**_The setting switches to the suburbs of Greater Los Angeles and a cursed clock_**

This was the sixth of eight “Amityville” movies released from 1979-1997. Only the first three were theatrically released. The fourth one was made-for-television and the next four went direct-to-video.

After the third movie, scriptwriters had to get creative to keep things fresh. So, the fourth installment featured a cursed lamp from the iconic Dutch Colonial house and the seventh one a cursed mirror. This one involves an antique clock. The idea of a cursed artifact is interesting. In the Bible handkerchiefs were blessed with an anointing via Paul’s touch; these articles thus healed people and sent demons fleeing. The idea is simply reversed in these three flicks: An item from the Amityville house is cursed by a corrupt spirit attached to it.

I appreciated the new locale of a neighborhood in SoCal to shake things up, plus things are kept interesting and unpredictable. For instance, the guitar-playing teen (Damon Martin) is close friends with an aged lady down the street (Nita Talbot). Talbot was 61 years-old when this was made and it was her final movie, although she appeared in several TV shows in the next several years before retiring.

Meanwhile the kid’s sister (Megan Ward) transforms from a relatively conservative high schooler to a seductive ‘hottie.’ Of course, this is nothing new seeing as how Nimoy’s “Baffled” included the same transformation 21 years earlier, although the girl there happened to be even younger.

Another positive is how the ending holds an inventive surprise.

It runs 1h 35m and was shot northwest of Los Angeles in Calabasas (the house) and Santa Clarita.

GRADE: B/B-