Director: Richard Fleischer
Writer: William Wales (Screenplay)
Starring: Tony Roberts, Tess Harper, Robert Joy, Candy Clark, John Beal, Leora Dana, John Harkins, Meg Ryan
Plot: A reporter moves into the ominous Long Island house to debunk the recent supernatural events, and finds himself besieged by the evil manifestations which are connected to a hell-spawn demon lurking in the basement.
Tagline – Inside these walls, nothing is impossible …except survival.
Runtime: 1 Hour 33 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Confusing & Messy
Story: Amityville 3-D starts when journalist John Baxter (Roberts) and his team Melanie (Clark), Elliot (Joy) expose the truth of the hoaxes going on inside the Amityville home, learning it is for sale, John who is going through a divorce from his wife Nancy (Harper) agrees to purchase the house, knowing there is no such thing as ghosts or demons.
It isn’t long until strange events start happening in the house again, with John needing to get to the bottom of the mystery about the Amityville horror when his daughter starts getting targeted by the spirits of the house.
Thoughts on Amityville 3-D
Characters – John Baxter has made a career debunking paranormal events, exposing frauds and this time he proves people are using the Amityville house for profit, he buys the house with plans to move in and write his book, he soon learns that the house inn hiding a paranormal spirit which he must escape from before it takes his daughter. Nancy is the soon to be ex-wife of John’s she doesn’t like his choice to move into that house believing in the events which have caused the home to have the reputation is has. Elliot is the man that can search through the photos that are not being developed in the way they should, he is the best in his field and can’t explain the events shown in the photos. Melanie is the partner of John’s she helps expose the truths only she has now become targeted by the spirits of the house too.
Performances – Tony Roberts is the strongest of a weak cast, he is solid enough with the rest of the leads being weak throughout the film. This film does have one of Meg Ryan’s first roles in film which is amazing when you see how bad this film is to how far she has gone.
Story – The story here is, we are back in the Amityville house and with an original story that is about a journalist that wants to prove there is nothing haunting in the house. The problems mount up quickly in this film, mostly surrounding the deaths of characters which seem to have no consequences to our main characters, the idea is just lets do the same again, person along spooky goings on, with no scares about them. It is a rinse repeat formulaic story that bring nothing to the film and ends up feeling flat and uninspiring for the audience to get through.
Horror – The horror in the film is mostly dream sequences, or just blasting the cast with what seems to be a leaf blower, it is slow and not interesting for the horror stand point of the film.
Settings – Set in the same house, we know by now what the haunting is, but for some reason we just keep getting characters who don’t believe, the house still looks scary but that is about it.
Special Effects – Remember when 3D was going to be a thing, well this is a result of those terrible effects that were being bought into movies in the 80s.
Scene of the Movie – Debunking opening scene.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – The rest.
Final Thoughts – This is a boring horror film that just seems to bring the same story to the big screen with those terrible 3D effects that simply don’t work, it has only one strong point and that is giving Meg Ryan an early film role.
Overall: Poor and messy franchise killer.
Rating
