death blow to your sanity, the answer is no. I think III and IV, although very different beasts, offer about the same amount of entertainment value. My yardstick is part II, which I thought was a surprisingly good first sequel. From here on out, it's all straight to video.

Martin Read Everybody, or at least most people, understand that made-for-television movies are hardly considered classics or works of cinematic art, and Amityville 4: The Evil Escapes is no exception. Also, this being of the horror genre of the 1980s, you would expect to see many clichés, one- dimensional and unbelievable characters, mediocre acting, silly special effects, a cheesy score and loads of boobs. But this does not seem to be the case with this film. In fact, within the 80s television horror flick genre, Amityville 4 is perhaps vastly superior to others.We start out with a group of six priests pulling up to the famous Amityville home, which magically and supernaturally managed to resurrect itself from the dead (remember, it blew up at the end of the last one). Armed to the teeth with crucifixes, aspergillums and Latin, the priests are going to battle with the evil in the house, which has manifested itself in rattling chandeliers, gas stoves turning on by themselves, attacking death chairs, and a lamp. BUT not just any lamp – the most hideous and repugnant lamp you've ever seen! So averted by the sight of this lamp, the priest is blown off his feet and into the wall where he later requires hospitalization. The lamp is pure evil personified - as the satanic force enters it via the cord.The next day, all the contents of the house are being sold in a yard sale. (We wonder whom all this antique junk belongs to anyway?) Helen Royce is rummaging through the items with her neighbor Rhona and catches a glimpse of the LAMP with a $100 price on it. Little did she know, she was getting more than she bargained for? Inside the house, the oldest priest believes the house is cleared of the evil, he can "feel it in his bones." (Maybe evil takes the form of arthritis? It appears to for some.)3000 miles away in the fictitious Oceanside hamlet of Dancott, California, Nancy Evans, a recently widowed woman, along with her three kids Brian (Mr. 80's himself), Amanda (chipmunk cheeks) and Jessica, arrive at Grandma Leacock's house at exactly the same time as the parcel from Amityville. That evening, Nancy has a heart-to-heart with her mother, Alice when they are interrupted by the dimming of the lights and the radio playing a rendition of "Disney Girls" (OH the HORROR!) and poor granny burns her hand on an electric kettle. Later, Nancy sees a vision of her late husband who happens to look astonishingly like Chevy Chase, and his hand reaches out to hug her in the middle of the night. For a split second she looks reassured, but soon jumps out of bed gasping. Meanwhile, Jessica is down in the living room having a remarkable Poltergeist-like conversation with Daddy Lamp. The next morning Brian is shocked to find an unexpected breakfast dish in the microwave – granny's pet parrot! And later, in a scene of completely unintentional comedy, Brian retreats to the basement to play with the chainsaw, which mysteriously turns on by itself. The look on Brian's face is superb – almost Elmer Fudd-ish. (Be verwy quiwet, I'm wruining gwamaw's basement.) Peggy, the Alice-from- the-Brady-Bunch-type maid (complete with the blue apron, similar hair and everything) calls an electrician to look over the appliances, which have turned on by themselves.The electrician's son Danny comes instead, gives the bedroom eyes to Amanda (but is apparently too shy or awkward or dense to actually ask her out) and gets his hand cut off in the garbage disposal. Nancy states that the family should not use any electrical appliances, but immediately contradicts herself by answering the phone (can you say hypocrite?) The next day, the electrician senior comes to the house to investigate what has been going on. He seems rather unconcerned that his son just lost his hand in this house, and later says he has no idea why the electronics in the house are malfunctioning. Then the water in all the taps in the house turns to a black substance that "smells like a sewer". A plumber arrives to fix the problem and Peggy (who seems to be about twenty cents short of a quarter) responds to the water problem by doing laundry. The plumber gets trapped under the house and the black goo; followed by Danny's hand, land on his face. (What happens to him? We don't know. For all we know, he could still be down there.) BUT his van mysteriously drives off by itself, with no human behind the wheel. (I like to think the demon will be pulled over for speeding. Imagine that police radio call!)Later the lamp manages to strangle the old maid with its cord. Dr. Brooks, who looks near ready to retire, labels it as a heart attack. Never mind those deep red strangulation marks on her neck, trust me, it was a heart attack! He even tells the detective he'd bet money on it.Yadda….yadda….yadda…..Eventually Father Kibbles-n-Bits (Kibbler for short) arrives at the house. He performs a pretty entertaining and half-assed exorcism on the lamp, which consequently flies out the window with Father Kibbles-n- Bits's arm caught in the cord. Nancy saves his life by chopping the cord with an axe. The next morning, both Alice and Father Kibbler hop in a taxi to the airport. Both are going to Amityville – Alice to her sister Helen's funeral (she died of tetanus two days before, after cutting her finger on the evil lamp when she bought it). Everything is great until………until…………the cat Pepper gets possessed by the three-century-old evil that possessed the lamp! Maybe we'll get another sequel!

slayrrr666 "Amityville IV: The Evil Escapes" is a decent, if unspectacular entry in the series.**SPOILERS**Moving to California, Alice Leacock, (Jane Wyatt) and her children, Jessica, (Brandy Gold) Amanda, (Zoe Trilling) and Brian, (Aron Eisenberg) arrive at the house at the same time as the moving truck. Finding a gift from her grandmother Nancy Evans, (Patty Duke) in the form of a gigantic lamp, it splits the family in two as to what the think of it. As they manage to get settled in the house, the more they start to experience strange phenomena in the house, which are soon laughed off as freak accidents. When the incidents in the house get even more outlandish and scary, they are at a loss for the events and feel that something is going on in the house. When the news reaches Father Dennis Kibbler, (Fredric Lehne) a family friend, he discovers that the source of the disturbances is due to a lamp that they purchased from a yard sale of items from a haunted house in Amityville, New York, their old home, and races to help them get rid of the cursed item before it causes more harm to them.The Good News: This one here had a few good moments to make it interesting at times. The cheesiness of the story is quite entertaining, and is just goofy enough to not be written off because of it but can be seen as something to be enjoyed. One of the best scenes is the basement rampage, which is cheesy fun in all the right ways. From the pre-terror fun and when the chainsaw springs to life and goes on a rampage through the furniture and leaves nothing intact, it's one of unbridled cheesy joy. The opening in the film is pretty nifty as well, managing a brief run-through of familiar Satanic acts, such as levitating furniture, slamming doors and, of course, a huge swarm of flies, all coupled with the usual priestly manners that come into play as well, which are quite fun and the exorcism is simply the a great conclusion to it. The lamp is also a pretty evil-looking thing it is too, with a twisted, tree-like stand, and creepy arm-like projections. All the rest of the scenes, though, pale to the film's biggest shock, where she lies sleeping in her bed and a man's arm suddenly slides around her and holds her tight. She smiles in her sleep, only to jerk awake with a terrified gasp as her conscious mind realizes that this really shouldn't be happening. It's a completely creepy scene that manages to get more thrilling than it has every right to be. It's alone enough to be the main reason why this one works as it does. These here are all that really help the film out.The Bad News: This one here does have a few big problems that keep it down. The made-for-TV-ness of the film causes so many of the film's problems it's the worst thing about it. It means that there's nothing the film that means the family will be put in any danger from the supernatural force, despite all the different scenes that come along since it won't do anything that will put it's family rating into danger. It can get a little more violent when it's shown uncut, but the fact that it has no gore at all makes for some confusing moments, as the only gore scene is a garbage-disposal that slices off the hand, but it's only the blood-splatter that's shown here, and it won't get anything up in arms over it. There's also nothing in here from the amount of scares or how extreme it all is, which manages to be part of the film's flaws. There's also the part that makes the film so dull is the second biggest problem. It moves along at such a cruel pace that nearly everything in here goes along with that need to keep the rating happy along with the fact that everything in here is just so slow and uninteresting that nearly everything is flat-out dull because it feels the need to explain everything out in way that won't frighten anyone and will just make the film something that will put some to sleep over. The last flaw is the inherent goofiness and cheese that the film has. The plot is so outrageous and unbelievable that it's hard to put it across as something so serious because it just has to be laughed at when uttered, and yet it's here to be feared. Couple this with some cliché after cliché in the haunting scenes and way too much time to believe that something is wrong despite all the incidents here being the proof when piled together, these here keep the film down.The Final Verdict: A rather interesting, if somewhat dull and generic haunted house film that offers up occasional moments of interest to keep it going. Give this one a shot if you're a fan of the series or find this one compelling viewing, but for those that have no interest in the series or are bored with the others then stay away otherwise.Rated R: Violence, Language and mild animal violence

Kirk E I have always felt there was something special about this TV movie. The film isn't actually anywhere near as bad as a lot of the reviews. Because the acting is decent, the storyline is a little silly but well executed, and most of all you get to see the Amityville house before it moves location. Jane Wyatt and Patty Duke are faultless as the concerned elders of a dysfunctional family. The theme music gives away a sense of evil and the lamp looks as hideous as as dreaded it needs to be.Within the 96 minutes nothing seriously gory happens (this film is disturbingly rated US:R and UK:18), although a lot of people die. That demonic deaths occur around veteran actors Duke and Wyatt make this film pretty disturbing as the atmosphere is unnervingly more Murder She Wrote than a demonic horror - nice houses, antiques, old people, all being looked upon by a hideous piercing-eyed evil. That certainly gives this an edge over the other formulaic episodes in the series.So yes, don't be deterred by the silly storyline because the Evil Escapes handles this very well.Interesting facts: The televised UK version of this movie is laughably cut by approx 15 seconds for the mild gore (waste disposal/plumber hand sequences).