Movie Info
Movie Name: Amityville 3-D
Studio: Orion Pictures
Genre(s): Horror/B-Movie
Release Date(s): November 18, 1983
MPAA Rating: R
The spirit says one of us will go to jail for college scams, one of us will end up with John Mellencamp,, and two of us will go no where…
A writer named John Baxter (Tony Roberts) who debunks paranormal activity, exposes fraud in the famed house in Amityville. When he realizes he needs a home and is offered a good deal, John purchases the home for himself. Strange events lead to the death of the realtor (John Harkins) and his column partner Melanie (Candy Clark), and John’s ex-wife Susan (Tess Harper) refuses to let their daughter Susan (Lori Loughlin) come to the home. Convinced to have a séance by her friend Lisa (Meg Ryan), tragedy occurs, and the demon must be exposed to save Susan’s soul!
Directed by Richard Fleischer, Amityville 3-D was also known as Amityville III: The Demon or sometimes even The Amityville Horror 3 (though legal reason never officially allowed this title). The movie was panned by critics and often listed as one of the worse films of the year (sometimes even the decade).
Give your daughter a hug!
First as mentioned, there were legal problems with this film so the previous two installments The Amityville Horror and Amityville II: The Possession aren’t even tied to this film. The movie does reference the original murders by Ronald DeFeo Jr. (which was kind of the reference for Amityville II: The Possession). The movie also followed the little resurgence trend of 3-D movies that included Jaws 3-D and Friday the 13th 3-D.
The movie is pretty awful. Plot wise, the movie is rather dull. It is the typical horror house plot with no one believing that there is a problem with the house despite the realtor dying immediately after selling John Baxter the house…in the house no less. Despite a lot of events (none of which are very scary…including a crashing elevator), Baxter refuses to believe anything is wrong which leads to the death of his daughter, a paranormal investigation, wrestling with a demon, and the house blowing up…most of the “exciting” events happen in the last fifteen minutes of the hour and a half movie.
The demon needs an antacid
The visuals are keyed to 3-D and include lots of intentional straight at the camera action. Be it a Frisbee, a microphone, or a swordfish, it is pretty bad and the quality of 3-D at the time the film was made was much worse (even if you don’t like 3-D, there have been vast improvements). The demon at the end also is rather underused and the rather cool picture that was plastered all over the backs of VHS films really doesn’t even show up in the movie…it is just a quick random shot from a different angle.
The movie is mostly remembered as one of first roles for Meg Ryan and the first for actress Lori Loughlin. The acting on all parties was pretty sad, and most of these actors probably know better (though I can’t fault many of them since a quick buck and a 3-D horror flick probably go hand-in-hand).
Amityville 3-D is almost in the so-bad-its-good category but actually falls more into the so-bad-its-boring style of film. If you are out to see some of the worst movies made, you should check this out. The movie did end put an end to the horror for six years until the horror returned in Amityville 4: The Evil Escapes which was a made-for-TV movie in 1989.
Related Links:
The Amityville Horror: A True Story
Amityville II: The Possession (1982)
